Wills and Estates Law
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In British Columbia, probate involves two separate charges: a court filing fee, and a probate fee under the Probate Fee Act. The probate fee is $6 for every $1,000 (or part of $1,000) of estate value above $25,000 up to $50,000, and $14 for every $1,000 (or part) above $50,000. It is calculated on the value of the estate that passes to the personal representative, not on everything a person owned.
This guide explains how the fee is calculated, which assets count toward the value of the estate, when a grant is and is not needed, what happens if a value turns out to be wrong, and which common planning approaches can reduce probate fees, together with the risks of each. It is written for executors, family members and people planning their own estates.
Key takeaways
Table of contents
People often quote “probate fees” as one number, but there are two charges. The first is a court filing fee for the estate grant application: $200 where the estate exceeds $25,000, under Appendix C, Schedule 1, Item 1 of the Supreme Court Civil Rules, BC Reg 168/2009. No fee is payable under that item if the estate does not exceed $25,000. The second is the probate fee under the Probate Fee Act, SBC 1999, c 4, which is paid on the value of the estate. Other filing or electronic-transmission charges may also apply, and fee schedules change, so confirm the current amounts with the court registry or a lawyer before you file.
The personal representative (the executor or administrator) is responsible for the probate fee in that representative capacity rather than personally: Probate Fee Act, s 2(1).
Under section 2 of the Act, no probate fee is payable if the value of the estate does not exceed $25,000. Above that, the fee is:
The table applies those rates to round estate values. It shows the probate fee only; it does not include the $200 filing fee or other charges.
| Estate value | Probate fee under the Act | How it is calculated |
|---|---|---|
| $25,000 or less | $0 | No fee payable |
| $50,000 | $150 | 25 × $6 |
| $100,000 | $850 | $150 + (50 × $14) |
| $500,000 | $6,450 | $150 + (450 × $14) |
| $1,000,000 | $13,450 | $150 + (950 × $14) |
Because the Act charges for “every $1,000 or part of $1,000”, an estate valued at $100,500 is charged as though the extra $500 were a full $1,000, which gives $864. These figures only illustrate the arithmetic. The amount that applies to a particular estate depends on how its value is established.
Section 1 of the Act defines the “value of the estate” as the gross value, as stated in a Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Distribution filed with the application, of the real and tangible personal property of the deceased situated in British Columbia and, if the deceased was ordinarily resident in British Columbia immediately before death, the intangible personal property of the deceased, wherever situated, that passes to the personal representative at the date of death. Several questions come up repeatedly.
Valuation date and evidence. The Act does not itself set out a general valuation date. In Bouma Estate (Re), 2018 BCSC 1466 (para 8), the court accepted a qualified appraiser’s evidence of market value at the date of death instead of an earlier assessment notice that proved too low. An assessment notice can be relevant evidence, but it is not necessarily the market value at the date of death.
No general rule requires every will to be probated simply because a will exists. The practical question is whether estate property has to be collected, transferred or otherwise administered in a situation where a grant is needed as proof of authority. A grant gives the personal representative exclusive authority to administer the estate, or the part of it the grant covers: WESA, s 136. An applicant must also make a diligent search for the deceased’s property and liabilities and give the disclosure the Rules require: WESA, s 122(1).
For more on related topics, see our articles on how long probate has taken in Canada and estate distribution in British Columbia.
Under Rule 25-2 of the Supreme Court Civil Rules, a proposed applicant delivers Form P1 (Notice of Proposed Application in Relation to Estate) and related materials to the required persons and waits at least 21 days before applying. Rule 25-3 then requires the applicant to file a submission in Form P2, the prescribed affidavits, including an affidavit of delivery (Form P9), and an affidavit of assets and liabilities: Form P10 for a domiciled estate or, where permitted, Form P11 for a non-domiciled estate.
Form P10 exhibits the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Distribution. It requires the applicant to state the value of the property passing to the applicant as personal representative and the liabilities that charge or encumber it. Under Rule 25-4(1), the registrar issues the grant only after the required affidavit has been filed and all applicable fees, including probate fees, have been paid.
Rule 25-3(9) requires an applicant who finds, before or after a grant is issued, that an asset or liability was left out, or that information in the affidavit is incorrect or incomplete, to promptly file a supplemental affidavit (Form P14, or Form P15 for a non-domiciled estate) and pay all fees payable, including probate fees. Section 2(4) of the Probate Fee Act similarly addresses an omitted asset or a revised value discovered after a grant or resealing.
Bouma Estate shows how this works in practice. After a formal appraisal showed the date-of-death value was higher than first reported, the court declared the value and directed the registry to process the supplemental affidavit and assess the additional fee, which was $1,451.80 in that case (paras 4, 9–10).
In Bray Estate, 2008 BCSC 205 (para 23), the court held that a registrar could not routinely add a requirement to disclose how a value was reached, while acknowledging that the system is open to deliberately low declarations. That is not permission to undervalue: the current Rules require the applicant to state the value and to correct information that proves incorrect or incomplete. Our research found no separate automatic percentage penalty in the Act; the stated consequence is disclosure and payment of the additional fee. That does not address consequences that could arise under other law for a knowingly false sworn statement.
These approaches reduce probate fees only to the extent that they genuinely remove property from the fee-bearing estate or avoid the need for a grant for that property. None replaces the need to establish ownership, meet statutory requirements and consider other claims against the estate, and each can have tax and family consequences. This is general information, not a recommendation.
A completed joint tenancy or joint account with an effective gift of survivorship may keep property from passing through the estate. But a survivor’s name on title or on an account is not conclusive. In Kyle Estate v Kyle, 2017 BCCA 329 (para 23), the Court of Appeal explained that where assets are advanced without consideration, the law presumes a resulting trust in favour of the donor or, after death, the estate, and the survivor must prove that an outright and immediate gift was intended. In Williams v Williams Estate, 2018 BCSC 711 (paras 121, 124, 155), the court found the particular accounts were intended to pass to the sons by survivorship. The lesson is to document the intended ownership and the survivorship gift rather than assume that joint registration is enough.
WESA allows a participant to designate a beneficiary of a benefit plan, subject to formalities: the designation must be written and signed, and a designation in a will is effective only if it expressly relates to a benefit plan (ss 85, 95). A valid designation can keep a qualifying benefit outside the estate. If no designated beneficiary survives and the designation makes no provision for that event, WESA provides for payment to the personal representative (s 91(c)). Designations can also be disputed: in Neufeld v Neufeld, 2004 BCSC 25 (para 78), a pre-WESA decision, the court found that an RRIF designation had been made to reduce probate fees and taxes, not to give the named person the proceeds to the exclusion of the estate’s other beneficiary.
The Court of Appeal has described alter ego trusts as estate-planning tools that can be used to minimize or eliminate probate fees: Mawdsley v Meshen, 2012 BCCA 91 (para 2). The trust must be validly created and the assets must actually be transferred to it. In Chan v. Chan, 2026 BCSC 465, the court held that a joint partner trust had received a valid lifetime transfer of the property and that no probate grant was required to deal with it. In Larochelle v Soucie Estate, 2019 BCSC 1329 (paras 177, 343), the court applied the three certainties required for a valid trust and found the particular trust valid. These cases do not make every document labelled a trust effective: trust intention, identifiable trust property, valid transfer and capacity can all be contested, and trusts raise tax and administration questions of their own.
A completed lifetime gift can reduce the estate because the gifted asset no longer passes to the personal representative, but the donor genuinely gives up ownership and control. A transfer that leaves beneficial ownership with the donor may be treated as a resulting trust and remain estate property (Kyle, para 23). Transfers can also face creditor challenges: Mawdsley (para 7) says intent to defeat creditors or others must be proved as a fact, but it should not be read as protecting a transfer made with that intent.
A primary and secondary will structure may allow a grant to be sought for the primary will while assets under a secondary will stay outside that grant, if those assets can in fact be transferred or realized without probate. In Berkner (Estate), 2017 BCSC 619 (para 20), the court granted probate of the primary will alone, relying on WESA s 136, but said the probate fee question was not before it and did not decide whether probate was needed to transfer the private-company shares. Whether a secondary will saves fees therefore depends on the company’s governing documents and transfer requirements, and the wills need to be coordinated carefully.
Official sources: the Probate Fee Act, the Wills, Estates and Succession Act and the Supreme Court Civil Rules are published on BC Laws.
No probate fee is payable under the Probate Fee Act if the estate is worth $25,000 or less. Above that, the fee is $6 for every $1,000 or part of $1,000 between $25,000 and $50,000, and $14 for every $1,000 or part of $1,000 above $50,000. A separate $200 court filing fee applies where the estate exceeds $25,000.
No. The $200 amount is a court filing fee under the Supreme Court Civil Rules. The probate fee is a separate charge under the Probate Fee Act, so an estate over $25,000 may owe both.
The personal representative is responsible for the fee in that representative capacity rather than personally (Probate Fee Act, s 2(1)).
No. There is no general rule that every will must be probated. Whether a grant is needed depends on the assets and on who must act on them. Land held in a sole name generally needs a certified grant to register a transmission, while institutions set their own requirements.
Often, as a matter of their own policy rather than statute. In Collins Estate (Re), 2016 BCSC 2697, the court held that a bank was within its rights to require probate in the circumstances of that case. Ask the institution what it requires.
The Act refers to the gross value of the estate, and Form P10 requires you to disclose liabilities that encumber property, such as a registered mortgage, and totals assets less secured debts. Unsecured debts are not shown as a general deduction. Confirm how your estate should be presented before you file.
The fee base covers real and tangible personal property situated in BC and, for a person ordinarily resident in BC, intangible personal property wherever situated. Real and tangible property outside BC is disclosed on a separate exhibit but does not by itself enter the fee base.
Not automatically. Property that validly passes by survivorship can fall outside the estate, but in Kyle Estate v Kyle, 2017 BCCA 329, the Court of Appeal confirmed that a presumption of resulting trust can apply, and the survivor may have to prove that a gift was intended.
Generally not. WESA provides that a benefit payable to a designated beneficiary under a benefit plan does not form part of the participant’s estate, if the designation is valid. These provisions do not apply to insurance contracts.
It can in some situations, and BC courts have recognized such trusts as estate-planning tools. The trust must be validly created and the assets actually transferred to it, and trusts have tax and administration consequences. Get advice before relying on one.
Rule 25-3(9) requires you to promptly file a supplemental affidavit (Form P14, or Form P15 for a non-domiciled estate) and pay all fees payable, including probate fees. Section 2(4) of the Probate Fee Act also addresses omitted assets and revised values.
The Probate Fee Act itself states the consequence as disclosure and payment of the additional fee, and our research found no automatic percentage penalty in the Act. Other law could apply to a knowingly false sworn statement, so values should be supported by evidence such as appraisals.
If you are an executor or are planning your estate in British Columbia, Pax Law Corporation is a general practice with offices in North Vancouver and Toronto. You can book a consultation with either office to discuss your situation.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Probate fees, court fees, forms and the law change, and every estate is different. Speak with a lawyer about your own circumstances before acting.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. The law can change and every case is different. Reading it does not create a lawyer–client relationship. For advice about your own situation, please book a consultation with a lawyer.
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