When the estate includes a farm
A farm owner’s estate plan generally needs more than a will. An enduring power of attorney lets a person you choose keep paying workers, suppliers and lenders if you lose capacity during a growing season, and a representation agreement covers health and personal care decisions. If capacity is lost with neither document signed, relatives may need a court order appointing a committee before anyone can act (see committeeship applications). Owners aged 65 or older can hold property in an alter ego or joint partner trust so it passes outside the will. Our wills work is led by Sandy Minh Abley, called to the BC bar in 2005.
The child who stayed and farmed
If the farm goes to everyone equally, or is sold, the child who worked it for years on a promise of inheriting it may have a claim of their own, whatever the will says. Such a claim can be brought as proprietary estoppel, unjust enrichment or a trust based on a promised inheritance, and it turns on evidence: who said what and when, wages paid or not paid, money put into land or buildings. Anyone in that position should gather records early, while the people who remember are still available.
Probate for a Pitt Meadows estate
The closest, about 9 km from City Hall over the Pitt River Bridge, is at the Port Coquitlam Law Courts, 2620 Mary Hill Road, which became a full Supreme Court registry on June 9, 2025. The courts’ published registry list still gives a probate line for New Westminster (651 Carnarvon Street) and none for Port Coquitlam, so phone Port Coquitlam (604-927-2100) before relying on it for a probate filing. Filing online through Court Services Online is another option.
The steps come from Part 25 of the Supreme Court Civil Rules. The executor gets a wills notice search certificate from Vital Statistics, then delivers a Form P1 notice of the intended application to the beneficiaries and the others the rule lists, naming the registry that will be used. After a minimum of 21 days the application goes in, with a sworn statement of the deceased’s assets and liabilities. Our BC probate checklist lists the paperwork.
Two points carry more weight when the estate includes land:
- Fees follow the value of the land. The first $25,000 attracts no fee. After that the Province charges roughly 0.6 per cent of the value from $25,000 to $50,000 and 1.4 per cent of everything above $50,000, calculated on the gross value shown in the statement of assets. A farm in the deceased’s sole name is included in that value. Land that passes automatically to a surviving joint tenant generally stays outside the calculation. See how probate fees are calculated and our explainer on joint tenants and tenants in common.
- The executor holds the land in trust. WESA section 162 vests the deceased’s land in the personal representative, unless a co-owner takes it by survivorship, to hold for the heirs or beneficiaries. A working farm keeps earning and spending while the grant is pending, and the executor must later account for every dollar. At the first meeting, tell your lawyer who is running the farm and where its income is going.
Paying out the estate has to wait as well. WESA section 155 bars distribution for 210 days from the grant, unless a judge permits it or, under a will, the beneficiaries and anyone entitled to seek a variation all consent.
Veronica Manski leads our probate and estate administration group, which prepares applications, handles registry requisitions and guides executors to the final accounting. When no will exists, or the named executor cannot serve, the court issues a grant of administration in place of probate.
Deadlines that decide a dispute
A spouse or child who wants to vary a will has 180 days after the grant is issued in BC to start the claim, and a further 30 days to serve it on the executor, which the court can extend (WESA section 61). A spouse here includes a partner in a marriage-like relationship of at least two years, judged as at the death; separation can end that status (section 2). If the will-maker left minor children, or a spouse or child lacks mental capacity, the Public Guardian and Trustee has to be served too. Waiting for the executor to make the first move can cost the claim. Our article on the wills variation limitation period explains how the dates are counted.
Validity challenges (capacity, signing formalities, undue influence) and complaints about an executor run on different rules, and their time limits depend on the claim and its facts. Under WESA section 52, once a challenger shows the will-maker was in a relationship where dependence or domination was possible, it falls to those upholding the will to disprove undue influence. Section 158 allows the court to remove an executor or pass them over. Candace Cho, KC leads our estate litigation team, which acts on both sides of these cases. See how long you have to contest a will in BC.
Who works on Pitt Meadows estate files
Candace Cho, KC (called 2009) is our principal lawyer and leads estate litigation. Veronica Manski (called 2015) leads probate and administration, and Sandy Minh Abley (called 2005) handles wills and estate planning. Contested files are also run by Valerie LeBlanc, Jackson Todd, Kevin Campbell, TJ Garcha, Jesse Patrao and Julia Pinnock. Katya Richardson and Louisa Ledesma work in estate litigation and family law alike, useful when a separation and an inheritance are tangled together. Everyone is listed on our team page.
Common questions
My father died without a will. Who inherits?
WESA decides. If he left a spouse and children, the spouse receives the household furnishings and a preferential share of $300,000 where all the children are also the spouse’s, or $150,000 where they are not. Whatever remains is split, half to the spouse and half to his descendants. Someone also has to apply for a grant of administration; see our article on applying to administer an estate without a will, and what happens after probate is granted for the steps that follow.
Is the first meeting free?
For estate litigation, such as a will challenge or a claim by the child who farmed, the first 30 minutes are free, at our New Westminster office or by phone or video. For probate or a new will, ask what the first meeting costs when you book. Phone (604) 900-2538 or use our online contact form.
