Wills, Estates and Succession Act Transition Guide

Prepare for the new Wills, Estates and Succession Act and the new Probate Rules with this helpful guidebook!

The Wills, Estates and Succession Act (the “WESA”) and the new Probate Rules are expected to take effect in late 2012. The WESA will enshrine modern principles in the first overhaul of succession law in British Columbia in 90 years, and reduce several estates law statutes to one. The WESA will provide courts with power to recognize non-compliant documents as wills, among countless other substantive reforms. The new Probate Rules and the WESA will simplify estate administration procedures for all sizes of estates.

But what exactly do the coming changes mean for our clients? Which existing wills and estate plans will need to be revisited? And what are the new estate administration and estate litigation procedures and principles in British Columbia? 

The WESA Transition Guide will help you get ready for the changes. This guidebook includes overviews of the WESA and the Probate Rules, detailed tables of concordance prepared by the BCLI and CLEBC, and full, annotated versions of the WESA and Probate Rules. You will also find topical chapters that review key emerging and transition issues, and learn what you don’t need to worry about at this time. The commentary in the WESA Transition Guide was prepared by many of the WESA’s central figures and other leading estates practitioners. All of the information is contained in an easy-to-use looseleaf binder, with an accompanying online version, both of which will be supplemented as needed over an anticipated two to three-year life of the publication.

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Features

• thoughtful overviews of the WESA and the Rules
• complete text of the WESA
• complete text of the draft new Probate Rules (supplemented by the final version of the Rules and Forms after they have been approved)
• practical commentary on the implications of each section of the WESA and the Rules
• tables of concordance for the WESA and the Rules, with “old to new” and “new to old” for ease of reference
• topical chapters on the key features and issues of the WESA
• all features of the publication current to November 1, 2010 (supplemented as necessary)
• online access to electronic version with hyperlinks to primary law

CLEBC Legal Editor
Jonathan Vogt
jvogt@cle.bc.ca

CONTENTS
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Part I: WILLS, ESTATES AND SUCCESSION ACT

1. An Overview of the WESA

2. Concordances for the WESA

3. WESA: Annotated with Commentary

Part II: NEW PROBATE RULES

4. An Overview of the New Probate Rules

5. Concordances for the Probate Rules

6. New Probate Rules: Annotated with Commentary

Part III: SPECIAL TOPICS

7. Beneficiary Plans

8. Intestacy

9. Estate Administration Issues

10. Curative Dispensing Power/Rectification

11. Conflicts Provisions

12. Survivorship

Authors 
James D. Baird — Boughton Law Corporation, Vancouver
Gregory G. Blue, QC — British Columbia Law Institute, Vancouver
Peter W. Bogardus, QC — Davis LLP, Vancouver
Rhys Davies, QC — Davis LLP, Vancouver
Elizabeth R. Edinger — Faculty of Law, University of BC, Vancouver
Emma J. Ferguson — Davis LLP, Vancouver
Mary B. Hamilton — Davis LLP, Vancouver
Deidre J. Herbert — McLellan Herbert, Vancouver
Mark Horne, QC — Horne Coupar, Victoria
Fiona Hunter — Horne Coupar, Victoria
Michelle L. Isaak — Davis LLP, Vancouver
Roger D. Lee — Davis LLP, Vancouver
Helen H. Low — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver
Andrew S. MacKay — Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP, Vancouver
Gordon B. MacRae, QC — Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers, Vancouver
Hugh S. McLellan — McLellan Herbert, Vancouver
D. Peter Ramsay, QC — Ramsay Lampman Rhodes, Nanaimo
Genevieve N. Taylor — Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers, Vancouver
Sadie L. Wetzel — Davis LLP, Vancouver
Will Todd — Davis LLP, Vancouver
Geoffrey W. White — Geoffrey W. White Law Corporation, Kelowna
Chelsea Wilson — Ramsay Lampman Rhodes, Nanaimo
Kevin J. Zakreski — British Columbia Law Institute, Vancouver