Here at LESA we’re proud to be your lifelong partner in continuing legal excellence. As your partner, we want to help you keep on top of all the latest legislative changes.
That desire leads us to today’s inaugural “Latest from the Leg” blog. We’ll be posting similar blogs periodically to update you on provincial or national legislative changes that will impact the practice of law in Alberta.
We hope you find these updates useful!
New Estate Administration Act
The Estate Administration Act (EAA) and the new Surrogate Rules will come into force on June 1, 2015 (by Order in Council 84/2015 and Order in Council 85/2015, both approved on March 19).
The EAA repeals the Administration of Estates Act RSA 2000 cA-2 and the Devolution of Real Property Act RSA 2000 cD-12. It has been developed to make the roles and obligations of personal representatives (executors) easier to find and understand. Among other things, the new legislation and the corresponding changes to the Surrogate forms add more information-sharing rules: those administering estates not requiring a grant must serve notice to beneficiaries or others including their contact information, the date of the will, and the date of death.
Additional Court Fees
You can expect to see additional court fees in place soon.
- Higher prices for court filing fees are effective May 1, 2015 (under OC 112/2015), and in the Provincial Court fees will be added for filing a dispute note, third party claims, and applications within an action.
- Court fees under the Surrogate Rules (AR 130/1995) are also going up for grants of probate, letters of administration, or resealing under Schedule 2 – from an extra $10 for an estate valued at $10K or less to an extra $125 for an estate valued at over $250K.
- Under the Rules of Court (AR 124/2010) Schedule B, it will cost $250 (up from $200) to file a statement of claim/originating application and $50 (up from no charge) to file an action under the Family Law Act. Instead of being included in the price of the action, there will be a separate fee for filing a statement of defense ($50), a counterclaim ($150), a third party claim ($150), and an application ($50).
If you practice in the area of wills & estates, LESA has seminars to help both lawyers and legal support staff learn more about the new Act. Learn more or register online now to secure your seat – some seminar sessions are already full!
Karen McDougall, LESA Counsel
