An executor of a will may need to apply for probate in order to distribute the estate. (See "I am the executor of a will and am doing the work myself" for starting points on what is involved in probating a will.) The probate procedure includes submitting special forms and the original will to the Probate Registry of the Supreme Court. There are a number of forms and considerable detail involved. A typical probate application under Supreme Court Civil Rule 21-5 will include:

• A requisition: Form 17 under the Supreme Court Civil Rules.
• An affidavit of executor: Form 91, Form 92 or Form 93 under the Supreme Court Civil Rules. The original will should be attached to the affidavit of executor and marked as an exhibit.
• Documentation disclosing the assets and liabilities of the deceased. This is not a prescribed form; it is typically a statement detailing the assets and the liabilities.
• A certificate of wills notice search: requested through an Application for Search of Wills Notice Form from the Vital Statistics Agency.
• Affidavits of notice under s. 112 of the Estate Administration Act: prepared using Form 109 under the Supreme Court Civil Rules. The affidavits should have the notice itself attached as an exhibit.
• Payment of probate fees.

For more detail on the documents required, an excellent resource is the BC Probate and Estate Administration Practice Manual, published by the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC, and available at Courthouse Libraries across BC.

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estates, probate, probate registry, probating a will, filling out court forms, probate forms