More changes on their way!

We last discussed all of the sweeping changes in the area of estates law including a substantial change to probate forms and applications for various Certificate of Appointments in our previous post, which you can access here.

Since then, there have been some growing pains in putting the new forms into practice. Luckily, the government has been responsive and has reported that several of the forms are going to be amended, with the changes coming into effect July 1, 2022.

The main changes concern Form 74A: Application for a Certificate of Appointment and Form 74C: Certificate of Appointment. In particular:

74A: Application for a Certificate of Appointment

• Part two will now have a section if the date of the Will is missing;
• Part three will be more clearly defined, which details deceased spousal relationships, so that there is a Section B for with a will applications and Section C for without;
• Part six will require you to reproduce the entitlements section for each applicant;
• Part seven will now require that the relationship between the beneficiary and the deceased is reported;
• Part nine will deal with Estate Administration Tax and whether the applicant is seeking to defer payment or base the payment on an estimated value of the Estate; and
• Part ten will require the applicant to report if bonding is required and whether they will be seeking an order to dispense with the requirement, reduce the amount, or whether there is an exemption.
  

74C: Certificate of Appointment

• This form is being modified to clarify the type and circumstances of the appointment (for example, whether it is with a will, executed remotely, following a court order, deceased estate trustee or person renouncing)
  

Several other forms have been amended in order to be in line with the changes set out above. These include:

• Small Estate Certificate and corresponding forms, 74.1 (A, B, C, F);
• Form 74I Order in an Estates Proceeding;
• Form 74J Application for Certificate or Confirmation;
• Forms 74D; and
• 74E.

You can access the new forms, here. Please do keep in mind that these amended forms do not come into effect until after July 1, 2022.