ARTICLE · 12 JULY 2022

Growing Pains With Ontario's New Probate Forms

Pallett Valo LLP

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The Ontario government recently introduced and approved significant amendments to the new probate forms that came into effect on January 1st, 2022. In addition to the form amendments...

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The Ontario government recently introduced and approved significant amendments to the new probate forms that came into effect on January 1st, 2022. In addition to the form amendments, O. Reg. 435/22¹, which came into force on July 1st, 2022, also makes changes to Rules 74 and 74.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, which govern the probate process in Ontario.

As indicated in a previous blog, the new probate forms were intended not only to address the changes in estate legislation that were coming into effect in January 2022, but also to simplify the application process². As with any new system, various issues were soon identified by estate practitioners, primarily with respect to ambiguous terminology and instructions on the forms, but also with respect to limitations on the ability to tailor the fillable forms to address specific situations. In many cases, applications were rejected by court staff because of errors on the forms.

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