By Maya C. Gordon, Partner at Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer LLP
This supplied content is provided by Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer LLP.
If you work with clients who are executors or administrators of estates, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with Alberta’s new Surrogate Digital Service (SDS).
For many clients, there is a certain level of dread that comes with being appointed as an Executor in a Will, or realizing that one has to step into the shoes of an estate without a Will, as an Administrator. There are many stories circulating about the months—or years!—that it can take to work your way through the system and complete the estate.
Happily, there is some good news in this area that you can share with your clients: launched by the Government of Alberta in 2022, the SDS modernizes the process for obtaining Grants of Probate and Grants of Administration in Alberta, offering features that may benefit your clients directly and make the process of administering an estate simpler and less time-consuming.
Key Features of the SDS
- Simplified Forms: The SDS replaces the older NC forms with Grant Application (GA) forms, reducing redundancy and automating estate value calculations.
- Digital Validations: The system checks submissions for accuracy, minimizing the risk of rejected applications due to errors or omissions.
- Online Payment: Application fees are paid by credit card at the time of submission, streamlining the payment process for executors.
- Service of Notices: Beneficiaries and potential claimants can now receive notices via email, with the ability to acknowledge service online. This eliminates the delays and costs associated with traditional mail.
- Digital Grants: Once approved by the court, grants are emailed to the submitting lawyer, who can download a PDF copy for the executor to use.
Importantly, the SDS is only currently accessible by lawyers who are members of the Law Society of Alberta. Members of the public cannot access SDS on their own, and clients should be advised that if they want to utilize this system, they will need to retain a lawyer.
What This Means for Your Clients
Administering an estate is never easy—an Executor can be overwhelmed by managing funds in various accounts, the constant requests of beneficiaries, and how long the process can take up in their already busy lives.
The introduction of the SDS can assist in a few material ways in making this process less painful:
- Faster Processing: With fewer manual steps, applications submitted through SDS are less likely to encounter delays. In general, the wait time from getting a Grant of Probate under the former system averaged two to four months; under SDS, applications can be returned as soon as one week after submission, and in most cases are returned within three weeks.
- Clearer Communication: Automatic checks and digital notices help ensure applications are complete and beneficiaries and claimants are informed promptly, by email.
- Cost Savings: Reduced errors mean fewer instances of refiling and additional legal fees. Historically, an error on a paper application could result in a requirement for resubmission to the Court, re-starting the wait and drawing out the process even longer. In SDS, errors or questions of clarification are flagged quickly and can be responded to in the system, avoiding the need for resubmission and its consequent delays.
How You Can Support Clients
As a CPA, you play a key role in helping clients navigate the complexities of estate administration. Here’s how you can assist:
- Educate Executors: Inform clients acting as executors about the SDS process and encourage them to engage a lawyer familiar with the system.
- Prepare Financials: Provide accurate and detailed estate valuations to facilitate the completion of the GA forms.
- Highlight Deadlines: Emphasize the importance of timely filing, which can result in estates running much smoother: the quicker a Grant arrives, the sooner an Executor can access the funds, and the sooner the beneficiaries get their gifts.
For more information, your clients can visit the Surrogate Digital Service website.
It isn’t often there is a “good news” story in the slow and sometimes bureaucratic world of estate administration, so share this with clients and encourage them to use a lawyer familiar with the SDS system. It can result in time and cost savings that your client will thank you for later!
