How Do I Apply for Probate in Alberta?

Step 1: Confirm whether you need a grant, and which kind

A grant of probate is the Court of King’s Bench confirming that the executor named in a will has legal authority to administer the estate. If there is no will, or the named executor will not act, another person, such as a family member, can instead apply for a grant of administration. Alberta’s Estate Administration Act treats “grant” broadly: it covers the court’s formal authorization under Part 3 of the Act, and it applies whether the personal representative is named in a will or appointed because there is none.

If a grant of probate or administration was already issued in another Canadian province or territory, the UK, or a Commonwealth country, it may not need to be re-applied for from scratch. Alberta’s court can “reseal” that foreign grant, after which it has the same effect in Alberta as a grant issued here.

Step 2: Choose your filing method

Alberta offers two ways to apply for a grant:

1. Online, through the Surrogate Digital Service (SDS): the preferred method, but only available if you are an Alberta resident and one of the applicants.
2. Paper, using the GA (Grant Application) forms, starting with Form GA1.

Lawyers who are members of the Law Society of Alberta are required to use SDS for any application the service can process, rather than filing on paper.

Step 3: Prepare the application and inventory

The core paper document is Form GA1 (the Grant Application itself). Where an inventory of estate assets is required to be served on interested parties, it goes in Form GA2, filed alongside the GA1 as it was submitted to the court.

Step 4: Work out where to file

Applications are normally filed at the judicial centre tied to where the deceased lived. If the deceased lived outside Alberta immediately before dying, the application can instead be filed at the judicial centre closest by road to a location in Alberta where the deceased held property on the date of death.

Step 5: Serve notice on the people who are entitled to it

Alberta’s Surrogate Rules require the applicant to serve a notice of application, Form GA3, on each person listed in the GA1 who needs to be notified (other than the Public Trustee), and Form GA4 on the Public Trustee where the circumstances call for it. When notice is served, it must be accompanied by the GA1 application as filed and the GA2 inventory. More broadly, the applicant must serve copies of all documents required under the Surrogate Rules or the Alberta Rules of Court on everyone listed as an interested person under the service rule.

The Public Trustee has a specific, mandatory role: it must review every grant application in Alberta where a minor is named as a beneficiary of the estate.

Step 6: Deal with any bond or security requirement

Depending on the circumstances (for example, where a personal representative lives outside Alberta), the court can require a bond or other security. If a non-resident personal representative must post one, it must equal the gross value of the deceased’s property located in Alberta. A beneficiary can consent to dispensing with this requirement by filing a beneficiary’s consent, Form GA14, in support of the application.

Step 7: Pay the court fee and wait for the grant to issue

Alberta’s court fee for issuing a grant of probate or administration (or for resealing a foreign grant), aside from trusteeship matters, is set on a sliding scale tied to the net value of property located in Alberta. According to a Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta summary of the fee regulation:

These figures come from a public legal education summary of the Court of Justice Fees Regulation rather than the regulation’s text directly; anyone filing should confirm the current schedule at the time of filing, since court fees are periodically updated.

What can pause or complicate the process

Before a grant is issued, anyone can apply to the court for an order restraining a person from dealing with or “intermeddling” in the deceased’s property, which can affect timing if there is a dispute over who should administer the estate. Separately, if more than one person files an application for a grant over the same estate, Alberta’s Estate Administration Act stays (pauses) all of the competing applications, and the court clerk must notify each applicant by mail so the conflict can be sorted out before any grant issues.