What is "resealing" probate?

"Resealing" is the process of having the local provincial or territorial court confirm a Grant of Probate from another jurisdiction. Usually when a person passes away, the Grant of Probate that is obtained from the court is sufficient to deal with all of the assets the person owns. However, when there is real property (land, house, cottage, mineral rights, etc) in another province or territory, or assets of any kind in Commonwealth countries, the Grant of Probate is not enough.

For example, a Grant of Probate from Alberta is not sufficient to transfer land in Ontario. The Alberta Grant of Probate would have to be resealed in Ontario.

I've had to obtain resealed Grants in England, Scotland and Isle of Jersey and in each case it was time-consuming but went smoothly. It's not something you would try to do without legal assistance.

The process is very similar to applying for the original Grant of Probate. It can't be exactly the same, because the original Will is not available, having already been submitted to the first court. The other difference is that the first Grant of Probate would have included a detailed inventory of all kinds of assets and debts. The resealing application will only address the real property (and any related debts etc) that is in the new jurisdiction. This means that the probate/resealing court fee is usually significantly smaller than the original application.

Canadian courts will reseal Grants of Probate from all Canadian provinces and territories, as well as all Commonwealth countries. Commonwealth countries will reseal a Grant of Probate from Canada.