The commencement of litigation requires a Plaintiff to have standing to sue; and Probate (or a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee With (or Without) a Will) is required if an Estate Trustee wishes to obtain Judgment against a Defendant.
While an action can technically be commenced without probate (see the remedial provisions of Rule 9 of the Rules of Civil Procedure discussed below), the Court will not grant Judgment in favour of an Estate unless the Estate Trustee has been granted authority to administer the Estate.
The rationale for this requirement is nicely explained by Professor Oosterhoof (in Oosterhoof on Wills and Succession Chapter 2):
The grant of probate is only evidence (really, the only evidence) which a court will recognize that a person has authority to administer the assets of the deceased. For this reason, while an executor can do many acts of office before obtaining a grant he or she cannot obtain judgment before that time, although he or she can commence an action. Similarly, no action can be maintained against a named executor unless he or she has obtained a grant of probate.
This position was supported by the Ontario Court of Appeal in Re Eurig Estate (appealed on other grounds to the Supreme Court of Canada) where Morden A.C.J.O. stated:
Further, apart from the general legal duty to administer the estate promptly and efficiently, which almost invariably requires the executor to obtain probate, the law imposes the requirement that an executor must have probate to prove his or her title when an estate matter is before the court. Letters probate are the only evidence of an executor’s title which a court will receive (see Hull and Hull, Macdonnell, Sheard and Hull, Probate Practice, 4th ed. (1996) at pp.185 and 188), even in a case where the defendant is willing to concede that the executor has title without evidence of probate: Re Crowhurst Park; Sims-Hilditch v. Simmons, [1974] 1 W.L.R. 583 (Ch), (at p. 792)
Moreover, the Estates Act ensures the estate trustees named in a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee have sole authority in respect of the estate:
- After a grant of administration, no person, other than the administrator or executor, has power to sue or prosecute any action or otherwise act as executor of the deceased as to the property comprised in or affected by such grant of administration until such administration has been recalled or revoked.
In the event that the Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee is obtained subsequent to the commencement of the Action, the Rules of Civil Procedure, contain a remedial provision:
9.03 (1) Where a proceeding is commenced by or against a person as executor or administrator before a grant of probate or administration has been made and the person subsequently receives a grant of probate or administration, the proceeding shall be deemed to have been properly constituted from its commencement.
Thanks for reading,
Other articles you might be interested in :
https://hullandhull.com/2016/07/probate-will-required-ontario/
https://hullandhull.com/2017/05/revocation-certificate-appointment/