Selling a Parent's Home in BC: Probate, Who Can Sign, and What to Do First

When a parent dies, or can no longer manage a home, the family has to decide what happens to the house. Before anyone can sell it, the law must give one person the power to sign. This guide explains who can sell a parent's home in BC, what probate costs, which taxes apply, and what to do first.

This work comes at a hard time, and you may be doing it for the first time. The Province of BC says that handling a person's affairs after a death can take a few months or many years.

What should you do in the first weeks?

The Province's first steps include finding the will and working out who the executor or administrator is. For the house, we suggest this order. The estate's lawyer or notary decides the details.

1. Find the will. Look for the original, and ask the lawyer or notary your parent used.
2. Order death certificates. The Province says some services require a certified copy.
3. Secure the house and tell the insurer. Lock the house and collect the keys. Tell the home insurer at once, and ask in writing what the policy requires while nobody lives there.
4. Keep the bills paid. Property tax, insurance, heat and power continue. Ask the lawyer which account pays them.
5. Leave the contents in place. Before anything is sold or given away, ask the lawyer who has authority over the contents, and from what date.
6. Hire a legal professional. The Land Title and Survey Authority of BC (LTSA) keeps the record of who owns land. The Province notes that LTSA recommends one for changing ownership after a death.

Who has the legal power to sell the house?

The Province defines an estate as the sum of a person's assets, which includes land and real estate. A will is the legal document that says what to do with the estate. An executor is the person named in the will to carry out its instructions. An administrator does the same work and is appointed by a court, for example when there is no will. A beneficiary, in the words of the Public Guardian and Trustee of BC, is a person named in a will to receive all or part of an estate.

The power to sell comes from a legal document. Which document depends on how the house is owned and whether your parent is alive. Start with the title, the official record of ownership. LTSA says a current copy of the title shows how the owners hold the property.

Source: LTSA, BC Financial Services Authority, BC Laws and the Public Guardian and Trustee of BC, each linked below and read on October 10, 2026.

What is probate, and what does it cost?

Probate is the court process that checks a will. The Province says it checks that a will is real, was made without fraud or undue influence, and is the last will the person left. The court document that certifies this is a grant of probate. When there is no will, or no executor who can act, the matching document is a grant of administration. Both come from the BC Supreme Court.

For a house in your parent's name alone, the grant is what allows the title to change. LTSA's guide for executors and administrators asks for a court-certified copy of the grant. BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA), the provincial regulator of real estate agents, tells them that a transfer to a buyer will not be possible until the grant is obtained and title is registered in the executor's name.

What the fee is

The Probate Fee Act sets the fee, and it must be paid before the grant is issued. The fee is based on the gross value of the property that passes to the executor or administrator: land and physical belongings in BC and, for a person who ordinarily lived in BC, other property wherever it is.

• No fee when the value is $25,000 or less.
• $6 for every $1,000, or part of $1,000, between $25,000 and $50,000.
• $14 for every $1,000, or part of $1,000, above $50,000.

Here is an example with a round value of $1,000,000. Between $25,000 and $50,000 there are 25 thousands, and 25 × $6 = $150. Above $50,000 there are 950 thousands, and 950 × $14 = $13,300. The fee is $150 + $13,300 = $13,450. The Act says court filing fees are charged in addition. Ask the lawyer how a mortgage affects that value.

How long it takes

We found no official page that publishes a processing time. The court's notice form sets one minimum: a grant may issue on any date at least 21 days after the notice of the application is delivered, or earlier if the court orders. BCFSA tells agents that the process "may be lengthy and cannot be expedited even with a pending sale". Ask the lawyer how long the registry is taking now.

Listing the house before the grant arrives

BCFSA's guidance on estate sales says that without a grant, the executor or administrator "may not have the legal authority to sign a listing agreement", the contract that hires the agent, or a contract of sale for the estate. It encourages agents to advise the client to get independent legal advice before signing either one. BCFSA also publishes a sample contract condition for estates. It makes the sale depend on three things by a date the two sides choose, including a copy of the grant and title registered in the executor's name.

So speak to the estate's lawyer before you sign, and choose a completion date, the day ownership passes to the buyer, that leaves time for the grant.

One more question for the lawyer: BC gives a home buyer three business days to cancel an accepted offer. The regulation exempts four cases, among them homes "sold under a court order or the supervision of a court". The list does not mention estates or executors, so ask whether the three days apply to your sale.

What changes when a spouse survives, or when there is no will?

A surviving joint tenant

Two people can own a home in two ways. LTSA describes joint tenancy as co-ownership in which each owner has an equal interest. When one owner dies, that owner's interest passes to the surviving joint tenants. This is called the right of survivorship.

LTSA has an online application for the survivor, and it needs an original death certificate. LTSA says the application claims the survivorship exemption from property transfer tax, the provincial tax on a change of ownership. It also says most applications are registered within 10 to 15 business days, and that times vary.

Tenants in common

LTSA's glossary says land held as tenants in common is distributed under the will of the owner who died or, where there is no will, under the Wills, Estates and Succession Act. Your parent's share then becomes part of the estate.

No will

A person who dies without a will is called intestate. The Wills, Estates and Succession Act then sets who inherits:

• A spouse and no descendants (children, grandchildren and so on): the estate goes to the spouse.
• A spouse and descendants: the spouse receives the household furnishings and a first share of $300,000 when all the descendants are also the spouse's, or $150,000 when they are not. The rest is split, half to the spouse and half to the descendants.
• No spouse: the estate goes to the descendants.

Section 130 of the Act sets who the court may appoint as administrator: first the spouse, or a person the spouse nominates, and then a child who has the consent of a majority of the children.

What if your parent is alive but cannot manage the house?

A parent who has moved to care, or who can no longer make financial decisions, still owns the house. Another person can sell it for them only with legal authority.

With an enduring power of attorney

A power of attorney is a legal document in which an adult names another person, called the attorney, to manage their financial and legal affairs. The Province publishes a standard form. The Public Guardian and Trustee of BC explains that a general power of attorney ends if the adult becomes incapable, and an enduring power of attorney continues.

The Public Guardian and Trustee lists the attorney's duties. They include acting honestly and in good faith, making only the decisions the attorney is authorized to make, and keeping the adult's assets separate from the attorney's own. In plain terms, the money from the sale is your parent's money, and it stays separate from yours.

Two sections of the Land Title Act apply to land:

• Section 51. A document signed by an attorney cannot be registered unless the original power of attorney, or a certified copy, is filed with the land title office.
• Section 56. A power of attorney filed there is not valid after 3 years from the date it was signed, unless the document itself excludes that limit. An enduring power of attorney remains valid until it is ended.

Ask the lawyer or notary to check your parent's document against both sections. The Public Guardian and Trustee also says an enduring power of attorney continues until the adult revokes it or dies.

Without a power of attorney

If your parent is incapable and has no enduring power of attorney, the process is called committeeship. In this arrangement a private individual, a trust company or the Public Guardian and Trustee is granted authority to manage the adult's affairs, and is called a committee. A private committee, such as a family member, is appointed by the court, and the court order states any limits. One example the Public Guardian and Trustee gives is an order that forbids selling the adult's real estate without its permission. Start with a lawyer.

Which taxes and house bills must the estate pay or report?

Income tax

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) says that when a person dies, they are considered to have sold all their property just prior to death, at its fair market value on that date. If the house was your parent's principal residence, the home they ordinarily lived in, some or all of the gain may be exempt. The executor must still report it on the final tax return, the return for the year of death, with Schedule 3 and Form T1255.

The next step is easy to miss. CRA says the principal residence claim made for your parent applies only until the date of death. If the estate sells the house later, the gain goes on a separate return for the estate, called a T3 return. CRA says that gain is generally the difference between the sale price and the fair market value reported on the final return. So get a written value for the house as of the date of death, and ask an accountant how any change in value before the sale is taxed.

CRA's due date for the final return is April 30 of the following year for a death from January 1 to October 31, and six months after the death for a death from November 1 to December 31. Other dates apply if your parent or their spouse ran a business.

Before giving the heirs their shares, an executor can ask CRA for a clearance certificate, which confirms that the estate has paid the tax it owed. CRA says an executor who distributes assets without one is personally liable for unpaid amounts, up to the value of the assets distributed.

Property transfer tax and GST

The Province's list of exemptions from property transfer tax includes a transfer to an executor or administrator when the property is part of the estate. On GST, the federal sales tax, CRA says: "Generally, a sale of a previously occupied residential complex is exempt from the tax."

The home owner grant and deferred property tax

The Province says an executor or administrator is not automatically qualified to claim the home owner grant, a yearly reduction in property tax, for a deceased owner. Among other conditions, the applicant must be a spouse or listed relative of the owner who lived in the home on the date of death.

If your parent deferred property tax, the Province paid the tax and registered a lien, a legal claim, on the house. The Province says that when a sole owner dies, interest keeps being added to the account until it is paid in full, and that executors and administrators are not eligible to defer. The loan must be repaid in full when the house is sold.

How do you sell a house you never lived in?

Price. Ask for a price range based on recent sales of similar homes. Our free home value gives one, and our post on what a house is worth compares it with a BC Assessment value and an appraisal.

Repairs. Our guide to getting an older house ready to sell lists what to fix and what to leave.

Disclosure. BCFSA says sellers have a duty to disclose material latent defects. These are serious defects that a reasonable inspection cannot find, such as a basement that leaks when it rains. A common way to disclose is the Property Disclosure Statement, which BCFSA calls a voluntary form. An executor who never lived in the house may know little about it. BCFSA says a seller who cannot make statements about the property can complete a "Property No Disclosure Statement" form, and warns of a risk of litigation if the seller knew of a defect and failed to disclose it. Tell your agent what you know, and ask the lawyer which form to use.

Signing from another city. BCFSA says that in BC electronic signatures are valid on all types of contracts. Land title forms have their own rule: LTSA says the form that transfers ownership must be witnessed by a lawyer, a notary public or another person authorized by the Evidence Act. Ask the lawyer how to sign if you live outside BC.

Heirs who disagree. The Wills, Estates and Succession Act says an executor holds the estate's land as a trustee for the people entitled to it. If one heir wants to buy the house, ask the lawyer first, and get an independent appraisal, a written opinion of value, so every heir can see how the price was set. The Act also bars an executor from distributing the estate within 210 days after the grant, except by court order or with the consents the Act lists.

To see what the estate keeps after selling costs, set the purchase price to 0 in our downsizing calculator. Our downsizing checklist puts the steps of a sale in order.

This guide is general information about published rules, and each estate is different. Confirm legal questions with the estate's lawyer or notary, and tax questions with an accountant, before you sign.

Next step

When you are ready, ask us for a free home value. A BC-licensed REALTOR® will email you a price range based on recent sales of homes like your parent's. You do not have to sell with us. Our downsizing guide covers the rest of a sale.