Many people look forward to retreating to a vacation property, perhaps somewhere with a warmer climate than Alberta. Others may inherit property or land in another province or country. Either way, it is quite common to own property somewhere other than where you live. From an estate planning perspective, owning property in more than one jurisdiction creates some additional considerations that should be reviewed with your legal and tax advisors.

This is important because each jurisdiction has its own laws and requirements around estate planning. In Alberta, an estate plan generally includes three documents: a will, enduring power of attorney and personal directive. Alberta legislation sets out the formal requirements when preparing these documents. However, each jurisdiction is unique in terms of what the documents are called and the formal requirements to ensure they are valid. For instance, in B.C. the basic estate planning documents include a will, enduring power of attorney and representation agreement and the B.C. estate legislation is quite different from Alberta. Further, if one owns property in another country, there may also be language considerations when preparing documents.

Another key difference between jurisdictions is the court process when one dies along with court probate fees. In Alberta, the maximum court probate fee is $525.  However, in most other provinces the court probate fee is a percentage of the value of the estate. This is the case in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, P.E.I., Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. In B.C. and Ontario in particular, the probate fees can be sizable. As a result, the estate planning tools and strategies used in places with high probate fees are often different from Alberta. For an Alberta resident that owns a vacation property in B.C. or Ontario, this is an important estate planning consideration to seek legal advice on.

For these reasons, depending on the type of asset(s), value and ownership in other jurisdictions, estate planning in that jurisdiction may be recommended. In other words, if a person lives in Alberta and owns a vacation property in California, it’s best to talk to an estate planning lawyer about the need for planning in California. If preparation of documents in both Alberta and California is recommended, it is critical that the legal and tax advisors in both jurisdictions work together to ensure the documents create a holistic plan and do not contradict or cancel each other out.

Finally, it should be noted, depending on the circumstances, there may also be tax considerations. For example, for a snowbird that owns property in the US, it is important to consider the US day count rules as well as US estate tax considerations that may affect planning recommendations. Find more on that in our Tax Considerations for Snowbirds guide. 

Needless to say, owning assets and or spending significant time in multiple jurisdictions adds complexity to an estate plan. The above considerations are only the tip of the iceberg. Thankfully however, because this is becoming a more common situation there are a number of legal and tax advisors that specialize in cross-border multi-jurisdictional planning. As each individual’s situation is unique it is important to seek both legal and tax advice in each jurisdiction based on personal circumstances to ensure all factors are considered and recommendations are tailored to individual needs and goals.