1 Definitions And Interpretation

• 1 (1) In this Act:
• “beneficiary” means

• (a) a person named in a will to receive all or part of an estate, or
• (b) a person having a beneficial interest in a trust created by a will;

• “court” means the Supreme Court;
• “descendant” means all lineal descendants through all generations;
• “estate” means the property of a deceased person;
• “foreign grant” means a grant of probate, including letters of verification issued in Quebec, or a grant of administration or other document purporting to be of the same nature issued by a court outside British Columbia;
• “foreign personal representative” means a personal representative to whom a foreign grant has been made;
• “gift” includes

• (a) a beneficial devise or bequest, and
• (b) an appointment affecting property other than the appointment of a person as executor of the will;

• “instrument” includes a testamentary instrument and other legal documents, but does not include an instrument, other than a will, to which the Insurance Act applies;
• “intestate” means a person who dies without a will;
• “intestate estate” means the estate of a person who dies without a will;
• “intestate successor” means a person who is entitled to receive all or part of an intestate estate;
• “land” includes buildings and fixtures, and every right, title, interest, estate or claim to or in land;
• “property” means land and personal property;
• “registrable charge” means a charge created by an order of the court under section 33(2) and made effective by registration in a land title office under section 34;
• “representation grant” means

• (a) the grant of probate of a will in British Columbia, whether made for general, special or limited purposes,
• (b) the grant of administration of the estate of a deceased person in British Columbia, with or without will annexed, whether made for general, special or limited purposes,
• (c) the resealing in British Columbia of a grant of probate of a will or a grant of administration of the estate of a deceased person,
• (d) an ancillary grant of probate or administration, or
• (e) [NOT IN FORCE]

• “security interest” means an interest in property that secures payment or performance of an obligation;
• “spousal home” means

• (a) a parcel of land, owned or owned in common by the deceased person and not leased to another person, that
  • (i) is shown as a separate taxable parcel on a taxation roll for the current year prepared under the Taxation (Rural Area) Act or on an assessment roll used for the levying of taxes in a municipality, and
  • (ii) has as improvements situated on it a building assessed and taxed in the current year as an improvement, in which the deceased person and the person’s spouse were ordinarily resident,
• (b) a share owned or owned in common by the deceased person in a corporation whose charter, as defined in section 1(1) of the Business Corporations Act, provides that a building owned or operated by the corporation must be owned and operated exclusively for the benefit of shareholders in the corporation who are occupants of the building, if the value of the share is equivalent to the capital value of a suite owned by the corporation, in which suite the deceased person and the person’s spouse were ordinarily resident and which was not leased to any other person,
• (c) a manufactured home, as defined in the Manufactured Home Act, situated on land not owned by the owner of the manufactured home and in which the deceased person and the person’s spouse were ordinarily resident,
• (d) a parcel of land on Nisga’a Lands or treaty lands that has as improvements situated on it a building in which the deceased person and the person’s spouse were ordinarily resident,
  • (i) owned or owned in common by the deceased person and not leased to another person,
  • (ii) held or held in common by the deceased person by way of a right to possession under Nisga’a law and not leased to another person, or
  • (iii) held or held in common by the deceased person by way of an interest under the laws of a treaty first nation and not leased to another person;

• “spouse” has the meaning given to it in section 2;
• “will” means

• (a) a will,
• (b) a testament,
• (c) a codicil,
• (d) an appointment by will or by writing in the nature of a will in exercise of a power,
• (e) anything ordered to be effective as a will under section 58, or
• (f) any other testamentary disposition except the following:
  • (i) a designation under Part 5;
  • (ii) a designation of a beneficiary under Part 3 or Part 4 of the Insurance Act;
  • (iii) a testamentary disposition governed specifically by another enactment or law of British Columbia or of another jurisdiction in or outside Canada;

• “will-maker” means a person who makes a will;
• “will-maker’s signature” includes a signature made by another person in the manner described in subsection (2).
• (2) A reference to the signature of a will-maker includes a signature made by another person in the will-maker’s presence and by the will-maker’s direction, and the signature may be either the will-maker’s name or the name of the person signing.
• (3) If there is any conflict or inconsistency between this Act and the Trustee Act with respect to the powers and duties or office of a personal representative, this Act prevails to the extent of the conflict or inconsistency.

2009-13-1, effective March 31, 2014 (B.C. Reg. 148/2013); 2011-6-1; 2011-6-2; 2011-6-3; 2014-9-50; 2014-14-142; 2014-32-63; 2014-17-28, effective May 4, 2016 (B.C. Reg. 101/2016); 2023-10-1176; 2024-13-269.