Prior to filing the affidavit in support of my request to have the estate grant revocation hearing on 16 December 2024, I am sending you the body so you are aware of my points.
I welcome any comments.
Affidavit December 8 2024 xxx
A F F I D A V I T
That I (Audrey) of Vancouver BC make oath and say as follows:
That the Estate Grant sealed by Registrar’s signature on June 27 2024 be revoked. Due process was not followed.
That Audrey disputed Jenny’s P1. Audrey’s P1 was not resolved by a court hearing so the Estate Grant should not have been sealed by signature of the registrar on June 27, 2024. The registry relies on lawyers not to serve P1s or file P2s if there are disputes. Disputes do not need to be in the form of a P29.
That Jenny was not authorized to file the P1/P2 as there were multiple P1s and only one applicant could file the P1.
Jenny’s P1 was not served on the Public Guardian and Trustee, the Committee of Estate.
That there was a conflict of interest that could bias decisions made by the administrator. (Estate Settlement Agreement).
That prior to August 15, 2023 the Defendant (Jenny) wanted the Plaintiff (Audrey) to be the administrator and continued until Candace was hired.
Jenny is approxiately 70 years old and weighs 80 pounds. Jenny by her own admission, is in ill health and did not want to be the administrator. Jenny suffering from PTSD makes decision-making difficult. And she tends to avoid things. Avoidance is a common trait for those with PTSD.
I agreed to be the administrator of the Estate on the condition that if or when Jenny was up to it, we could then co-administer the Estate together.
On August 15, 2023 Audrey mailed a P1 to the interested parties. No one opposed the application.
In answer to Ron’s P1, after speaking with Jenny she said she did not want Ron to be the administrator, Audrey filed a Dispute Note on September 12, 2023 reflecting this. I also did not want Ron to be the administrator. I had experience with him and I believed he lacked integrity. Exhibit
On September 19, 2023 a P1 was mailed naming Ron and Jenny as co-applicants. Jenny said that she had no knowledge of the P1 being issued. She reitereated to me that she did not want to co-administer the Estate with Ron.
After Jenny hired Candace in January 2024, Jenny mailed a P1 on May 8, 2024 to the beneficiaries with an Estate Settlement Agreement. The letter said that there was urgency to sign the Estate Settlement Agreement.
The Estate Settlement Agreement was drafted by Candace in collaboration with Leah, the lawyer for Ron.
There was no mention of I being the administrator or co-administrator. I was deeply concerned as I believed Jenny could not be the administrator alone. She was not qualified.
On May 10, 2024, the Plaintiff phoned Jenny and Jenny said apologetically that she was pressured to sign the P1 and the Estate Settlement Agreement.
Audrey emailed Candace accusing her of coercing Jenny to do the P1 and coercing her to agree to the Estate Settlement Agreement.
I believed having my P1, Jenny’s P1 could not advance unless a court intervened as there were now multiple applicants and only one could file the P2. The most qualified would be chosen.
I told Candace I was disputing the P1 and the Estate Settlement Agreement. I told her of my agreement with Jenny that we were going to be co-administrators.
The Estate Settlement Agreement was STARTLING in that among things it contained the clause.
Neither Jenny nor her family shall be required to pay any kind of rent or other payments or compensation to the Estate on account of their occupation and use of the Property for any period prior to or after the date of the Deceased’s death. Paragraph 11. Exhibit
Even the suggestion of free rent for Jenny and her family would mean that there was a conflict so Jenny should not be the administrator. No rent has been paid by Jenny or her daughter’s family since December 2022 and the utilities approximating $1,000 a month are currently being paid by the Estate.
Jenny’s P1 was not served on the Public Guardian and Trustee, who was the representative of the Deceased. Neither was the Estate Settlement Agreement. The PGT was the Deceased’s representative and his Committee of Estate. The PGT was the Estate’s interim administrator.
Although Candace knew I was disputing Jenny’s P1 and had just hired a lawyer, she on May 31 2024 filed a P2 package in the probate registry.
The P2 package was not served on me.
The P2 package was not served on the Public Guardian and Trustee.
The P2 should not have been filed as the Audrey’s P1 stood in the way of filing the P2. Only one applicant has the authority to file a P2. In cases of multiple applicants the court has to first decide who is the best qualified and Candace skipped that step.
On June 27, 2024 the Estate Grant was sealed by signature of the Registrar. I was not advised of this.
On October 16 2024 the Estate Grant was released from the probate registry by precipe upon payment of the probate fees.
I was not served the P2 which was a violation of due process. This prevented me from knowing what was going on and also prevented me from questioning/disputing the P2 package if there were errors. Serving the P2 is a necessary check by the interested parties to detect errors/fraud before the stamping of the estate grant not after it. Misunderstandings that could gain costly lawyer fees would be minimalized.
Neither the P1 nor the P2 was served on the Public Guardian and Trustee, who was the Committee of Estate of the deceased and who had a statutory duty to manage the estate. The Public Guardian and Trustee would have had an opinion if Jenny should become the administrator as the PGT was involved in a dispute with Ron and Jenny in 1992 (Kamloops SC8654) over who should be Rockey’s committee of estate and committee of person. This dispute fueled the existing toxicity between Jenny and Ron. The PGT decided Jenny should be the Committee of Person and the PGT would become the Committee of Estate. The toxicity after the petition continues to this day. In all probability, the PGT would have advised that neither Jenny nor Ron should be administrator to this Estate, either jointly or singularly as their toxicity would in all likelihood negatively affect the probate.
Audrey relied on the Public Guardian and Trustee to look after the estate as an interim administer.
I did not want Jenny to be the administrator because (1) she did not want to be (2) she was not qualified and (3) she was coerced to be the P1 applicant (4) was coerced to approve the Estate Settlement Agreement. Although the ESA was to her benefit, she was nevertheless coerced. The ESA was a collaboration made by Candace and Leah.
From May 2024 to now, I tried unsuccessfully to contact Jenny and Ron. I was told by the lawyers I could contact the beneficiaries even though they had lawyers. Later this was rescinded. I wanted to know what was going on and why they were opposed me being administrator. I advised them of the conflict and that due service was neglected.
I was threatened (May 2024) by Candace that if I did not consent to withdrawing my Dispute Notice against Ron that I would have to pay solicitor-client costs as she was going to make an application to the court. I was also threatened multiple times by my lawyer if I attempted to dispute anything further it would drain the estate of its assets. I was facing reverse extortion. If I did nothing I would not have to pay but if I did something I would have to pay. I found these threats untenable. They caused me much upset, anxiety and disbelief. I had to allow unethical behavior to go unnoticed to protect the estate from bankruptcy. I had to allow an administrator to administer the estate when she was unsuited. I had to overlook due process violations. And, I had little hope of hiring another lawyer as it would be very difficult. Lawyers do not want to do estates unless all the interested parties are on board. Jenny was able to get multiple lawyers as her in-law is the former mayor of Kamloops and now its MLA. Candace’s firm has billed more than $1,000,000 for work they did for the City. To quiet me, Wes sent me a bill dated October 3, 2024. It was for $5,324.86 which I considered exorbitant, a sign of my pending in penury. The writing was on the wall. Anything further would be insane. It would drain the estate and cause me financial ruin. There was no mention that my lawyer tried to pause the estate grant. He must have known that Candace had filed the P2 and everyone was waiting for the Estate Grant. From the two conversations I had with Cassandra it was as if her comments were premised on the fact that the Estate Grant was probably already sealed. The Estate Grant would stop further disputes as the expense would be unrealistic to persue. Wes made no effort to resolve my concerns. He said that since the beneficiaries objected to me being administrator, it would never happen. Not true, choosing an administrator is not a popularity contest, it is who is the best qualified. Jenny by her own admission said she was not suitable and did not want to be the administrator. Jenny’s prior lawyers (James and Shahdin) both pushed for Jenny to co-administer the estate with Ron and when they realized that it was not going to happen, they fired her. After Shahdin fired Jenny, Leah then proposed that Jenny administer the estate alone with the blessing of Ron. Bewildering. Candace ignored my P1. I was told if I tried to exercise my rights/concerns, the majority would win. Not true. Ron had groomed the Willett girls who took no interest in the estate but provided them misleading information. Threatening me with something that might not happen is fraud. I was being threatened not to expose unethical behaviors and due process errors.
As nothing was happening on the estate, I decided to start collecting information for the P2 which I intended to file. I had no knowledge that a P2 was already filed and my efforts made me look like an idiot. On September 6, 2024 I sent Candance an email. Knowing something was amiss, Candace should have paused the final release of the P19.
But instead she had the estate grant released on September 16 2024 by precipe upon the expiry of my Dispute Note against Ron. However, that expiry note had no bearing on my dispute pertained to Jenny’s P1. Since my dispute regarding Jenny was not resolved, then the dispute was outstanding. The Estate Grant should not have been signed or released.
Because my dispute was not documented by filing a P29 that did not mean my dispute was moot and Candace knew that. The registry relies on the lawyers to make sure no surprises happen, like disputes surfacing or disputes not being resolved before the estate grant is sealed or date stamped. It relies on lawyers not to dupe the registry. The estate grant should not stand.
Up until last week I was emailing asking Jenny to resign because of the unethical behaviour of her lawyer. The Estate Grant was obtained by fraud. I suggested we go back to our original agreement that I be the administrator or we co-administer the estate. She never responded.
Not only did Candace know there were issues not resolved, but so did Leah, the lawyer for Ron, and Wes/Cassandra, the lawyer for the Plaintiff and the Public Guardian and Trustee. They knew the drill as to when the estate grant would most likely be sealed and they deliberately waited until Ron’s Notice of Dispute expired. Candace should have made a court application to cancel my Dispute Note against Ron as she threatened. After an Estate Grant is sealed, it is exponentially difficult to revoke. Catch-me-if-you-can. This type of unethical behavior is systemic among estate lawyers. It erodes public trust. It is stealth. It is trickery.
I was advised that I only had thirty days to file an application to revoke the Estate Grant. I filed one with a hearing date being December 16, 2024.
There was conflict/confusion as well as who was the lawyer for Jenny and who was the lawyer for the estate. Candace said she was the lawyer for Jenny yet she performed functions that a lawyer for the estate would do.
A lawyer’s duty is to uphold the law and the integrity of the legal system. This means they must follow legal procedures and act ethically. They cannot engage in or condone illegal or unethical behavior, even if it might benefit their clients or themselves.
None of the lawyers acted ethically. James and Shahdin abandoned Jenny. Ron told me that he did not want to co-administer with Jenny, it was Leah’s idea. Candace used stealth to get the Estate Grant.
The reason for WESA is for disputes/misunderstandings to be resolved informally before an Estate Grant is sealed. Preferably even before a P1 is served. Unfortunately, this is not happening. The philosophy among estate lawyers seem to be catch-me-if-you-can. Maybe it was that way before WESA 2014. Maybe it is a legal strategy. Make a scenario happen so that any dispute would be very difficult if not impossible to pursue. Probate would be made easier for the lawyers. What sane person would take the chance of draining a modest estate of its assets. Let the unqualified administer, let lawyers bully clients, let due process fall.
Because due process was not followed, and all the lawyers knew it, the Estate Grant should be revoked. The Courts cannot condone the behavior displayed in this probate. Each of the lawyers who condoned this behavior should be estopped from billing their clients.
Whatever the dialogue the fact that the P1 was not served on the PGT, that should be enough to revoke the Estate Grant.
