BC Court of Appeal upholds professional administration order that parties didn’t seek as a remedy

The British Columbia Court of Appeal has ruled that a judge had the discretion to order professional administration of an estate, even without a formal application supported by direct evidence of the costs associated with that manner of administration.

Alvaro v. Alvaro, 2025 BCCA 386, revolved around the estate of Vera Alvaro, who had three children: Joseph, Karen, and Paula. In her house in Richmond, Vera began residing with her granddaughter, Mya, and Mya’s husband. Mya was Paula’s daughter.

Years later, in May 2022, Vera passed away. Her estate’s principal asset was her residence, assessed at about $1.46 million. She left a will made in 2015, whose beneficiaries were the parties in this case. Specifically, the will:

left equal shares of the estate residue to her three children

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