Sidhu Legal · Surrey, the Lower Mainland and BC
Wills, real estate and family agreementsfor Surrey families
These three areas meet more often than people expect. A separation changes what a will does, and a new partner changes how a home should be held. Sidhu Legal works on all three, so the documents agree with each other.
The short answer
One practice for the will, the title and the agreement
Sidhu Legal is a law practice in Surrey, British Columbia, working in three areas. Wills & Estates covers the documents you sign to plan ahead (a will, an enduring power of attorney, a representation agreement, sometimes a trust) and the work that follows a death, from the probate application to an estate someone disputes. Real Estate covers buying, selling and refinancing a property and changing whose name is on its title. Family Agreements covers separation, marriage and cohabitation agreements, uncontested divorce, and mediation and arbitration.
The family work stops short of the courtroom. Contested family cases, personal injury and ICBC claims, criminal charges and immigration matters are outside this practice; Ng Sidhu Law's website, ngsidhu.com, covers those areas. Sidhu Legal is a member of the Ng Sidhu Law association of independent law firms.
Meetings take place at the Surrey office, and most clients live or own property in Surrey and the Lower Mainland. To start, send the contact form or call 1 (778) 200-1616. The form asks first which of the three areas your matter is in, or whether it touches more than one.
What does Sidhu Legal do?
Sidhu Legal works in three connected areas of British Columbia law. Wills and estates is planning ahead and settling an estate after a death. Real estate is getting ownership onto the land title register correctly and changing it later. Family agreements is putting the terms of living together, marrying or separating in writing, without a contested court case.
Wills & Estates
The documents you sign while you can, and the work an executor faces after a death: wills, trusts, powers of attorney, probate and the claims a will can face.
Wills, trusts, powers of attorney & probateReal Estate
How your name goes on a title, what the register protects, and what a purchase, sale, family transfer or new mortgage changes for you later.
Buying, selling, title & refinancingFamily Agreements
Written terms for moving in, marrying or separating, an uncontested divorce, and mediation or arbitration when a few points are still open.
Separation, marriage & cohabitation agreementsGuides
What if one change in my life affects my home, my relationship and my will?
That is what the guides are for. Each one follows a single event across all three areas, in the order the paperwork has to change: separating when you own a home, your will after a separation, buying a home with a partner you haven't married, and planning an estate in a blended family.
- Separating with a homeBuyout, sale or co-owning, and the order
- Separation and your willWhat separating cancels, and what to sign
- Buying with a partnerTitle, money and wills before completion
- Blended family estatesProviding for a spouse and your children
Before you get in touch
Is Sidhu Legal the same firm as Ng Sidhu Law?
Sidhu Legal is a member of the Ng Sidhu Law association of independent law firms. The two websites cover different work. This one covers wills and estates, real estate and family agreements. Ng Sidhu Law's site, ngsidhu.com, covers its own practice, which includes personal injury, ICBC claims, criminal and immigration matters, and family cases that go before a judge.
Do you go to court on family matters?
No. The family side of this practice is agreements: separation, marriage and cohabitation agreements, uncontested divorce, and mediation or arbitration. An uncontested divorce is granted on documents, with nobody attending court. When parenting, support or the division of property has to be argued in front of a judge, that is family litigation, which Ng Sidhu Law handles.
Where do you meet clients, and can I sign without coming in?
The office is at Unit 1104, 13737 96 Avenue, Surrey, BC V3V 0C6. Whether a document can be signed somewhere else depends on the document. A will can be witnessed by electronic presence only under the conditions the Wills, Estates and Succession Act sets, and Land Title Office documents and sworn affidavits each follow their own signing rules.
What happens after I get in touch?
The first step is a conflict check, done before anyone gives you advice. A firm can't act against someone it already represents, and in a family matter it can act for only one of the two people. Once that is clear, you will be asked for identification at a first meeting, which BC lawyers must collect on most files.
Common questions
Can I deal with my will and my separation agreement at the same time?
Yes, and the two usually should be looked at together. In BC, separating already cancels gifts to a spouse in an existing will, but it leaves the rest of the will in place, and it may not reach your RRSP, TFSA or insurance designations, which are changed separately with each plan. A new will can be signed before the separation agreement is final, then checked against it once the terms are settled.
Can one lawyer act for both of us?
For wills, often yes: couples commonly have their wills prepared together, provided both agree that what one tells the lawyer can be shared with the other. For a separation, marriage or cohabitation agreement, no. Each person needs their own lawyer, because the agreement is only as sound as the independent advice each side received before signing.
Do you handle personal injury, ICBC or criminal matters?
No. Those areas, along with immigration and family cases that go to court, are outside this practice. Ng Sidhu Law's website, ngsidhu.com, covers them. Sidhu Legal's work is limited to wills and estates, real estate, and family agreements.
Where is your office?
The office is at Unit 1104, 13737 96 Avenue, Surrey, BC V3V 0C6. Most clients live or own property in Surrey and elsewhere in the Lower Mainland.
More about the practice is on the about page, and plain explanations of BC rules are in the articles.
Not sure which of the three your matter falls in?
Say what is changing: a death, a purchase, a relationship. The first conversation sorts out which documents are involved and in what order.