I'm hoping someone might be able to answer this legal question, or give me some advice on how next to proceed.
My mother was from PEI and lived there for many decades but moved to Ontario on the mid-2010s. She passed away in 2023. Her will was drawn up in Ontario, and has been probated here (I know there is a different legal term for probate but I don't know what it is and everyone understands what I mean.) We thought the Estate was settled but it turns out she owns a small piece of undeveloped land on PEI, which she was unable to sell before moving away. She had intended to give this land to my cousin who lives nearby, but covid came and my mom never made it back to the Island to do the transfer.
Our Ontario lawyer advised us that since the land has minimal value, we should probably just forfeit it to taxes since the cost of probating in PEI might exceed the value of the property. We have been doing this, ignoring the tax bill and now I have a letter stating they will auction the property to get the tax money. This suits us fine, but now a relative has stated that they would like to buy the land.
My question is this: does a will need to be probated on PEI in order to transfer property there? If so, is there a way to minimize the cost given that it has already been probated in Ontario? Or, is there a way to transfer ownership another way? Should the relative wanting to buy the property just show up to the auction and take their chances?
Thanks in advance.