In Ontario the role is called estate trustee, and it is a job rather than an honour. You are responsible for locating and securing the assets, paying the debts and taxes, and distributing what is left to the right people in the right shares. You can be held personally liable if you get parts of it wrong. It commonly takes a year or more, and you can decline the role — but only before you have started acting.
You can say no, but the window closes
If you have been named in a will and do not want the role, you can renounce it. That is a formal step, and it must happen before you begin dealing with the estate.
Once you have started acting as estate trustee — moving money, selling things, dealing with the bank — you have generally accepted the role and stepping back becomes much harder.
So the decision to say no is one you make at the beginning, not three months in when it turns out to be more work than you expected.
What the job actually involves
- Finding the original will and confirming it is the most recent one
- Securing the assets — property, accounts, valuables — and insuring anything that needs it
- Identifying every debt and every beneficiary
- Applying for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee, if one is required
- Paying the debts, in the right order
- Filing the deceased’s final tax return, and often an estate return as well
- Keeping accounts of everything you do
- Distributing what is left
That is the short version. Each of those lines can take weeks.
The part that creates personal liability
Two things catch people.
Distributing too early. If you pay out the beneficiaries and a debt or tax bill surfaces afterwards, you can be personally on the hook for it. Money that has gone to beneficiaries is very hard to get back, and the creditor’s claim is against you.
Not getting tax clearance. The Canada Revenue Agency issues a clearance certificate confirming the estate’s taxes are settled. Distributing before you have it means taking on the risk yourself.
Neither of these is obscure. They are the ordinary way estate trustees end up paying out of their own pocket.
Probate, and whether you need it
A Certificate of Appointment — what most people call probate — is the court confirming your authority to act. Banks and land registry offices frequently will not deal with you without it.
Ontario charges Estate Administration Tax on the value of the estate, with the first portion exempt, and there is a simplified process for smaller estates.
Not every estate needs probate. It depends on what the assets are and how they were held.
You are allowed to be paid
Estate trustees are entitled to compensation for the work. Many family members do not realise this and take on months of unpaid administration assuming it comes with the title.
Compensation comes out of the estate and there are established guidelines for what is reasonable. If you are doing the work, it is worth knowing that.
When to get help
Some estates genuinely are simple — one property, one bank account, two beneficiaries who agree.
Get advice when any of these are true: the estate has debts you are unsure about, there is property to sell, beneficiaries disagree, someone is disputing the will, there is a business involved, or assets sit outside Ontario. In those cases the personal liability is real and the cost of getting it wrong is larger than the cost of advice.
If you have been named estate trustee and are not sure what you have taken on, our wills and estates team can walk you through what the estate needs. You’ll receive a response the same business day.