# Inheritance in Canada



## Flash (Nov 25, 2014)

Not sure if this is the correct forum.

If I am the only child, will the estate of my parent be mine automatically if they pass away (the parent is separated for a long time) in Canada?

Is there any need of a will?


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

You are talking about a parent who does 'intestate' that is without a will. You don't mention a province but the rules vary by province. Jim Yih has a good summary of issues arising without a will: http://retirehappy.ca/consequences-if-you-die-without-a-will/.
I don't generally like to reference to Wiki, but it has a table illustrating some of the provincial differences: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inheritance_law_in_Canada.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Estate laws do vary with each province, and there is a hierarchy of who gets what if they die without a will. It can be fairly straightforward, then again it can get messy if there are other people who think they have a claim such as a parent's new boyfriend/girlfriend.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

+1^ Also, if the person dies intestate, the estate, if there is any value to it, will have to go through the probate court to determine who gets what. 
Any entities (or persons) can put in a claim to the estate at that time. The taxman comes first, followed by preferential creditors next. The residual left, (if any)
is then distributed to blood relatives left up ton the probate court. If no blood relatives can be found, it usually then goes to the province of residence.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

To answer your last question first. Yes, there is a need for a will.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

A Will will make things much easier. 

Be aware of Probate Taxes. To the best of my knowledge Quebec and Alberta are the only two provinces that only charge a small probate admin fee vs. an onerous tax on the estate. You can easily get around these probate takes by having a designated beneficiary for any larger assets such as property, stocks, etc. We were able to avoid most of the Probate tax on my parent's estate by doing exactly this.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

Flash said:


> ...
> If I am the only child, will the estate of my parent be mine automatically if they pass away (the parent is separated for a long time) ...


Are we talking about one or two parents here? If your parents have been separated for along time, but there is no divorce settlement or separation agreement, then that is all the more reason to need a will. Otherwise the estranged parent may have a claim on the estate.


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## Flash (Nov 25, 2014)

Thank you all for reply. Looks like a Will is the way to go. So I guess just visit any notary is enough? Since it's pretty straight forward (100% to me) I assume it will be fast and inexpensive?

@fraser. Isn't the designated beneficiary the same thing as the inheritor?


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

No, this is not my understanding.

When I probated a will all of the non designated assets went into the estate and were probated. Some assets did not go into the estate. Real estate that was held jointly, bank accounts that were held jointly, and registered securities that had a specific beneficiary attached to them. Everything else went to probate and was taxed. The bank told us that they block access to all accounts over $10K until such time as the probate papers are issued.


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## heyjude (May 16, 2009)

No, a designated beneficiary of an asset is not necessarily a beneficiary of the will. For example, if I designate you as the beneficiary of my RRSP, you automatically get my RRSP, will or no will. I might choose to leave you something else in my will, or I might not. The will applies only to assets that have not been designated. If I designate that my RRSP goes to my estate, you will get whatever my will says you will get. If I don't mention you in my will, you will not get anything.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Flash said:


> Thank you all for reply. Looks like a Will is the way to go. So I guess just visit any notary is enough? Since it's pretty straight forward (100% to me) I assume it will be fast and inexpensive?
> 
> @fraser. Isn't the designated beneficiary the same thing as the inheritor?


It more depends on the assets than the beneficiary in your case. Complications can come up if there are multiple people involved who may want to stake a claim, however if the assets are not standard, located in multiple provinces/countries, if there is real estate, if there is significant debt...all these things can complicate an estate as well and may require someone with more expertise than a notary.

Most lawyers will do up a will for a couple hundred dollars if you shop around...of course others will charge a lot more.

You should also consider who the executor will be. There are some responsibilities and liabilities involved with that...which have serious consequences if not completed properly. Not saying it's a hard job, I've probated a number of wills, but it's not as simple as "I'm the only child, I get everything" either.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

For those who say they have probated wills, do you mean you handled the probate directly yourself, or do you mean you hired a lawyer to make application to the court? 

I ask primarily because my mother recently passed away with bro and myself the sole beneficiaries and co-executors. The estate is not overly complicated as we cleaned it up over the years in anticipation of this day. I am contemplating undertaking probate myself and excluding the lawyers.

Added: Alberta based estate


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

I've done all the paperwork in multiple provinces and handed it in to the courts for the actual "probable", no lawyers involved.

As I recall, in Alberta, you can go down to the queen's printer and they have a package (it was about $50 decades ago) about an inch thick. It was quite intimidating until you realized that it was the first half is the set of forms for *every* possible scenario (died with a will, died intestate, dies with a will and real estate, dies intestate with real estate, dies intestate and common law, died intestate with children and common law, etc.) filled out as an example. The second half was the same forms blank.

All you had to do was find the example forms which matched your situation and then find the blank copy and fill it out with your information. Alberta was the easiest place to do it because of this package.

Not sure if they still do the package (haven't kept up with cutbacks in services for all the provinces), but the queen's printer in Alberta made legal stuff a breeze in the past, way better than other provinces.

Not sure if this is the package, but a quick search showed me this...

http://www.qp.alberta.ca/570.cfm

Probably best to go down and ask in person.

http://www.qp.alberta.ca

This may also help...

http://www.programs.alberta.ca/Living/5959.aspx?Ns=5251&N=770

I did, however, hire an accountant in every case to file the final tax returns.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Cool. I will do the research on resources once I get time to do so. I believe there might even be 'fillable PDFs' online to facilitate this. A way to save about $2k.


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## LBCfan (Jan 13, 2011)

AltaRed said:


> For those who say they have probated wills, do you mean you handled the probate directly yourself, or do you mean you hired a lawyer to make application to the court?


I've done it both ways, both Sask. estates. The first time (1992) I acquired an example 'Petition for Probate' and updated it. I also wrote in in plain English as opposed to legalese. A friend (judge) proof-read it for me and suggested one minor change. Surrogate Court replied with 'Letters of Probate'. The second time a lawyer friend offered to do the petition on an hourly basis. He never billed the estate and died shortly thereafter so I can't comment on cost.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

I did the Probate for my mothers estate (British Columbia). The person whom she dealt with at the bank suggested this to me saying it was fairly easy.

I bought the Probate how to book at Staples @ $25. I read it a few times. It was very good. It had the instructions, the forms, the advice...everything. The book even advised me to take the forms to the court house and have them reviewed prior to submitting them-but not to do it on a busy day such as month end. Did just this.

Several forms had to be notorized and as it turned out a lady at the courthouse was able to do this-for a fee of course. I think we paid $300 for the Probate fee, $50 or $75 in notary fees, plus a bunch of tax. I had to pay everything (just over $5K) on document submission (by credit card). 

Three weeks later we got the Probate approval. On the strength of that the bank released everything to us.

It was a very simple will. Most assets did not have to go to probate as we had previously arranged joint ownership, etc. in order to avoid Probate taxes etc.

There was nothing overly complicated. What ticked me off was that I subsequently found out that some provinces like Alberta or Quebec would have charged a grand total of $175 in fees w/ no tax. I thought that the $5K charge was a disgrace and a money grab by the Province. All the process does is ensure forms are filled out, the will is up to date, heirs get copies of the will, and then a judge signs off. We paid $5K for a clerk to review the papers for all of 10 minutes and a judge, or a judges assistant, to sign off the Probate.

My advice...if it is a fairly straightforward estate then buy a Probate kit, review the process, and then decide whether to go forward on your own or engage a lawyer to do it for you. Our family lawyer said we saved ourselves $3-$5K by doing it ourselves. I spent about five hours total on it but I am a slow learner. My guess is that an experienced lawyer's clerk could do it in one hour or less.


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## Flash (Nov 25, 2014)

Can the executor be the same person as the beneficiary? (ie. I am the executor and the beneficiary?) I understand the whole need of an executor if multiple parties want a claim at the inheritance (siblings, step-siblings, spouses, step-spouses, etc), but all this probate, and executors seem very complicated.
We would expect in our case to be something very simple.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

I was the executor and one of the beneficiaries.

When we did our will in Alberta, the lawyer strongly suggested that we select an executor who was not a beneficiary of either of us. Cannot remember why but it did become an issue for us.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Yes the beneficiaries can also be the executors, but it can lead to some situations where there may be a conflict of interest and lead to legal challenges by other beneficiaries.

As an executor is also allowed to charge for their services, for example, people may feel they are getting more. If there are items with sentimental value, see to equal distribution may also be an issue...there are other examples of course.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

Flash said:


> Thank you all for reply. Looks like a Will is the way to go. So I guess just visit any notary is enough? Since it's pretty straight forward (100% to me) I assume it will be fast and inexpensive?
> 
> ....


Your reference to notary suggests you live in Quebec, where wills are handled by notaries. Civil law in Quebec can be quite different from all the other provinces. Bear that in mind in reading all the above posts.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

My parents will was drafted by a notary in British Columbia.


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## Flash (Nov 25, 2014)

Just a Guy said:


> Yes the beneficiaries can also be the executors, but it can lead to some situations where there may be a conflict of interest and lead to legal challenges by other beneficiaries.
> 
> As an executor is also allowed to charge for their services, for example, people may feel they are getting more. If there are items with sentimental value, see to equal distribution may also be an issue...there are other examples of course.


I'm the only beneficiary, so it would make sense to be the executor as well, with all the benefits and no downsides. Especially if a non-family executor might cost money, or can cause difficulties



OhGreatGuru said:


> Your reference to notary suggests you live in Quebec, where wills are handled by notaries. Civil law in Quebec can be quite different from all the other provinces. Bear that in mind in reading all the above posts.


I'm in BC



fraser said:


> My parents will was drafted by a notary in British Columbia.


Is there a public list of notaries in BC? Are they all pretty much the same, or we should be careful when choosing one?


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Make sure you understand your responsibilities...it's not a hard job, but there are things you need to do and make sure are done before you pay out the estate.

Things like taxes, registering the death, informing people (usually government, pensions, insurance, etc), probate, etc.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

fraser said:


> My parents will was drafted by a notary in British Columbia.


This was news to me. I have also heard that BC has made it relatively easy for a layman to file probate. Theoretically this can be done in any province, but I know Ontario makes it very complicated (presumably protecting a lot of lawyers' incomes) It's nice to know some provinces are trying to make life easier for the citizens.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

Yes, it was fairly straightforward. I imagine the steps are the same in most provinces. It might appear confusing at first blush but when broken down by steps it is logical. The most complicated part is probably assembly of the basic data that are necessary for the Probate forms. I went through the package three times and then decided that it was not nearly as complicated as I had imagined. And it wasn't.

There is really nothing difficult to it once you understand the forms and what the reporting requirements are. I cannot imagine that Ontario would be much different than BC...other than perhaps the admin charge and the tax rate on the estate.


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## Flash (Nov 25, 2014)

Sorry for reviving thread, but what is this probate people kept writing about? 

Also, would a will made in a province follow around if changing provinces without the need of making another one?


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## LBCfan (Jan 13, 2011)

Probate is the legal process that determines a will is the one that someone's assets will be divided according to. If you change provinces, you change legislation and should change wills (since what is legal in one province may not be in another).


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

A bit of a technicality to VBCfan's response. It is actually the process to determine whether a will is valid or not (most importantly), and then the administration of the estate. This is a US definition http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Probate but the overall concept is the same in Canada.

As LBCfan said, it varies by province since Family Law is provincial domain. I have had a new will done every time I have changed provinces of residence. It is not impossible to process a will across jurisdictions (provinces) but the legal and court processes make it way more difficult. Do your executor a favour and have an up-to-date will done in the province in which you reside. I would decline to act as executor for any estate in which the will was not based in the jurisdiction of residence.


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