Can an Executor Be Paid Back and Take Fees Before the Estate Is Distributed in Ontario?

Partly, yes. You can be repaid for expenses you properly incur for the estate, but your own compensation is not something you simply take. If a trustee is of the opinion that an expense would be properly incurred in carrying out the trust, they may pay it directly from the trust property, or pay it personally and then recover it from the trust property.

Compensation is a fair and reasonable allowance for your care, pains, trouble and time spent on the estate, as allowed by a judge of the Superior Court of Justice. It can be settled even when the estate is not before the court in an action, and a judge passing your accounts may allow it. On a passing of accounts, notice goes to beneficiaries and other interested persons, and judgment can be given unopposed once the objection period has expired and no notice of objection to the accounts or to the compensation claimed has been received.

Taking fees early, before beneficiaries have agreed or a judge has allowed them, can expose you to an objection. How fees and reimbursements are taxed depends on the facts, so confirm it with an accountant.