What specific grounds will an Ontario court accept to remove an acting estate trustee?

Courts don't remove an estate trustee simply because a beneficiary is unhappy with them — removal is reserved for situations where the trustee's conduct genuinely threatens the estate or has already breached their fiduciary duty. Recognized grounds include serious conflicts of interest, misappropriating or mismanaging estate assets, persistent refusal to account or communicate with beneficiaries, unreasonable delay in administering the estate, and conduct showing the trustee can't or won't act impartially between the beneficiaries.

Incapacity is also a valid ground — if a trustee becomes unable to properly manage the estate's affairs, that alone can justify replacing them, without needing to show any wrongdoing. What courts are generally looking for is evidence that leaving the current trustee in place puts the estate or its beneficiaries at real risk, not just that the trustee has made a decision a beneficiary disagrees with or that the relationship has become difficult.

Because removal overrides the testator's own choice of who should administer their estate, courts weigh it carefully and expect solid evidence rather than general dissatisfaction. Anyone considering a removal application should document specific incidents and their impact on the estate, and get legal advice on whether the facts realistically meet the bar courts apply.