How is a private business valued for estate and probate purposes in Ontario?

A private business interest generally needs a professional valuation as of the date of death, because there's no stock market price to point to the way there is for public shares. That valuation matters for two separate reasons: it sets the value included in the estate for calculating Estate Administration Tax when a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee is applied for, and it establishes the value used for the deemed disposition of the shares under federal income tax rules, which can trigger capital gains reportable on the deceased's final tax return even though no actual sale happened.

Because private company shares don't trade publicly, a business valuator typically looks at the company's financial statements, its assets, and its earning capacity, among other factors — there's no fixed formula or standard multiplier that applies across businesses, so a genuine, professionally prepared valuation is worth getting rather than estimating one. Many estate plans use a "primary and secondary will" structure specifically to reduce the portion of the estate, including private company shares, that goes through probate and is exposed to Estate Administration Tax in the first place, which makes valuation timing worth discussing with a lawyer well before death, not just after.