What happens to jointly held property when someone dies in Alberta?

This answer covers the law of Alberta.

Whether jointly held property passes outside the estate depends on how the owners held title. For land in Alberta, if the deceased owned as a joint tenant, the surviving owner can remove them from title by filing a Statutory Declaration regarding Proof of Death with an original or notarized death certificate, and no grant of probate is needed.

If the deceased owned as a tenant in common or as sole owner, the land passes through the estate instead. Land Titles then requires an Application for transmission to personal representative with an original filed copy of the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration from the Surrogate Court of Alberta, and a notarized copy is not accepted. A grant of probate from outside Alberta must be re-sealed by the Surrogate Court of Alberta before Land Titles will accept it.

Bank accounts and creditors are less clear-cut. Whether a joint account truly belongs to the survivor, and whether a creditor of the deceased can reach property that passed by survivorship, depends on the facts and on how the account or title was set up. A lawyer can confirm this before you assume anything. The estate pays debts first, but a claimant who was not notified can still pursue people who received estate property.