What Records Should an Executor Keep While Administering an Estate in Ontario?

Keep a complete, accurate record of everything the estate owns, receives and pays out. Estate trustees must keep accurate records of the estate's assets and transactions. If accounts are filed with the court, a first passing must include a statement of assets at the date of death, together with accounts of all money received and disbursed.

Those records are what beneficiaries and the court will look at. On a passing of accounts, notice goes to beneficiaries and other interested persons, and the estate trustee swears an affidavit verifying the accounts. Estate trustees must keep accurate records of the estate's assets and transactions, and accounts filed with the court must include accounts of all money received and disbursed, so any expense you pay personally and later recover from the trust property, and any allowance you claim, should appear in those records. Records of distributions also matter for the Canada Revenue Agency: the clearance certificate request includes a statement of distributions made to date and a statement of the proposed distribution of any holdback or residual amount.

In practice, that means keeping bank statements, receipts, invoices and a simple log of money in and out, but which documents matter most depends on the estate. A lawyer or accountant can confirm what to keep for yours.