How to Remove an Estate Trustee Who Isn't Doing Their Job

You are a beneficiary and the executor, also called the estate trustee, has gone quiet. Months pass, your calls go unanswered, and you cannot find out what the estate holds or when you will be paid. Or perhaps the trustee has a conflict and you doubt they are acting fairly.

This article explains, in general terms, what an estate trustee is meant to do, how a beneficiary can force a formal review of their work, and how a request to remove them can fit into that process. Every estate is different, so use this as a map and not a substitute for advice on your own file.

What an estate trustee is supposed to be doing

An estate trustee who agrees to act is responsible for winding up the deceased's affairs and paying taxes, bills and debts. They collect the assets and distribute what remains.

That is a long list, and delay on its own is not always a sign of wrongdoing. Estates can take time for ordinary reasons. The more worrying signs are different in kind, and it helps to separate them before you decide how hard to push.

• Ordinary slowness: waiting on tax filings, property sales or paperwork from institutions.
• Silence: no updates, no answers to reasonable written questions, no list of assets.
• Conflict: the trustee benefits personally in a way that sits badly with their duty to the beneficiaries.
• Missing information: you cannot tell what came in, what went out or what the trustee is paying themselves.

Replacing a trustee and how it can fit with the accounts

Whether and how a trustee can be replaced depends on the facts of your estate, so it is worth confirming with a lawyer. The Court of Appeal for Ontario has dealt with a case in which a passing of accounts was consolidated with an application to remove the trustee, so the two can travel together.

The legal test a court applies when deciding whether to remove a trustee, and the evidence needed to meet it, depends on the facts and is something a lawyer can confirm for you. What you can do now is gather the kind of material that shows what has actually happened: dates of your requests, the replies you received and any documents about estate property.

Using the accounts to get answers

Ontario has no general statutory duty to pass accounts. A trustee is generally required to account only when compelled by the court at the instance of, or on behalf of, a person interested in the property. In practice, this is how a beneficiary forces a formal review.

Once accounts are before the court, the process has a particular shape. The estate trustee, not the beneficiary, is the applicant who starts the passing of accounts under Rule 74.18. A beneficiary who files a notice of objection is responding to the trustee's application. A person with a contingent or vested interest in the estate may file a notice of objection.

The judge may enter into a full inquiry and accounting of the whole property, and may inquire into any complaint or claim by any person interested in the taking of the accounts. That gives a beneficiary a structured way to ask hard questions.

What you can object to, and who benefits

The court decides only the issues raised in the notices of objection. That makes the content of your objection important. If a concern is not raised, the court is generally not deciding it.

Two limits are worth knowing. Any successful objection to the accounts benefits only the beneficiaries, and the Court of Appeal has noted that a person with no financial interest in the estate may lack standing to pursue objections. If you are not sure whether you count as a beneficiary, for example because of a gift that failed, confirm that first.

What to do next

• Reread the will and confirm exactly what, if anything, it leaves to you.
• Write to the trustee asking for an update and a list of assets, and keep a dated copy.
• Keep a timeline of every request, reply and missed date.
• Collect any documents you already have, such as statements, property records and correspondence.
• Avoid accusations in writing that you cannot support; stick to facts and dates.
• Speak with an estate litigation lawyer about whether to ask for accounts, object, or apply to remove the trustee.

Bring your timeline and the will to that conversation. A lawyer can tell you which route fits your facts, what the court is likely to want to see and how costs may be affected.

Frequently asked questions