Probate Registry in Brampton: Filing for Peel Region Estates

If you are an executor in Mississauga or Brampton, you will usually deal with the Superior Court of Justice in Brampton. Knowing where to file, how to send documents and what the court checks can save weeks of back-and-forth.

This article walks through the Peel filing process in plain terms. It does not predict how busy the local court will be on any given week, because that changes and is best confirmed with the court or a lawyer.

Where Peel estates are filed

An estates application is filed in the county or district where the deceased lived. If the deceased lived outside Ontario, you file where they owned Ontario property. For a Peel resident, that means Brampton.

• Courthouse: A. Grenville and William Davis Courthouse, 7755 Hurontario Street, Brampton, Ontario L6W 4T1.
• Counter hours: 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., with the office open 8:30 to 5:00.
• Email: estates applications may be emailed to the estates address in the court's published email list.

Check the court's published list for the current estates email address before you send anything, and confirm counter hours before you travel, since they can change.

Which application applies

Probate is applied for in the Superior Court of Justice. A Small Estate Certificate is used if the estate is valued at up to $150,000; otherwise the application is for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee. Probate is usually needed if the deceased owned real property or held assets at a financial institution that requires it.

How to submit: email and paper

Probate applications can be emailed to the Superior Court with a completed Estates Certificate Probate Information Form. Each email must be under 35 MB, each PDF must contain one court form, and you receive a court file number by email within five business days.

Email does not replace everything. The original will, codicils, bonds, ancillary certificates and certified copies must still be filed on paper at the court location where you filed. The original will must be attached as an exhibit to an affidavit of execution, affidavit of condition or other permitted affidavit.

Payment is also split. Estate administration tax must be paid in person or sent by mail or courier, while filing fees can be paid by mail, courier or a secure credit-card transaction by phone.

What the court checks, and what can slow things down

Ontario states that applications are typically processed within 15 business days, longer if documents are missing or a judge must decide an issue. Court staff check for other applications, objections and any more recent will. If the application is refused, you receive Form 74O with reasons.

• Before filing, send a copy of the signed application to each estate beneficiary by email or mail or courier to their last known address.
• Where a beneficiary is a minor or an incapable adult, the Office of the Children's Lawyer and the Public Guardian and Trustee may also need to be served.
• A bond may be needed if there is no will, if you are not the named trustee, or if you do not live in Ontario, another province or territory, or a Commonwealth country.
• Form 74A requires the total value of real property, personal property and the whole estate at date of death.

Any one of these done incorrectly can lead to a refusal or a request for more information, which is usually what adds time to a file.

What to do next

• Confirm the deceased's county of residence, which decides the filing location.
• Gather the original will, any codicil and proof of death.
• Value the estate at date of death for Form 74A.
• Serve beneficiaries and, where needed, the Children's Lawyer and Public Guardian and Trustee before filing.
• Decide between email and paper filing, remembering the originals still go on paper.
• Arrange payment of estate administration tax by an accepted method.
• Ask a lawyer to review your application documents if there is a handwritten will, an altered will, a minor beneficiary or a dispute.

Frequently asked questions