What Happens If Someone Dies Without a Will in Saskatchewan?

When someone dies without a will, the law steps in to decide who manages the estate and who receives the property. The rules can feel rigid, and they do not always match what the person would have wanted.

This article walks through the usual steps in Saskatchewan: who takes charge, how the estate is handled, and how the property is divided. Individual families vary, so a lawyer can confirm how the rules apply to yours.

This article covers the law of Saskatchewan.

Who takes charge of the estate

With no will, there is no executor. Instead, a person applies for Letters of Administration, which is one of three kinds of grant available.

Section 11 of The Administration of Estates Act sets the order of priority to apply: spouse, children, grandchildren and other issue, parents, siblings, nephews and nieces, next of kin of equal degree, creditors, then the official administrator.

If there are no relatives, or the next of kin cannot act, the Public Guardian and Trustee is the Official Administrator and acts as administrator of last resort. It generally does not act on estates below $25,000 or where a relative is able to administer.

Do you need a court grant?

Court of King's Bench says the only asset that absolutely requires probate is an interest in land, including mineral rights, registered solely in the deceased's name. For other assets such as bank accounts, the institution decides whether it needs Letters, so the first step is to ask.

If the estate includes real estate, a grant is required for any land transaction with Information Services Corporation (ISC). Letters may not be required where the estate is $25,000 or less and includes no real property.

For estates of $15,000 or less administered by the applicant, court staff help prepare the application. The Local Registrar fee in that case is $300 plus the $7.00 per $1,000 levy. On a standard application the fee is $200 plus the same levy on Total Part 1 Assets on the Statement of Property.

How the estate is handled

The administrator takes on duties much like an executor's. These include finding and securing assets, publishing a Notice to Creditors, depositing money in an estate account, filing returns, obtaining a CRA Final Clearance Certificate, paying debts by priority and accounting to beneficiaries within two years.

• The Notice to Creditors should be published once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper nearest the deceased's last residence.
• Debts are paid from the estate before beneficiaries receive their shares.
• Beneficiaries are confirmed with executed heirship affidavits.
• Distribution may be delayed six months after Letters are obtained where a dependant may claim or a spouse may apply for division of family property.

Who inherits under Saskatchewan law

Which Act applies depends on the date of death. The Intestate Succession Act, 1996 applies to deaths before October 1, 2019, and The Intestate Succession Act, 2019 applies to deaths on or after that date.

• If all of the deceased's children are also children of the spouse, the spouse inherits the entire estate.
• If some children are from another relationship, the spouse first takes a $200,000 preferential share.
• After that, with one child the remainder is split equally between spouse and child.
• With more than one child, the spouse takes one-third and the children share two-thirds equally.
• A spouse who had lived separate and apart from the deceased for two years takes no share.

The $200,000 figure was raised from $100,000, and the earlier figure applies to older deaths under the 1996 Act. Shares where there is no spouse depend on the facts and are worth confirming with a lawyer.

Assets outside the estate, claims and next steps

Land held in joint tenancy with survivorship, bank accounts with survivorship, life insurance with a named beneficiary, and RRSPs or RRIFs with a named beneficiary pass outside probate.

Dependants may also have claims. They include a legal, common-law or same-sex spouse, children under 18, and adult children unable to support themselves due to disability. A surviving spouse's family property application may not be commenced more than six months after the grant, and a spouse who signed a valid waiver cannot apply.

• Locate the death certificate and search carefully for a will.
• Ask each bank or institution whether it needs Letters.
• Make a list of land, accounts, vehicles and debts.
• Find out who has priority to apply to administer the estate.
• Speak with a lawyer before distributing anything.

Frequently asked questions