Caveat
A notice filed with the court that stops a Certificate of Appointment from issuing until it is withdrawn or the dispute behind it is resolved.
Read the answer →Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee
The court's confirmation of who may act for an estate, commonly called probate. Needed before a bank or the land registry will act on a will's authority alone.
Read the answer →Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee Without a Will
The version of probate used where there is no will, or the named executor cannot act, granted to whoever has priority under the Succession Law Reform Act.
Read the answer →Clearance certificate
Canada Revenue Agency confirmation, under the Income Tax Act, that the deceased's and the estate's taxes are paid or secured; needed before distributing safely.
Read the answer →Deemed disposition
The Income Tax Act rule that treats capital property as sold at fair market value immediately before death, which can trigger tax though nothing was sold.
Read the answer →Dependant's support claim
An application under the Succession Law Reform Act by a spouse, child or other dependant for support from an estate, generally within six months of the certificate.
Read the answer →Estate administration tax
The tax paid to the Ministry of Finance, based on the estate's value, before a Certificate of Appointment is issued.
Read the answer →Estate Information Return
The form the Ministry of Finance requires within 180 calendar days after a certificate issues, itemizing how the estate's value was calculated.
Read the answer →Estate trustee
The person who administers a deceased person's estate: an executor if named in a will, an administrator if appointed where there is none.
Read the answer →Estate trustee compensation
The fee an estate trustee is entitled to for administering the estate, commonly a percentage of its value under a scale Ontario courts apply.
Read the answer →Estate trustee during litigation
A temporary trustee the court appoints to preserve and manage estate assets while a dispute over the will or the proper trustee is unresolved.
Read the answer →Executor's year
The informal expectation that a beneficiary should not expect distribution before roughly a year has passed, giving the trustee reasonable time to administer the estate.
Read the answer →Holograph will
A will entirely in the deceased's own handwriting and signed, valid in Ontario without any witnesses.
Read the answer →Letters of Administration
An older name still used for the authority granted where there is no will; today issued as a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee Without a Will.
Read the answer →Notice of objection
A beneficiary's written objection to a specific item in the estate trustee's accounts, filed when the accounts are passed before the court.
Read the answer →Passing of accounts
The court process of reviewing an estate trustee's accounts and approving them, used where beneficiaries cannot or will not simply sign a release.
Read the answer →Renunciation
A named executor's formal, written refusal to act, which lets the next person entitled apply to be estate trustee instead.
Read the answer →Small estate certificate
A simplified Certificate of Appointment available under Rule 74.1 for an estate valued at $150,000 or less, with a shorter application.
Read the answer →Testamentary capacity
The mental capacity to understand what a will does, what property it covers, and who might expect to benefit, needed when the will is signed.
Read the answer →Undue influence
Pressure that overcomes a testator's free will, replacing their own wishes with someone else's. A ground for challenging a will if it can be proven.
Read the answer →Start a file online in about seven minutes, or ask a lawyer first. Flat, published fees.