Most executors are not professionals. They are somebody's daughter or son or brother, they agreed to this years ago without thinking hard about it, and now there is a house, a set of keys, and a strong sense that something ought to be happening.
Here is a sensible order of operations for the first month. Not everything on it is urgent — but the first two items genuinely are, and they are the two most commonly missed.
Week one
1. Call the insurer. Today, if you can.
This is the single most important item on this page and it is the one that gets overlooked, because insurance is invisible until it is not.
Most home insurance policies restrict coverage on a property once it becomes vacant, after a period that varies by insurer and by policy. A house that is technically uninsured when a pipe lets go in February is a catastrophe for an estate, and it is the kind of loss an executor can be held personally responsible for having failed to prevent.
Tell the insurer that the owner has died and explain the actual occupancy. Ask whether a vacancy permit, endorsement or another policy change is needed, which inspections and precautions are required — regular visits, heat maintained at a minimum temperature, sometimes the water shut off — and when coverage restrictions apply. Request the instructions in writing and keep records of compliance.
2. Secure the property.
For a vacant property, arrange appropriate security and confirm who has access — you will not know who has keys: cleaners, neighbours, adult children, a caregiver. For a tenanted or otherwise occupied property, obtain advice before changing locks, removing belongings or restricting access.
Then, in no particular order: make sure the heat stays on, redirect the mail, deal with anything perishable, check that the property does not look conspicuously empty from the street, and if there are valuables or documents, remove them and record what you took. Take photographs of every room before anything is moved. That photo set will be worth having later, both for insurance and for the conversation with beneficiaries about what was in the house.
3. Find the will and confirm you are actually the executor.
Sounds obvious. It is surprisingly often unclear — there may be more than one document, an older will, or a codicil. Confirm which is the operative one, and confirm whether you are acting alone or jointly with someone else. If jointly, you generally cannot make unilateral decisions about the property, and finding that out now is much better than finding it out after you have signed a listing.
4. Do not distribute anything.
Not the contents of the house, not money, not the car, not sentimental items, however reasonable the request. Beneficiaries will ask, sometimes within days, and it will feel unkind to refuse.
Distributing before the estate's debts are known can expose you personally. If the estate turns out to owe more than it holds, an executor who has already handed out assets may have to make up the difference. This is one of the real risks of the job and it is worth being firm about it early, once, kindly, rather than relitigating it repeatedly.
Week two
5. Get a lawyer.
An estates lawyer, not a generalist. Ask what probate will require here, how long your local court is currently taking, and whether this estate might qualify for a Small Estate Certificate — a simplified process available in Ontario for estates with a gross value of $150,000 or less under Rule 74.1.
Ask how the lawyer's retainer and fees will be paid and what happens if the estate has limited cash. Do not assume that every expense you incur personally will automatically be reimbursed. Executors sometimes try to save the estate money by doing this themselves and it is nearly always a false economy.
6. Get a date-of-death valuation of the property.
You need a defensible number for what the property was worth on the date the owner died. This is not the same as an asking price, and it is not a favour you should ask of an agent in exchange for the listing.
You need it for the estate accounting, for the probate application, and — this is the part executors underestimate — for your own protection. If the house eventually sells for less than a beneficiary thinks it should have, a documented, contemporaneous valuation is what stands between you and that argument.
Ask the lawyer and the estate's accountant what historic valuation evidence they require. I can discuss the available market information and help with current sale positioning; a designated appraiser may be appropriate for the estate's historic valuation.
7. Understand what the estate will owe.
Ontario charges Estate Administration Tax on the value of the estate: nothing on the first $50,000, and $15 for each $1,000 or part of $1,000 above that. For an estate valued at exactly $900,000 for this purpose, the tax is $12,750. The relevant estate value and deductions need to be confirmed with your lawyer. Ontario: calculating the Estate Administration Tax.
It is paid by the estate, not by you, and not by the buyer. But it affects how much cash the estate needs to have available and when, and that occasionally affects timing decisions about the house. Your lawyer and the estate's accountant should walk you through the whole picture — including income tax, which is separate. If the property was a rental, read Selling an inherited rental property in Ontario.
Weeks three and four
8. Decide about the contents before you decide about the house.
Almost every estate property sale stalls on contents rather than on the real estate. Forty years of accumulation, several beneficiaries with different attachments to it, and nobody wanting to be the one who threw out the wrong thing.
Give beneficiaries a defined window to identify what they want, in writing, with a date. Then deal with the rest — estate sale, auction, donation, clearance company, in that order of preference depending on what is actually there. Photograph anything of value before it leaves.
Start this early. It takes longer than anyone expects and the house cannot be prepared for sale until it is done.
9. Confirm the legal sale route before you sign.
Current Ontario guidance is to obtain the Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee (probate) before entering into an Agreement of Purchase and Sale for the deceased's property. That is the safest default. Ontario: apply for probate of an estate.
It is not the only route. In some circumstances, with the estate lawyer's approval and the right terms in the agreement — for example, a condition or closing date tied to the certificate being issued — a sale can be negotiated while probate is still pending. Done properly, that can let the estate meet a good market and shorten the time it carries the property's costs. Done without those terms, it can leave the estate unable to close on time.
Before you sign a listing agreement or accept an offer, ask the estate lawyer to confirm your authority to act, the title requirements and whether a pre-probate sale suits this estate. Use the waiting period to gather property records, obtain valuations and assess preparation options.
10. Compare preparation costs before renovating.
The instinct is to fix the house up. Start instead with safety, cleanliness and the property's actual condition, then compare a limited preparation budget with selling as it is. Buyers of estate properties often expect original condition, and a partial renovation done at estate expense can delay the sale and give beneficiaries something new to disagree about.
Often worth doing: a deep clean, clearing the contents, tidying the front, fixing anything that is a safety issue, and making sure the property is well lit for photographs. Larger work — kitchens, bathrooms, flooring — needs a case-specific estimate of cost, delay and likely buyer response. Keep the decision and the supporting estimates in the estate's records.
What comes after
With valuations, property records and the legal route clarified, the next step is to agree on the marketing, occupancy and closing plan. Some preparation work can happen in parallel; the estate lawyer should confirm when commitments may be made.
If the property is in Durham Region or a nearby GTA community and you want to talk it through, there is no cost to the conversation and it does not commit you to anything.
Official resources
- Administering estates — Government of Ontario overview of an estate trustee's duties
- Apply for probate of an estate — Government of Ontario
- Calculating the Estate Administration Tax — Government of Ontario
- Doing taxes for someone who died — Canada Revenue Agency
- Law Society Referral Service — to find an Ontario estates lawyer
- Landlord and Tenant Board — if the property is tenanted
The full executor's checklist, in order → Selling an Estate Property
Or call or text me at 647-584-7782.
About the author
Carmine Cupelli is a Broker with RE/MAX Hallmark First Group Realty Ltd., Brokerage, and leads The Carmine Cupelli Team. He has worked in Durham Region real estate for over 30 years, across Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Clarington, Scugog, Uxbridge and Brock, and has followed the region's power of sale and estate market throughout that time.
Carmine holds the Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES) designation, along with SRS, ABR, CLHM and RENE. He helps executors, beneficiaries and owners planning ahead understand the real estate side of an estate: what a property is worth in today's market, how to prepare it, how to handle tenants, and how to sell. He works alongside each family's estate lawyer and accountant, never in place of them.
Call or text 647-584-7782.
This is general information for Ontario executors, not legal, tax or accounting advice. Every estate is different, and an executor's duties are personal and enforceable. Retain an estates lawyer and, where the estate is not straightforward, an accountant.
Updated October 6, 2026.
Carmine Cupelli, Broker, SRS, CLHM, ABR, SRES, RENE — RE/MAX Hallmark First Group Realty Ltd., Brokerage · 647-584-7782
