Help for executors in Durham Region. No cost, no obligation to list.
You've been named executor of an estate that includes a house, and you're now expected to manage probate, insurance, contents, siblings and a sale — usually while grieving, and often from another city. This page lays out the order things need to happen in, what typically has to wait for probate, and what a realtor should be handling so you don't have to.
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1. Call the home insurer immediately — most policies restrict or void coverage once a property is vacant, and you need a vacancy endorsement.
2. Secure the property: locks, mail, alarm, and heat maintained through winter.
3. Get a documented date-of-death valuation. You'll need it for probate and for the estate's tax return.
The pressure executors feel is almost always self-imposed or family-imposed rather than legal. With the exception of insurance and securing the property — which genuinely are urgent — most of this can proceed at a reasonable pace. Estates take months. That's normal, and it isn't a sign you're doing it badly.
What does help is doing things in the right order. Executors get into trouble when they clear the house before anyone has valued the contents, list before they understand the probate timeline, or promise a beneficiary something they can't deliver. The sequence below is the one that causes the fewest problems.
As an estate trustee you have a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries — to act in the estate's best interest, obtain fair value for its assets, treat beneficiaries even-handedly, and keep proper records. Practically, this means documenting your decisions: how the price was set, why you accepted a particular offer, what the contents were worth. Documentation is what protects you if a beneficiary questions things later.
Roughly sequential, though several of these overlap. Your estate lawyer will confirm what applies to your particular estate.
Notify the home insurer of the death and that the property is vacant, and obtain a vacancy endorsement in writing. Standard policies commonly limit or exclude coverage for vacant homes after a set number of days. Change the locks, redirect mail, keep the heat on, and arrange for the lawn or snow. An uninsured burst pipe in an empty house is the single most expensive thing that happens to estates.
Confirm who the named estate trustee is — and whether there's more than one. Co-trustees generally must act together, including signing the listing agreement and the agreement of purchase and sale. Establish that early rather than discovering it mid-transaction.
You need a defensible valuation as of the date of death: for the probate application, for the estate's tax filings, and as your own protection. A written appraisal or a documented realtor opinion of value is worth having. This value also becomes the reference point for gains between the date of death and the eventual sale.
Your lawyer applies to the Superior Court of Justice for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee, filing the will, an inventory and valuation of assets, and paying the Estate Administration Tax. If the estate qualifies as a small estate, a streamlined Small Estate Certificate route may be available with a simpler application.
Photograph everything before anything leaves. Let beneficiaries identify items early, in writing. Then estate sale or auction for what has value, donation for what doesn't, and a proper clear-out. Only after that does cleaning, minor repair and staging make sense.
An estate can generally market and negotiate while probate is pending. Price it on current market evidence, not on what a beneficiary hopes or what the neighbour got in 2022. Disclose what you actually know and nothing you don't — an estate schedule limiting warranties is standard and appropriate here.
Closing normally requires the Certificate of Appointment so the estate can convey good title, unless an exception applies. Build the closing date around that, or include an extension mechanism. Proceeds go to the estate account — never to an individual beneficiary directly — and are distributed later per the will.
Keep records of every receipt and disbursement. Your lawyer and the estate's accountant will handle the final returns and the clearance certificate from the CRA before final distribution.
Ontario charges Estate Administration Tax on the value of the estate at the date of death. There is no tax on the first $50,000, and above that it's $15 for every $1,000 of estate value — roughly 1.5%. On a $700,000 estate, that's approximately $9,750. It's payable when the probate application is filed, which sometimes means the estate needs short-term funds before the house sells.
Where the total estate falls at or below $150,000, a Small Estate Certificate may be available through a simplified process. Whether that fits depends on which assets form part of the probatable estate — assets passing by beneficiary designation or by joint tenancy often fall outside it.
There is no inheritance tax in Canada, but there is a deemed disposition at death: the deceased is treated as having disposed of their property at fair market value. If the home was their principal residence, that exemption may eliminate the gain up to the date of death. What catches estates out is what happens after: if the property rises in value between the date of death and the date it's sold, that increase can be a taxable capital gain to the estate.
This is one more reason the date-of-death valuation matters, and a reason not to leave a property sitting for years. Please confirm the specifics with the estate's accountant — the interaction between the principal residence exemption, graduated rate estate rules, and timing is genuinely case-specific.
Tax rates, thresholds and rules change, and how they apply depends on the estate. Nothing here is legal, tax, or accounting advice. Work with a licensed Ontario estates lawyer and an accountant — and if you don't have either, we're glad to introduce you to people we've worked with on estate files in Durham Region.
Especially if you're administering this estate from out of town.
A documented, defensible written opinion of value for your probate application and your own records — and a referral to a designated appraiser where the estate warrants one.
Locks, checks, snow and lawn, coordinating with your insurer's vacancy requirements. If you're in Alberta or Florida, someone still has to walk through that house in February.
Estate sale specialists, auctioneers, donation pickup, and junk removal — sequenced so nothing of value leaves before it's documented and beneficiaries have had their say.
Original-condition homes attract a long list of possible fixes. Most aren't worth doing. We identify the handful that actually return more than they cost and skip the rest.
Where it helps, we'll present the market evidence to the whole family at once. A disagreement about price is much easier when it's about comparable sales rather than about you.
Estates lawyers, accountants, appraisers, and Licensed Insolvency Trustees for insolvent estates. We're not paid for these referrals — they're people we've worked with on Durham estate files.
It happens on a large share of estate files, and it's rarely really about the house. One sibling wants to sell immediately, another wants to keep it, a third thinks the price is too low. You're the one holding the fiduciary duty, and you're also somebody's child or sibling in the middle of it.
Generally yes — an estate can usually market and negotiate while the probate application is in progress. What normally requires the Certificate of Appointment is closing, because the buyer's lawyer needs to be satisfied the estate can convey good title. Build the closing date around probate, or include an extension mechanism. Confirm with your estate lawyer, as some situations don't require probate at all.
In Ontario there is no tax on the first $50,000 of estate value, and $15 per $1,000 above that — roughly 1.5%. A $700,000 estate is approximately $9,750. It's payable when the probate application is filed, so plan for it before the house sells. Estates at or below $150,000 may qualify for a streamlined Small Estate Certificate.
There's no inheritance tax in Canada. There is a deemed disposition at death, and the principal residence exemption may cover the gain up to that point. Any increase in value between the date of death and the sale can be a taxable capital gain to the estate. This is genuinely case-specific — the estate's accountant should answer it.
Assume it isn't, and call the insurer today. Most standard policies restrict or exclude coverage once a home is vacant beyond a set period. You need to notify them of the death and the vacancy and get a vacancy endorsement in writing. Executors have been held personally responsible for uninsured losses — this is the most important item on the whole page.
Usually not. Full renovations rarely return their cost, they consume months, and they expose the estate to risk if the market moves. Cleaning, clearing, minor repairs, fresh paint and proper staging almost always beat a kitchen. We'll walk the property and tell you which specific items are worth doing.
Photograph it all before anything moves. Let beneficiaries identify what they want, in writing, early. Then estate sale or auction for items with real value, donation for the rest, and a professional clear-out. Doing it in this order prevents the most common family disputes.
Yes, but carefully. The sale should be at fair market value supported by independent valuation, with the other beneficiaries informed and, ideally, agreeing in writing. This is precisely the situation where a trustee's fiduciary duty gets examined later, so involve your estate lawyer in structuring it.
That's a real option and more common than people think. An estate trustee may be able to renounce — timing and whether you've already begun to act matter — and a trustee who's stuck can apply to the court for directions. Speak to an estates lawyer before you decide either way.
An insolvent estate is handled differently and you should not distribute anything to beneficiaries before getting advice. A Licensed Insolvency Trustee and an estates lawyer should be involved early — distributing from an insolvent estate can expose you personally.