In November 2024, we were hired by a grieving family to apply for probate approval (to unfreeze the deceased’s assets) and to act as executor in their estate administration. The deceased did not have a Will and had a variety of assets, including real estate, bank accounts (both retail and investment), and safety deposit boxes.
Often, when there is no Will, the Court would require the executor to buy a bond insurance (costing 5% of the entire estate value) to remedy any possible mistakes that could be made in estate administration (such as missing a beneficiary). However, since we were the executors, the Court trusted that we would be extra diligent as lawyers and would rely on our professional liability insurance instead.
In the end, we distributed the estate within 6-7 months, rather than the average 1-2 years.
Below is a brief timeline:
- November 2024 – hired by the family
- December (mid) 2024 – submitted the probate application (without Will)
- February (mid) 2025 – got probate approval from the Court! (It has only been 2 months!)
- March 2025 – received the deceased’s funds from their TD and RBC bank accounts (retail and investment departments)
- April 2025 – received the deceased’s funds from their CIBC and BMO bank accounts
- May 2025 – sold the estate property; took out the possessions from the deceased’s bank safety deposit box and gave them to the beneficiaries.
- June 2025 – closed the estate property and received the sale proceeds; filed probate taxes and terminal income taxes; gave the inheritance to the correct beneficiaries.
(A detailed estate log was kept showing all work completed, and all the deposits & withdrawals made in the estate account; this was reviewed with the beneficiaries line by line)
The family was so happy and thankful. We provided the much-needed funds to them within a mere six months and eased all their legal/financial stress during the hardest time in their lives.
Learn more about Lawyer as Executor. Need our help? Book a 1st free consultation with us by clicking HERE.
