What an Executor Actually Does After a Death in Canada

The first week

The very first task isn't administrative — it's arranging care for anyone who depended on the person, and securing their home. After that, the paperwork starts: a funeral home typically registers the death with the province and can order certified copies of the death certificate. Order more than feels necessary — 8 to 10 is a reasonable starting point, because nearly every institution below wants its own original, not a photocopy.

Find the will next, and confirm you're actually named executor on the current version — people sometimes update a will and forget to tell the person they named.

The middle stretch — notifications and access

This is the longest, most tedious part: working through Service Canada, the CRA, banks, insurers, the employer, utilities, and government ID offices, one certified death certificate at a time. Bank accounts are typically frozen the moment the institution learns of the death — aside from anything held jointly — which is often the first real friction point, especially if funeral costs need to be paid before the estate is settled.

This is also when probate becomes relevant, if it's needed at all. Probate is a court process confirming the will is valid and that you actually have authority to act — smaller estates or ones where most assets pass directly (joint accounts, named beneficiaries) sometimes skip it entirely, but a bank or land registry holding a larger asset will often require it before releasing anything. Rules and costs vary by province, and this is worth a real conversation with an estates lawyer early, not after you've hit a wall.

Once you have authority to act, open a dedicated estate bank account. Every dollar in and out should run through it, tracked — you may need to account for it later, either to beneficiaries or to a court.

Closing the estate

Two filings close out the tax side: the deceased's final personal tax return (the "terminal return"), and possibly a separate trust return if the estate itself earned income — interest, for example — before everything was distributed.

Before making a final distribution to beneficiaries, request a clearance certificate from the CRA. It confirms all taxes owing have actually been paid, and it protects you personally — without it, a tax debt that surfaces after you've distributed the estate can become your problem, not the estate's.

Only after debts, taxes, and the clearance certificate are settled does the estate actually get distributed, per the will or, if there isn't one, the province's intestacy rules.

What nobody tells you going in

• It takes longer than expected — months is normal, not a sign something's wrong
• You'll spend money before you're reimbursed — keep every receipt from day one
• Being executor doesn't mean you're paid immediately or automatically — executor compensation, if any, is usually settled at the end, not along the way
• You're allowed to hire help — an estates lawyer or accountant for the parts that are genuinely complex isn't a failure, it's normal, and it's usually a legitimate estate expense
• The Canada Pension Plan pays a one-time death benefit to the estate for eligible contributors, generally $2,500 — worth applying for even though it's easy to overlook while everything else is happening