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Email this6:53 am
April 6, 2013
Offline
Having never experienced the "probate" process, how does one arrive at the expected fee in Ont. ? Is that $525 for lawyers fees ?, or does a lawyer even have to be involved, if the Will is not being contested ? Also, I assume if the family home is still in the name of the deceased, then that is a whole other complication, with higher Probate fee ? thanks, Norman.
Probate taxes are paid to the provincial court for the probate grant order. Lawyer fees are in addition to the probate taxes.
The tax is based on the value of the assets covered by the order. Each province has a formula.
In Ontario, the probate tax is
- $0 for the first $50,000 of assets and
- $15 for each $1,000 (or part thereof) above $50,000.
The probate tax in Alberta is not as onerous:
| Net value of property in the estate | Fee |
| $10,000 or less | $35 |
| $10,000 – $25,000 | $135 |
| $25,000 – $125,000 | $275 |
| $125,000 – $250,000 | $400 |
| Over $250,000 | $525 |
A lawyer is not required if one is up to doing all the paperwork. One will need a lawyer or commissioner of oaths to do any required affidavits.
Transaction fees, like land transfer fees and stock brokerage fees, are also extra.
11:17 am
November 3, 2022
Offline
Alberta looks like a good place to die, from this perspective!
Anyone know the probate fees in BC? I'll bet that Norman1 has it at his fingertips.
1:18 pm
January 1, 2018
Online
Very impressive and helpful response, Norman ...
For Ontario residents, the avoid probate strategy might still make sense. it did for my wife and family. It's not a stretch to see probate fees before lawyer top $20,000, which is quite the leap vs Alberta. 😉
Although the interest rate hit for Insurance based GIAs vs chasing highest GIC rates, is real, it can be mitigated considerably by a good laddering strategy and the magic of compound interest. In our case we had multiple 5yr GIAs paying over 4%, with top rate being 4.95%, with Manulife. Of course there were others paying considerably less.
Bottom Line: As you pointed out in the Manulife 3.0% Offer thread, for some folks, it's better to accept the Probate, and other fees, than go the route we did. It all depends on the particular situation. For our family, having 100% of MIL's estate covered by Beneficiery designations was the correct one, for a number of reasons.
1:25 pm
October 27, 2013
Online
Rail Baron said
Alberta looks like a good place to die, from this perspective!Anyone know the probate fees in BC? I'll bet that Norman1 has it at his fingertips.
https://www.taxtips.ca/willsan.....ritory.htm
FYI, BC is a gouger like Ontario.
