Inheritance Timing

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In general, most Canadian estates take 6-18 months to finalize, but some can take years.

Automatic Transfers

Assets with named beneficiaries (such as RRSPs, LIRAs, and life insurance policies) transfer outside the estate, and generally complete within a few weeks. Generally, you (or the executor of the estate) will need to notify the current asset holder (e.g., Royal Bank of Canada) that the previous owner passed away, and provide any requested paperwork. See Steps to Inherit: Automatic Transfers.

Probate (and Quebec Liquidation)

If you are inheriting via will or intestate succession, you can expect to wait much longer. Most such estates undergo probate, which according to a study of US estates, takes 16 months on average. Very small estates (<$10K) have a somewhat shorter settlement duration, and very large estates (>$5M) take almost 3 times as long, but in between those extremes, duration is fairly unrelated to size. Roughly 80% of all US estates are settled within 18 months. The good news is that Canadian estates generally take a bit less time to settle than US estates.

Distribution of settlement duration, by estate size

Probate (or the liquidation of a succession in Quebec) generally starts within 3-6 months after the death, although some provinces mandate certain actions sooner (and some require certain minimum waiting periods). Few provinces have actual limits on when probate must start, but if nothing happens for too long, you can petition the probate court to get things moving yourself.

Going through probate is a lot of work for the executor (or the liquidator in Quebec), and there are various mandated waiting periods to ensure that creditors, government agencies, and potential heirs have a chance to react to the death, and make any claims or objections. The complexity and particulars of the estate can drastically affect how long it takes to settle, so there's no hard and fast rule about when you should expect your inheritance.

If the estate is undergoing probate, the rough sequence of events will be:

  1. Receive notification that the probate process has started, or will start soon
  2. Receive a copy of the estate inventory
  3. Wait while the executor collects the assets, resolves the debts, and pays any taxes
  4. Receive a copy of the Final Accounting, including intended distributions
  5. Receive your inheritance and sign the receipt

Distributions normally occur at the end of the settlement period, among other reasons to avoid any issues if new debts become known late in the process. Executors can be held personally liable if they distribute funds early, and then don't have enough estate resources to meet other obligations. Consequently, while it may be possible to convince an executor to give you some or all of your inheritance before the settlement completes, best practice for the executor is not to do so.

If you really need or want your inheritance more quickly, there are commercial firms that can provide a portion of your inheritance in advance. These advances can be a godsend if you need the money right now, but they are expensive and will keep a significant portion of your ultimate inheritance for themselves, to cover their costs and their risks. With those caveats in mind, here are some resources that may be helpful:

Small Estates

If the estate is not going through probate, and you are instead using a small estate process, then things can proceed much more quickly. States usually mandate a several week waiting period after the death, and then you can take action to collect your inheritance as per the specific process defined in the decedent's province of residence (see Small Estates Process for province-specific details).

EstateExec™ Leaves More $ for Heirs!

EstateExec is online software designed to help estate executors fulfill their duties, providing province-specific guidance, easy financial accounting, and even the option to work with a lawyer or other interested parties. As an heir, you can help ensure that your estate follows all the rules to a timely settlement by recommending EstateExec to your executor, (who often has never done the job before, and could use a little help). Anyone can get started using EstateExec for free, and pay just a one-time $199 licensing fee (per estate) if it proves useful.

EstateExec will likely save the estate thousands of dollars (in reduced legal and accounting expenses, plus relevant money-saving coupons), leaving more funds for distributions to heirs.

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