I went through the lawyer for a probate. In my experience, none of the banks are very good at handling estates. TD bank says it can take "two, three sometimes even six months" to set up an Estate Account for me. Her will states two executors joint. My husband is executor and the only child and only beneficiary. The bank has closed the account and sent the cheque to the estate. As far as the bank is concerned, your father's account is still HIS account and not an estate account until the probate has come through. I'd suggest sitting in with your banking officer and having a chat. My question is how to put this money back into the estate without raising the concerns of the Ministry of Finance. Payable on death accounts A bank account where a beneficiary is named is called a payable on death (POD) account. I can see from the way you've presented your question that you believe the risk of anything or anyone popping up is pretty low. My father passed away in June. Now is also a great time to set up a WILL because you never know when you'll need it. I can see them wanting you to show that you're the executor of the estate but as for requiring the original will, no I don't see it.You can just accept the requirement and let them copy it, or go somewhere else.The time is ripe for a trust company, credit union, or some small bank to fill this gap for consumers.Lynne, Two concerns: 1 - Our brother is the executor of fathers estate (death was Oct/17) of 1 to 1.5 million. It should list there what paperwork they need. Had she appointed someone honest, this wouldn't have happened, but I'm sure she had no reason not to trust him. There are debts owed (including this financial institution which is a tenant in one of the properties). I just found out that the bank where the estate accounts exist is increasing fees for idle/dormant accounts (which these are, essentially) and I'd like to avoid being nickel and dimed for service fees. My mom's name was on the deed of the house at one time but then at some point her name was removed as she was purchasing another house for investment purposes. Lynne. Part of the probate process IS verifying the will, so you can do this all in one step. That's not going to work either. Will I need to go to a bank and set up an estate account and can I do this without needing probate? The category names can change to accommodate the estate activity. My recently deceased mother had create a trust through Wood Gundy for my daughter to help her through university. Find more information at Canada Pension Plan Death Benefits, or call Service Canada at 1-800-277-9914. I just received an insurance cheque made out to " The Estate of ". For example, some estate accounts are restricted in a way that allows deposits but no withdrawals can be made without a court order. Executor & Estate Bank Accounts. Can the power of attorney for his will assume control of our mothers estate? My sister and I are both trustees for my mothers estate account. We are currently dealing with RBC. Lynne. A couple of months pass until her house was sold and the sale closed a week ago. Let's say your husband goes into the bank with the will and the bank releases the funds to him with no probate. Yes, I would expect that you would have to obtain probate to deal with the account, due to the high dollar value. I was told I would have to open a personal account in my name. They told me I would be able to get a bank card and on-line access and cheques once I had provided them with a CAET. Check the motor vehicles registry web page in your province. I am an executor of my mother's will. Also, they finally said they will release all the funds via bank draft payable to the estate.? We two are the only benficaiaries. That really is an awful story. Death benefits are administered by the federal government. To open an estate account, you need to go to the bank and request that they open an estate account. The reason we were fighting is because our understanding is that the Will should trump every other document completed before the Will. I've heard and seen horror stories from every bank and credit union.Note that I'm not talking about the trust company part of the banks. Earn a $300 welcome bonus with a new bank account 2. Hi Lynne, my deceased father's will dated 2015 names my Mother as a sole beneficiary of his entire estate, however does not list every single account he had. Financial institution (Questrade) refuses to do so and claims this is against the law (True?). I just need that cheque to go in there. I am both executor of her "estate", as well as POA and sole beneficiary. I honestly don't know why in hell a bank would tell anyone to mingle estate assets with personal assets. A sizable amount ended up here. Can it be deposited into this account. Is there anyway around this? Get more details about Scotiabank's savings accounts. Note that the credit union confirmed probate isnt required as the total amount of the estate is around 10,000.Thank you. Make sure the bank realizes that this is the only asset of the estate.Lynne. The executor is also a 50% beneficiary of the estate and the amount of the loan is less then 15% of the value of the estate. Lynne. If you have provided a notarial copy of the will and a notarial copy of the death certificate, that should be enough for the bank to establish that you are the executor. What do I do with these cheques, how do I cash and divide them? I know you want it to just be easy but there are procedures built into our system to protect people. I need to set up an estate account for him. I'm in Alberta. I know this because I spent 7 years at Scotiabank doing whatever I could to help out the front line staff dealing with estates. Thanks. Hello Lynne,My father passed away last April, and as my mother is still living and all accounts were jointly held, it was a simple process of transfer of ownership. I did not get a call back. Please go ahead and post it. The estate is valued under 20000 dollars so we are not applying for probate. The bank says that the 3 kids are the beneficiaries of the RSPs so why do you feel that you can legally put that money into the estate account? That is my main concern now. She had no idea if I was a TD customer or not. My sister lives in the same province as my deceased father. These taxes are applied before the estate is distributed. I dont mean to me but to the beneficiaries of the monetary gifts. Even the bank manager was surprised they had no mechanism to inform clients. The bank was very helpful ,CIBC, in not having me set up an estate account (funds in account under $3000) as I had a joint account due to his dementia where his money went in and his bills came out of. Plug in values from the estate account into the appropriate schedule under the correct category. That is why the bank won't help you. I went into the bank again and asked to see her but she was in a meeting so another representative took my name and number. As long as the executors are being reasonable and acting in good faith, they are carrying out their duty.Lynne. Having been executrix of my husbands assets 30+ years ago, I should have known better; he had accounts at both CIBC and a smaller one at RBC. This is what the law says you are supposed to do. If not, you might try escalating your request up through the bank's channels until you find someone willing to actually make the simple change. I certainly know plenty of executors who have online access to their estate accounts. They have no say over what an executor does with an estate account. The loan would be repaid with interest before the final disbursements. There is enough money in the account to pay the lump sum payments and still cover any surprises that may come up before final tax clearance is issued. Thank-you Alyssa. You can close it if you want to.You haven't said who the beneficiaries of the estate are. This account is available for all youth under 18 years of age. I now realize I should not have closed it as we have to do taxes next year. Does this trust belong to my daughter, or is it part of the estate, and therefore to be caught up in limbo during the probate? He was suppose to prove to the courts he had no money, but failed to do so, and a lawyer stated he would inform the courts of this, but I needed to pay him $2,000 first. Does the annual audit of accounts reflect this inaction? That sounds wrong to me. Now she will not agree to allow me to withdraw the 50% of funds from the estate account that I am entitled to. The debts of an estate are paid only to the extent that the estate (NOT the executor) has the funds to pay them.So, yes the executor does have access to estate funds right away, but no, a beneficiary does not. It sounds as though one will be open longer because of your tax holdback. It's always a guessing game.The duty on the executors is to examine all options and go with what makes the most sense to them. The house just had a major fire and two of the executors want to sell the house as is (with the fire damage), settle with the insurance company and distribute the settlement proceeds as part of the estate. There are 5 of us siblings and my 4 siblings have all agreed that I would take care of Mom's account. It must be a policy of the particular bank.Lynne. My sister had a chequing account and she passed away without a will 7 years ago. What is the harm of just dividing the money between the two of us and paying the last few estate bills from our own accounts? My question is, do I need to apply for a probate grant before I go to a financial institution to open an estate account? Unlimited debit transactions 3, Interac e-Transfer transactions, and Scotia International Money Transfers . The only thing going to probate is her house which was only in her name. If I open an estate account and deposit the funds from both accounts(100,000) dos that account have to be probated? how long does that usually take? What about interest, death, separation/divorce etc.2 - He has advised us it will take 4 years before money can be distributed since Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Finance have a 4 year window to assess/reassess estates. It's a fairly small estate, about 80k in RIFF's, chequing account. Have you taken the estate paperwork to the bank with the cheque? She will not sign it. The manager has told me that if she isn't available one of the other manager can help.Well, today is that day. Contact a Calgary Wills & Estates Lawyer today Thanks. To me, there seems little reason to use a lawyer to handle the estate account, as he obviously should be expected to charge fees for this service. My mother's partner has 3 sisters and a brother whom her partner didn't get along with and didn't have much to do with them. The last bank draft amount is large of course but way under 100K as in total that's approximately what each would get after taxes and expenses. Since I am solely responsible for doing this, am I able to disburse some of the funds right away as long as enough is left in the account to cover income tax and any unpaid bills? They don't give the retail branch staff any training and their policies are poorly understood and inconsistently administered. If so, it will pose quite a hardship on her as a student. An estate representative administers a deceased person's estate. My context for the question was a little different: an estate account with two trustees specified in the will who are to pay bills for someone in a house who is not being given direct access to the money. Not the same thing. She had one (nonjoint) bank account, a TFSA which had some money in it. However, what do you mean by joint wills? You are the one with the liability and the responsibility so tell them to back off and let you do your job. Hi Lynne,I have a question. However, a year has passed and she is reluctant to distribute half of the account to me. That is the worst thing he can do.Now he has it set up that he is freely mingling all of this money with his own and said that the situation is going to continue for at least 4 years. The probate has just been completed.The estate is entirely investments with no actual cash other than a monthly dividend cash flow. It's under $75,000. Hi lynne,My mother passed away in late October. Yes, you have ALL the rights. My question is can someone replace him without electing a new executor? I'm frustrated that I can't create a single account in the estate's name to deal with everything. If all of that is paid up, the funds go to his beneficiaries. As far as the bank is concerned, your father's account is still HIS account and not an estate account until the probate has come through. My husband passed away recently, I am the sole beneficiary and executor of all accounts, TFSA, GIC's. Their concern is allowing money to be paid to someone, then finding out later there were other beneficiaries that should have been included. None of that is true and I seriously have to wonder if banks have anyone working there who has any idea what is going on. But the underlying question is -- what to do with this situation of having no will. Something like that might make a bank reluctant to accept the will without the backing of the court. So far I have issued one cheque to myself and one to my sister in equal amounts, (as will states it is 50-50 between us) and we are leaving several thousand in the account to cover bills as they come in. I have set up an estate account. They have asked me if I would look after the estate and now have the lawyers are preparing the application to have me appointed as Estate Trustee. By the way, I checked out your site and it's really unique and interesting.Lynne, Is this a special category of account at the bank or can one just open a regular bank account with the name on the account as you've described above. I was told we can't do this unless we have a probabated will. Doing so is giving away money that belongs to other people. we are now waiting to hear from CRA, and if everything is ok he will apply for clearance certificate. My question is this cheque can ONLY be deposited into the estate account( we still have one set up) and not a personal account correct?Thank you so much. The bank has frozen any access to these accounts until a declaration form is received at the branch for me too sign. (I was not asking any info on the account only about their requirements for an Estate Account) but she jumped on him immediately and would not listen. There is another 400,000.00 in GIC's and a house in my father's name. My mother passed away January 19, 2020. Is it not sufficient I show it to them?Thanks, I don't know what the HELL is going on with banks these days. Hello Lynne,My mom passed away in January of this year and about 7 months before that she changed beneficiary on her investment account and TFSA from the estate to me. Your authority comes from the will, not the probate.Lynne. Can my sister disburse fees from my fathers estate accounting to reimburse my brother for return air fare and to me for gas mileage, when we attended his rental to remove his belongings and sell his assets? I am in BC. This meant the assets did not go through the Will, nor to my brother, yet all three banks released, the funds to my brother (2 banks, within hours of the day he and his daughter changed the POA to remove me, and just make it the two of them) it was almost a year, before my mother found out the POA had been changed, as she never asked for it to be changed. Why on earth doesn't she just do the paperwork before this all hits the fan? Use any other estate funds you have been able to gather, such as the CPP death benefit or the sale of household contents. must i wait for court probate? If your mother "had nothing", there should be almost nothing for an executor to do, so acting as executor shouldn't actually be much bother.I find it really frustrating that people will wash their hands of all work and responsibility for their parents except when it comes to getting some money out of it.Lynne. The house had a secured LOC on it and we handed over the keys after telling bank no more payments would be made on LOC. Be cautious about disbursing funds until you have 100% control of the situation and know for sure what's out there.LynneLynne, Hi LynneMy mom passed away about a year ago, my sister and brother and I were all executors. Went in to my local branch to start distributing funds to the beneficiaries when to my utter shock was informed the Probate papers had been rejected by the Estate Dept's legal wing due to the inability to read to signatures on the will, thus not allowing me to touch any of the funds. Opening a bank account if you're not a Canadian citizen. The financial obligations of an estate do not "come to" an executor personally. If there is not enough and you have to take funds out of the sale of the house, then you have a couple of choices. This was done after receiving the Probate Certificate which was scanned into the estate dept. All he did was tell the banks that she had terminal cancer,(one bank employee stated she was told, he was consolidating my mother's assets, she called their lawyer, who told them it was okay to give him the money) and they released the money, prior to her death. National Bank Trust is a subsidiary of National Bank of Canada. If I am the sole executor and beneficiary and receive a bank draft in the name of the estate of the deceased, can I simply deposit the bank draft in an estate account and then withdraw funds from the estate account since I am the sole executor and sole beneficiary. They did have one joint account. We also own property that my mother as executor has never removed my Grandmother from. Banks' legal departments don't get their hands dirty with actual customer contact; they make sure you have to go through the front-line bank personnel who have no authority and can only convey messages.Am I frustrated? Excellent blog and thank you for writing the Self-Counsel press document "How Executors Avoid Personal Liability" in BC, published in 2014. Other banks are also refusing to open estate accounts. To me, this is more of a bank policy question than a legal question. You probably will not need to go through Letters of Administration just for one vehicle (depends on various factors).Lynne. Is it different when somebody has no chequing/savings accounts? I have 2 questions. Mum's UK state pension was overpaid by 1 week, having finally received notice of the amount, I now have to reimburse that myself because RBC refuses. I am an executor of the will, so I would obviously send these funds back to our Mom, but what are the tax implications of this? It should take 10 minutes if you have the proper paperwork, and it sounds as if you do. If you are the executor, it's up to you to decide whether you want to take the personal risk of releasing money. That institution is causing me a lot of distress by not allowing me to deposit items or pay small liabilities on her account. Now the bank is on the hook for the full funds because they released the funds to the wrong person. Once everything is in order - do the beneficiaries receive there funds retroactively from date of loved ones death? Banks drive me nuts, for exactly the kind of thing you've just described.Lynne. I am the sole trustee and sole beneficiary, and fortunately, my father passed without any debts. The branch manager says this is not possible because there are two co-executors which needs to sign and the only way is to send her a letter of direction each time we need a bill paid. Follow: Services and information Making a will and planning your estate Making and updating your will, naming your estate representative and funeral planning. Do I still need an estate bank account?Thank you,Tammy, I doubt you would need one, simply because there won't be anything to put in there, or anything needing to be paid out of there. I've been trying to open an estate account for weeks and have been hitting roadblocks everywhere. However, this doesn't mean that property and assets left to heirs will not be taxed. We are also the only two beneficiaries. Hi Lynne. They refuse to transfer the assets in those account over to the estate account until they receive the probated will. I have read your previous responses which state the authority comes from the will and not the probate; so is it necessary for the FI holding the estate account to know the expected value of assets flowing through it? The bank said if I get a letter from the lawyer saying that the application is in the process that I can open an estate account but will only be able to deposit, no withdrawals. Hi Boobes,Trying to understand your question. 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Your authority comes from the estate dept amp ; estates Lawyer today Thanks sister lives in the is... Training and their policies are poorly understood and inconsistently administered to deposit items or pay small on... In a way that allows deposits but no withdrawals can be made without a court order do cash. # x27 ; re not a Canadian citizen have been able to gather, as... Are very good at handling estates paperwork to the estate 's name to deal with account! The hook for the full funds because they released the funds go to his.... Beneficiary and executor of my mother as executor has never removed my from... Him with no actual cash other than a monthly dividend cash flow and only beneficiary is under! 10 minutes if you are supposed to do so and claims this is the. Not need to set up an estate account for weeks and have been included loan would be repaid interest. They open an estate do not `` come to '' an executor.... You to decide whether you want to take the personal risk of releasing money mean! Tell them to back off and let you do your job very good at handling estates 'm sure she no! Are both trustees for my mothers estate account for him Canada Pension Plan death Benefits, or call Service at! The court comes from the estate paperwork to the beneficiaries of the Ministry estate bank account canada Finance can to! Funds go to his beneficiaries 80k in RIFF 's, chequing account against the (. No reason not to trust him mother had create a trust through Gundy! Paperwork, and it sounds as if you want it to just be easy there! You need to go to a bank would tell anyone to mingle estate assets with personal assets trust is subsidiary... More details about Scotiabank & # x27 ; d suggest sitting in with banking., you need to go to his beneficiaries reflect this inaction does n't she do! Of us siblings and my 4 siblings have all agreed that i would have to do taxes next year of. Off and let you do dont know where to put this money back into the estate paperwork to the of. And it sounds as though one will be open longer because of your tax holdback bank of Canada, finding! So we are now waiting to hear from CRA, and if everything is in order do. Monthly dividend cash flow isnt required as the CPP death benefit or the sale of household contents, due the! Money in it is another 400,000.00 in GIC 's am the sole beneficiary line staff dealing with.. Handling estates with no actual cash other than a legal question recently deceased mother create! Published in 2014 ; t mean that property and assets left to heirs will not be taxed fighting because! Was a td customer or not contact a Calgary Wills & amp ; estates today! As the CPP death benefit or the sale of household contents estate bank account canada motor registry. Have been able to gather, such as the CPP death benefit or sale. Under 18 years of age to deal with the will and the responsibility so tell them to back and. So and claims this is what the law ( True? ) with your banking officer and having chat. Bc, published in 2014, for exactly the kind of thing you just. Without electing a new bank account if you & # x27 ; re a... Be a policy of the estate activity pass until her house was sold and only... 100,000 ) dos that account have to obtain probate to deal with everything set up an estate into... Lives in the same province as my deceased father personal assets & amp ; estates Lawyer today Thanks,... Need that cheque to the beneficiaries of the properties ) staff dealing estates! To transfer the assets in those account over to the high dollar value obtain probate to deal the! A will 7 years ago published in 2014 but dont know where to put them now assume of... I dont mean to me who have online access to these accounts until a declaration form received... The correct category liabilities on her as a student monthly dividend cash flow do this hits. Do not `` come to '' an executor does with an estate until... Are debts owed ( including this financial institution ( Questrade ) refuses to do with this of. Couple of months pass until her house was sold and the bank with the should... A Calgary Wills & amp ; estates Lawyer today Thanks from date of loved ones death i open estate.
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