Probate Fees by Province
In an article about the lack of estate taxes in Canada that I wrote a couple weeks ago, The Financial Blogger mentioned that there are probate fees instead. This got me thinking as I haven’t done a lot of reading on probate fees, so I did some digging to get some info for interested readers.
What are probate fees?
Probate fees are basically a tax on your assets after you pass away. Essentially, this is the Canadian version of the estate tax. Each province has their own rules for the amount of probate charged.
Are there assets that are excluded from the probate fee calculation?
- Yep, assets held in joint tenancy (like primary residence)
- Assets such as life insurance and RRSP’s with named beneficiaries.
Below is a table that I referenced off Scotia’s website that explains probate fees by province:
| Province | Probate Fees | Maximum fee |
| AB | $25 (estate < $10,000)$100 ($10,000 < estate < $24,999)
$200 ($25,000 < estate < $124,999) $300 ($125,000 < estate < $249,999) $400 (estate > $250,000) |
$400 |
| BC | $0 (estate < $10,000)$208 ($10,001 < estate < $25,000)
$6 for every $1000 > $25,000 but < $50,000 plus $14 for every $1000 > 50,000 |
None |
| MB | $50 (estate < $10,000) + $6 for every $1000 > $10,000. | None |
| NB | $5 for each $1,000 | None |
| NL | $85 (estate <=$1,000) + $5 for every $1,000 after + $50. | None |
| NWT | $25 (estate <$10,000)$100 ($10,000 < estate < $25,000)
$200 ($25,000 < estate < $125,000) $300 ($125,000 < estate < $250,000) $400 (estate > $250,000 ) |
$400 |
| NS | $70 (estate < $10,000)$176 ($10,000 < estate < $25,000)
$293 ($25,000 < estate < $50,000) $820 ($50,000 < estate < $100,000) $820 + $13.85 for each additional $1000 > $100,000 |
None |
| ON | $5 per $1,000 for the first $50,000$15 per $1000 there after. | None |
| PE | $50 (estate < $10,000)$100 ($10,001 < estate < $25,000)
$200 ($25,001 < estate < $50,000) $400 ($50,001 < estate < $10,000) $4 for each $1,000 there after. + 0.2% closing fee |
None |
| QC | $65 for non-notarial will$0 for notarial will | $65 |
| SK | $7 for each 1,000 | None |
| YT | $0 if estate < $25,000$140 otherwise | $140 |
So it looks like if I were to pass away with $1 million in net worth (not including principle residence,rrsp, or insurance), I would owe the province of Newfoundland, $85 + $5 x (1,000,000/1,000) +50 = $5,135. Looks steep compared to provinces like QC where the maximum is only $65! QC must have some other death tax that I don’t know about. :)
After seeing this info, how does one go about minimizing their probate fees?
- Make sure your spouse is named as the beneficiary of your RRSP and your primary residence is under joint ownership.
- Also, give away your cash while you are alive instead of it letting it be taxed at death.
If you want to do some more reading on the topic, the Scotia website has some great tips on how to minimize probate fees.
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[…] also another benefit of gifting cash to your kids while you are still alive, you get to avoid probate fees. When you gift cash to your adult kids, the transfer is completely tax free. However, if you […]
[…] account will transfer to your spouse tax free. Otherwise, the account will go to the estate where probate fees along with income taxes will have to be paid before distribution to family […]
I just read this post and I got stuck on the Quebec “death tax”.
It’s funny because it’s true.
CtR
Yea, it’s crazy the discrepancy between provinces. It really doesn’t pay to die wealthy in some of these provinces.
Nobleea, that’s a great idea about trusts in Canada. I’ll get an article together.
AB and Yukon are cheap too. ON is not pleasant. a 1$million estate would cost $14,500 in probate fees. For probate fees under say 6-7K, is it really worth going to all the work to try and avoid it? I mean, that’s a tax of less than 1%.
If you’re setting up a trust for other reasons, I think probate fees can be avoided on the money in the trusts (but trusts are not cheap to setup either!).
Are any of the readers here quasi experts on trusts? That would be a nice guest topic. i know there are several diff types of trusts.
It is incredible to see how the Government find ways to tax us even more when you are dead!
The best way to minimize probate fees is to die in Quebec or North West Territories ;-)