简介

所有的事情都完成以后，执行人才可以把剩下的遗产分给受益人。

如果是律师做执行人，律师必须提供给受益人一份非常详细的账目，记录每一分钱的进账与出账。多少钱用来交税，多少钱用来付哪个债务，在哪一天，多少钱是律师自己的手续费，等等。这样，受益人可以很放心的知道，自己获得了所有可能获得的遗产。

相比而言，如果是非专业人士，很多时候并不会记录每一笔钱的来龙去脉。

特别是如果他并不习惯保存，记录，在很长的一段时间里，为遗产做的每一件事情。因此，受益人和执行人的民事纠纷经常发生。

其他的遗产事宜，比如说遗产纠纷，未成年受益人的监护和管理权，等等，就不在这里一一细说了。在过去的几年里， 鼎正律所帮助很多人获得了他们应得的遗产。作为相当有经验的遗产律师，我们在遗产法院（Estate Court）也小有名气。若有需求，请用点击“预约首次免费咨询“联系我们。

在加拿大，受益人拿到遗产是完全不用交税的。但遗产本身还是要交两笔税。只要遗产高于5万加币，高出的那部分就需要交1.5%的遗产认证税。
（遗产金额 – 5 万）X 1.5% = 遗产认证税

这笔税必须在法院批文下来后180天内交。执行人必须在180天内递交一份详细的遗产清单给加拿大财政部，同时把“遗产认证税”用银行汇票的方式取出，寄给法院。因为这件事情对细节的要求十分严格，通常都是由遗产律师来完成。

第二笔税叫做最终收入税（terminal income taxes）。是由执行人和一位专业会计一起完成。这项报税十分复杂，因为所有的遗产都会算作以市价卖给受益人。如果是有经验的遗产律师来做执行人，也是有一些方式来减少要付的税。比如，用逝者的名义把住宅卖出，这样可以享受相应的免税额，等等。

从递交法院申请开始，到跟银行的遗产部门交流，通常是一年或者几年的过程。在整个过程中，执行人需要不断的在各个债主的威胁中，与他们谈判，尽最大的努力来保护遗产不被夺走。这导致很多人最终还是找律师来当执行人。

更糟糕的是，绝大部分债主都是有权利把房产或者车辆变卖来付清债务，只要逝者 毁约。而，在绝大部分的借贷条款里，都写了“如果借款人过世，毁约就成立，必须立刻付清余款”。

对于律师来说，处理各种债务，催款，借贷都是家常便饭。一个有经验的律师可以让债主们停止催债，让债主无法拿走任何资产进行变卖，甚至，可以让债主不再累积利息。这样可以给遗产省下庞大的第三方手续费，律师费，经纪费等等。

在法院颁发批文以后，执行人必须把所有的资产都一一处理。

银行账户

逝者拥有账户的每一家银行都需要单独联系。他们都有自己的遗产部门，并且每一家遗产部门的做事方式各不相同。为了保护自己的利益，银行的遗产部门会要求执行人签署很多文件，公正各种证据，通常再拖上几个月以后才会愿意放款。

并且，对银行来说，遗产是一个“不赚钱”的项目，他们会把遗产的事宜拍到所有其他事情之后，用最低的效率来处理。这就需要执行人频繁的，反复的去催促。

在这种情况下，如果是律师作为执行人，就可以轻松的审核，签署任何银行遗产部门准备的文件。公正并且提供所一切相关的证据。同时，还可以用自己丰富的经验纠正他们的错误，回答他们的问题。

投资账户

除了银行以外，遗产经常包括投资产品。比如说，RESP， RRSP， TFSA，保险，股票，等等。很多时候，这些投资是在银行之外，与保险公司，基金会或者证券交易所开账户进行。这些金融机构通常需要更多，更繁琐的文件，证据，和反复的交流，才会允许执行人拿走遗产。同样的，一位有经验的律师做执行人会把整个过程缩短很多。

房地产

你的遗产律师最好也精通房地产，因为遗产房有一套自己的详细要求。如果受益人和执行人最终决定卖掉遗产房，虽然卖房是由地产经纪来处理，但从挂牌（Listing）到买卖合同（offer/APS）都有很多细节必须显示在文件上。99%经纪没并没有处理遗产房的经验，一切文件都需要遗产律师审核，修改才能签字。不然，执行人可能会因失责而被惩罚。如果受益人最终决定留下遗产房，那么，你的律师也可以直接把房产转给受益人。当然，如果执行人本身就是遗产和房地产律师，这会成为最容易的那部分。

车

执行人需要购买一份“ Used Vehicle Information Package”，然后去Service Ontario把车转让。当然，如果是律师做执行人，整个过程中需要准备或者公正的文件都可以轻松完成。

法院在审核申请时，对案子有几大要求：

1. 执行人一直住在加拿大
2. 受益人里没有未成年人
3. 执行人与受益人没有任何利益冲突（这点非常难以达到，除非执行人和受益人是同一人，并且绝对没有任何人有争遗产的可能性，才算符合。）
4. 必须有一份合法，有效的遗嘱。

任何申请达不到以上四个条件，法院都很有可能要求执行人自己掏钱，买一份押金保险。押金保险的价格是总遗产的5%，并且不可以用遗产报销。同时，如果有未成年人为受益人，则必须每年都买，直到受益人成年为止。

当然，如果由律师来做执行人，法院不会要求押金保险。因为律师有高额的专业保险可以代替押金保险。并且，律师协会每年都会查该律师的账本，直到他履行完毕所有执行人的义务。

同时，如果由律师来做执行人，他只能收执行人的佣金。不能再次收递交申请的律师费。这一点是其他专业人士做不到的，比如会计，银行经理，信托管理人等等。雇佣非律师执行人代表他们有权力收5%的执行服务费 + 格外请律师的律师费。

处理遗产的第一步，就需要执行人去每一家银行和金融机构，通知他们逝者已逝。如果没有人通知的话，这些金融机构没有任何其他的方式会“自动”知道这件事。

遗产执行人必须跟银行经理建立一个“Estate Case”。在这个过程中，逝者的帐户会被标上“已逝”。任何逝者的债务，虽然会进入拖欠（defaulting）的状态，银行也会知道这是有特殊原因的。这样会减少他们开始拍卖遗产的可能性，至少到法院批文下来为止。

同时，有经验的遗产执行人，比如说遗产律师，会确认银行把所有的自动扣款都停止，不管是用来付电话费还是用来还房贷。这样可以避免遗产的自动流失，让受益人最终能拿到更多的资金。

The probate application requires the executor to provide a detailed list of ALL the assets owned by the deceased. This includes real estate properties, bank accounts, vehicles, investments… and their value. So how does one get this information?

Ideally, the deceased would have kept a list of assets owned during his/her life (as is the case when clients do estate planning with our firm). If not, then the executor must spend a lot of time searching for the assets:

Real Estate

If the executor knows the address of the deceased’s real estate, then as lawyers (in both real estate and wills & estate), we can easily get the deed from the Land Registry Office (LRO). If not, then we must go through the long process of searching the deceased’s name in each municipal LRO office. Also, when multiple property owners have the same name, we must examine each deed to ensure we get the right one.

Once we find the properties, the executor should hire a realtor or professional appraiser to prepare a comparative report, which will provide a good estimate of how much the property is worth in the year of the deceased’s death.

If there is a mortgage on title, then we must get a mortgage information statement from the bank, to know the amount of mortgage outstanding. This is the only value that may be deducted from the total estate value for Estate Administration Tax purposes.

Bank accounts and Investments

The executor should be going to each bank in which the deceased had an account or a bank access card to set up an Estate Case. This process may require the lawyer to prepare and notarize some documents, and in some cases, accompany the executor to the bank appointments.
After the Estate Case is established with the banks, the executor would be given a summary of all the bank account balances and investments owned by the deceased. Those accounts would also be labelled as “frozen” and all pre-authorized payments would be cancelled. This stops those accounts from being depleted before the beneficiaries can receive their inheritance.

Vehicles

All vehicles owned by the deceased must be listed on the probate application, with their value estimated by second hand vehicle vendors, Service Ontario, or car dealerships.

Companies

If the deceased owned any companies and there is NO Corporate Wills, then the corporate accountant or a professional appraiser must do an estimate of how much the corporation is worth. This information must be recorded on the probate application.

Other assets

Any other type of assets that have monetary value and owned by the deceased must also be listed on the probate application, including jewellery, paintings, etc.

Probate with a valid Will is much easier than without a Will. Unfortunately, to date only 30% of our clients have a Will.

The key is on having a valid, or accurate Will. This means that the Will must satisfy 8 requirements. For more information, please visit our Estate Planning Page.

While some deficits can be fixed, like doing an Affidavit of Execution with one of the witnesses who signed on the Will, if he/she is still alive and accessible; other mistakes cannot be fixed, such as one of the witnesses being a beneficiary or spouse of a beneficiary.

The beneficiaries on the Will must be specifically named. Having vague phrases like my children is unhelpful because then the executor must locate all of the deceased’s children and the Court will likely require a bond insurance before issuing the approval (costing 5% of the entire estate value).

If there is a mistake that cannot be fixed, then a Probate Without Will application must be submitted instead.

Up to 70% of our probate clients do not have a valid Will. This means we must prepare and submit the much harder, Probate without a Will application.

When there is no Will, if the Court has any doubt that:

• There may be a conflict of interest between the executor and the beneficiaries;
• The executor does not have an exhaustive list of eligible beneficiaries (there may be missing beneficiaries);
• There are conflicts or disagreements between the beneficiaries;
• The executor is not credible or trustworthy

Then the Court will ask the executor to use his/her own money to buy a bond insurance, which usually costs 5% of the entire estate value.

When the deceased has no Will, the only people who may receive the inheritance are those related to the deceased by blood, adoption, or marriage, in order of priority.

For instance, if the deceased have spouse and children, then his/her parents, siblings, and other relatives would not be entitled to any inheritance or even notice that the probate application has been submitted.
Common-law partners are not eligible as beneficiaries, when there is no Will.

The person applying to become executor must provide details of the deceased’s assets and a comprehensive list of the deceased’s eligible beneficiaries.

Lastly, as the probate application to Court is very technical and many documents require notarization by lawyers, the best approach is to hire an experienced estate lawyer to handle this process. Otherwise, the application is often rejected by the Court as being incomplete or inaccurate.

When there are one or more beneficiaries who are under 18 years old, then the application becomes much more difficult. Minors cannot legally own property or open bank accounts in only their names. At the same time, minors cannot consent to give up their inheritance, unlike adult beneficiaries. This creates a huge dilemma: the minor must receive their inheritance, and at the same time the inheritance cannot be put into their names.

There are two solutions to this problem. #1, and the more common solution, is for the Court to hold the minor’s inheritance (for free) until the minor becomes 18. However, the Court will not make any investments that have any risk, so at most they will invest the money in GICs. During this time, if the minor’s caretakers require assess to the inheritance to pay for the minor’s necessary expenses, such as education and medical bills, then they must apply to the Court each time they need money. The Court will be strict on assessing whether the expense is a necessity for the minor and whether the caretaker can afford to pay for that expense themselves without access to the minor’s inheritance.

The 2nd solution is to file a Guardianship application, which involves appointing an adult Guardian of Property for the minor. This is different from an estate trustee, who only needs to distribute the estate right away after probate is approved. The Guardian for Property must hold the property for as many years as it takes for the minor to become 18 years old.

While it seems that the Guardian are given more freedom when it comes to investment and spending on behalf of the minor, the Court will stringently analyze  a financial plan submitted by the Guardian regarding how they will manage the minor’s inheritance. The Court will not tolerate any at risk investments or unnecessary spendings. Also, the Guardian for Property is almost always required to buy a bond (costing 5% of the minor’s total inheritance) for every single year that they are managing the minor’s inheritance.