What settling your estate will cost the people you leave behind
The person who settles your estate is almost always someone close to you: a spouse, an adult child, a brother or a sister. They inherit a job as well as a legacy, and the first thing the job asks of them is money, usually before a dollar of the estate is available to them.
This calculator puts a figure on that. It totals the probate fee for your province, the funeral, the professional help, the cost of selling and emptying a home, executor compensation if it is taken, and the tax that falls on an RRSP or RRIF, then shows what the whole thing amounts to as a share of what you are leaving. Treat it as a planning estimate rather than legal or tax advice.
Estate Settlement Cost Calculator
Probate is one line on a longer bill. This adds up the whole cost of settling an estate, including the parts that fall due before any assets can be sold.
Professional fees are typical ranges, not fixed tariffs; a straightforward estate costs less and a contested one costs far more. Executor compensation is commonly around 2–5% of the estate where it is claimed at all, and family executors often waive it.
What an executor is actually taking on
An executor is not simply a name in a will. They gather and value the assets, apply for probate, deal with creditors, arrange the final tax return and account to the beneficiaries, and they are personally responsible for doing all of it properly. Most take nothing for the work, even though provincial rules would generally allow compensation somewhere in the two to five per cent range.
Pricing that line is not an argument for charging it. Seeing the number shows the value of work being done for free, and it is a useful prompt to talk the role through with the person you have chosen rather than leaving them to discover the scope of it in a lawyer's office.
The costs that will not wait for the will
A funeral is arranged and invoiced within days. A lawyer helping with the estate is retained at the start. An empty home still needs heat, insurance and property tax until it sells, and it has to be cleared and cleaned before anyone can be shown around. None of that can be deferred until the estate is settled, and probate commonly takes months rather than weeks while the accounts stay frozen.
The largest amounts tend to surface later. Selling the family home costs roughly four per cent once commission and closing are counted, and the balance of a registered plan is generally reported as income on the final return, which can become the single biggest charge against what you leave. A clear will and one straightforward property keep the total modest; a disputed estate can cost several times as much, which is the strongest reason to keep your paperwork tidy and current.
Leaving the money in the right place
The probate fee is the part most people worry about, and it is usually the smallest line in the table. What matters far more is where the cash to pay everything else is sitting. Money that passes under the will is tied up until the grant issues; money paid to a named beneficiary on a life insurance policy is not.
A death benefit goes directly to the person you name, generally within weeks, outside the estate and outside probate entirely. That is the difference between a family paying the funeral director and the lawyer from a policy you arranged for them, and a family paying from its own chequing account while hoping the estate can put it back.
Frequently asked questions
Who pays for the funeral before the estate is settled?
Usually a family member, because the deceased person's own accounts are generally frozen until the estate representative has authority to use them. A death benefit paid to a named beneficiary is the quickest way to make sure that money is already on hand rather than borrowed from a relative.
Is my executor entitled to be paid?
In most provinces an executor may claim compensation, commonly in the two to five per cent range, subject to provincial rules and to the agreement of the beneficiaries or the court. Family executors very often waive it, which is worth acknowledging when you ask someone to take the role on.
Does life insurance go through probate in Canada?
Not when it is paid to a named beneficiary. The proceeds go to that person rather than into the estate, so they are not counted for the provincial probate fee and are not held up waiting for the grant. Naming the estate instead, or leaving no valid beneficiary, changes that.
What happens to debts and the final tax bill?
Debts and taxes are paid from the estate before beneficiaries receive anything, and the executor is expected to see that it happens in the right order. If the estate falls short, the shortfall generally reduces what is left to inherit rather than becoming a family member's own debt, but a lawyer should confirm the position for your circumstances.
How much life insurance covers estate settlement costs?
A reasonable starting point is the total this calculator returns, plus a margin for the things no estimate can see. Run it with the toggles that match your situation, note the figure, and treat it as the amount you would rather your family never had to find on their own.
Other free tools
See the full set on the tools index.