2. Understand who can apply to be estate trustee
Only Ontario residents can be an for a person who lived in Ontario and died without a will.
There's a usual order in which people related to the person who died have a right to apply to be trustee:
- a or partner
- children
- grandchildren
- great-grandchildren, and so on if there's a direct relationship to the person who died
- parents
- sisters, brothers, or any siblings
- grandparents
- other relatives such as uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces and great-grandparents
No relatives in Ontario
If there are no relatives in Ontario, a suitable person might apply to be estate trustee such as:
- a person living in Ontario who's nominated by the closest relative or relatives of the person who died
- a creditor of the estate in Ontario
The Public Guardian and Trustee becomes the estate trustee if there's no one else who can do the job.
The court decides
If you want to be an estate trustee and there are other people who are above you in this list, the court often requires them to give up their right to be estate trustee.
Sometimes the court also wants most, or all, of the who live in Ontario to agree to you becoming estate trustee.
If there's more than one person with the right to apply, the court can decide whether to appoint one or more of those people.
Claim against the estate
If you have or may have a claim against the estate, you're not allowed to be the estate trustee.
For example, you might want to make a dependant’s support claim if you're the common-law partner or step-child of the person who died. Or you might want to make an equalization claim if you're the married partner of the person who died.
