When a loved one passes away, we are often caught off guard, even if it was somewhat expected. During this difficult time, we must manage our grief along with many responsibilities.
Aside from planning and paying for a funeral, it’s important to gather some key documents, find out if there is a will, and do many other things. Where to begin?
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Important: If you are the liquidator of a succession (an estate), please see our articles Choosing Someone to Settle Your Affairs and Settling a Succession. |
Where to start?
The first thing is to look after funeral arrangements.
Start by finding out if the deceased had a contract with a funeral company for a pre-arranged funeral. To find out, ask the funeral services company to search the Registry for prearranged funeral services contracts and contracts for pre-purchased sepulchers. You must be the liquidator of a succession or an heir to ask if the deceased had already made a contract.
You should also check whether the will mentions anything about this.
If the deceased did not make such arrangements, but told you what they wanted before they died, you should follow their wishes. You can also ask family members.
Who is responsible for making funeral arrangements?
If the will says that the liquidator is responsible for funeral arrangements, then the liquidator must take care of them. In this situation, the liquidator has the final say about arrangements, but it is a good idea for the liquidator to ask the family for their input.
The liquidator is the person named to settle the affairs of the deceased, including filing tax returns, making a list of the deceased’s property and distributing this property to those who inherit from the deceased. Liquidators are often also called “executors”.
If the will does not specify that the liquidator is responsible for funeral arrangements, or if there is no will, the heirs make the arrangements. The heirs are the people who will inherit.
Who pays for funeral arrangements?
The succession of the deceased pays for the funeral arrangements. “Succession” is the legal term for the property of the deceased. It is commonly called the “estate”.
If you pay these expenses out of your pocket, you can ask the succession to pay you back.
Retraite Québec (pension board) pays a death benefit if the deceased made enough contributions to the Quebec Pension Plan during their lifetime. This benefit is meant to cover funeral costs; priority on the payout of the benefit is therefore given to the person who paid for the funeral costs.
What are the most important documents to gather?
- An attestation of death from the funeral company. You might have to send the attestation of death to service providers such as electricity and telephone companies.
- A death certificate or copy of an act of death issued by the Directeur de l’état civil (registrar of civil status). You will need the death certificate or act of death to settle the succession. Only these documents are considered official.
- The marriage contract or civil union contract, if there is one. This document is very important when settling a succession. It helps determine what the surviving spouse is entitled to claim from the succession (estate).
- A copy of the divorce, separation, or parental union termination judgment, or parental union termination agreement. These documents may be needed to confirm the deceased person’s marital status and to determine whether they had any obligations toward a former spouse or partner.
- Other relevant documents needed to settle the succession. This includes investment certificates, savings bonds, bank statements, insurance policies and title deeds to a home.
Is there a central registry that lists all the deceased’s property?
There is no central registry that lists all the property a person owns. Therefore, you need to look through the deceased’s home to get as much information as possible.
If you think the deceased had an insurance policy but you can’t find it, you can search the website of the OmbudService for Life and Health Insurance.
If the deceased had a safety deposit box at a financial institution, you should check what’s in it. It might contain important documents, or even a priceless heirloom. Important! The liquidator or the people entitled to inherit must ask the institution to open a safety deposit box. A notary should be present.
How do you know if there’s a will or if the will you found is the most recent one?
Follow these steps:
- Begin by looking through the deceased’s personal belongings.
- Next, check whether the deceased had a safety deposit box at a financial institution where they may have kept their will.
- In all cases (you think there’s no will or you found one but aren’t sure if it’s the most recent one), you are legally required to request a will search on the single Portal registry service for wills and protection mandates.
Once the search has been done, you’ll receive two certificates: one from the Quebec notary association, the Chambre des notaires, and one from the Quebec bar. These certificates will inform you about the most recent will registered by a notary or lawyer. If no will was registered, the certificates will say so.
How do you search for a will?
If you want to do the will search yourself, you’ll have to make a request using the One-window registry service for wills and protection mandates. This request can be made online, in person or by mail.
Regardless of how you make the request, you will need to include the required documents and pay a fee.
You can also ask a notary or lawyer to do this for you.
Does a will have to be validated? If so, how is this done?
A will that is not prepared by a notary must be validated by a court or by a notary to be official. Even a will prepared by a lawyer must be validated. The validation process is legally called “probate”.
Probate certifies that the will was indeed made by the deceased and that it follows the legal rules of the Civil Code of Québec.
Do wills have to be read in the presence of a notary?
No, but if the deceased asked for this in their will, then it should be read in front of a notary.
The will does not have to be read in the presence of the notary who prepared the will.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to have the will read in the presence of a notary anyways. This way, the heirs and the liquidator will get the same explanations, at the same time, about the settlement of the succession. They will get answers to questions that have been up in the air since the deceased passed away.
What happens if there is no will?
If there is no will, you must start by identifying the legal heirs and determining the share each heir is entitled to inherit. The law has rules on who inherits in these situations, and how much they inherit.
The rules on how to settle a succession are the same whether or not the deceased had a will. Settling a succession means transferring all the property, rights and obligations of the deceased to those entitled to inherit.