As the holiday season comes to a close, many of us will take stock of the time enjoyed with friends, family, and loved ones, and look forward to the prospect of a new year.  Unfortunately, as members of the estates bar, we are occasionally called on to review circumstances in which no family members or loved ones are around for the purposes of a deceased individual’s estate planning decisions.  More specifically, we are often asked to consider the proper legal procedures when an individual passes away having named an estate trustee who is incapable of acting, and where the individual died leaving no spouse, children, or next-of-kin in Ontario.

In the foregoing circumstances, Ontario’s Crown Administration of Estates Act gives the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee (the “PGT”) the appropriate authority to step in to the shoes of an estate trustee and administer the estate, if necessary and subject to certain statutory guidelines.  Section 1 of the Act allows the Superior Court of Justice to issue to the PGT “letters of administration or letters probate”, thereby giving it the authority to administer an estate, provided the following conditions are satisfied:

1. The deceased person died in Ontario, or was a resident of Ontario but died elsewhere;
2. The person died intestate (that is, without a validly executed will), or died leaving a will that does not name an executor or estate trustee who is willing and able to administer the estate; and
3. The Deceased had no known next-of-kin of the age of majority residing in Ontario who are willing to administer the estate.

Certain additional policy considerations not listed in the Act have also been adopted to govern whether the PGT will agree to administer an estate. Notably, the PGT will generally only act as an estate trustee of last resort.  Before agreeing to act, the PGT will typically take steps to locate another interested party who may wish to be appointed, for example, any of the deceased person’s next-of-kin from out of province.  Moreover, the PGT will only step in to administer estates that will hold a value of at least $10,000 after all debts of the estate have been paid.  By its own estimates, at any given time the PGT is actively administering more than 1,400 estates.  Accordingly, these additional policy considerations ensure that the appropriate resources can be directed to the estates that the office has agreed to administer.

Thanks for reading.  Happy New Year!

Garrett Horrocks