Alberta

In Alberta the executor is called the personal representative, and probate is a Grant of
Probate issued by the Court of King's Bench sitting in surrogate matters. Where there is no
will, or the named executor will not act, the court issues a Grant of Administration instead.
Banks, the land titles office and investment firms generally will not move assets without one.

The two statutes

The Wills and Succession Act decides whether the will is valid and who inherits. The Estate
Administration Act sets out, in deliberately plain language, what the personal representative
must actually do: identify the estate's assets and liabilities, administer and manage the estate,
satisfy its debts and obligations, and distribute and account for the administration.

What gets filed

• The original will, with an affidavit proving the witnesses' signatures.
• Proof of death.
• An inventory of property and debts valued at the date of death.
• The surrogate forms, plus notice to beneficiaries and anyone entitled on an intestacy.

Where the Public Trustee comes in

If a minor or a represented adult takes a share, the Office of the Public Guardian and
Trustee must be served and will review the application. Serve the trustee, not the represented
adult. This step is easy to miss and it will hold up the grant.

Fees and timing

Surrogate fees are set by regulation on a scale tied to the value of the estate, and have been
revised more than once; take the current figures from the court's fee schedule rather than from
memory. Do not distribute before the Canada Revenue Agency clearance certificate arrives — until
it does, the personal representative is personally exposed for unpaid tax.

Alberta's Wills and Succession Act recognises two everyday forms. A formal will is in
writing, signed by you, and signed by two witnesses who watch you sign and then sign in your
presence. A holograph will is written entirely in your own handwriting and signed by you,
with no witnesses — and in Alberta it is valid.

Valid is not the same as advisable

Alberta will admit a holograph will to probate. It will also admit everything that tends to come
with one: no residue clause, no alternate personal representative, gifts that could mean two
things, and a handwriting question if anybody objects. Use one to bridge a gap, not as the plan.

The witness who inherits

A witness — or that witness's spouse or adult interdependent partner — should never be a
beneficiary. The will itself survives; it is the gift to that witness that fails. Use two neutral
witnesses with nothing to gain.

Age and capacity

The general rule is 18 or older, with narrow statutory exceptions. Capacity is judged as at the
moment of signing, which is exactly why a lawyer's file notes are worth having when the will-maker
is elderly, unwell, or making a controversial change.

Keeping it current

• Name an alternate personal representative. People predecease, decline, and fall ill.
• Review after a marriage, the start or end of an adult interdependent relationship, a separation,
  a divorce, a birth, or a move to another province.
• Say where the original is kept, and tell the personal representative. A photocopy will not get a
  grant.

With no will at all, Part 3 of the Wills and Succession Act decides who inherits and the Estate
Administration Act decides who may apply to administer.

Yes. A personal representative in Alberta is entitled to fair and reasonable compensation
for administering the estate. It is ordinary, expected, and usually well earned.

How "fair and reasonable" gets measured

Schedule 1 of the Surrogate Rules sets out what is weighed: the gross value of the estate, the
skill, labour, responsibility and specialised knowledge the job demanded, the time spent, the
complexity and any unusual difficulty, and the results achieved.

The fee guidelines are not a tariff

A set of Suggested Fee Guidelines published by the Surrogate Rules Committee in 1995 is still
widely quoted — a percentage band on the first slice of estate value, tapering on the balance. They
were issued for guidance only and have never been a tariff, and no personal representative is
entitled to them as of right. Treat them as the opening of a conversation and check the current
wording of Schedule 1.

Getting it approved

Compensation is either agreed in writing by every beneficiary, or approved by the court when
the personal representative passes their accounts. Agree it in writing before taking it. Paying
yourself first and explaining afterwards is how a routine estate turns into a court application.

If the will fixes a figure

A will can set the compensation, and that figure governs where the personal representative accepts
the appointment on those terms. A legacy left to the personal representative may be intended
instead of a fee — read the wording closely.

Tax

Compensation is taxable income; an inheritance is not. Where the personal representative is also
a beneficiary, taking the gift rather than the fee is often the better outcome. Ask an accountant
before deciding.

A personal representative is reimbursed out of the estate for the reasonable out-of-pocket costs
of administering it. Reimbursement is separate from, and on top of, compensation for their time.

Normally claimable

• Funeral, burial or cremation, and a reception in proportion to the estate.
• Surrogate court fees, certified death certificates, land titles searches and registrations.
• Legal fees for the grant application, accounting fees, and preparation of the final T1 and any
  T3 trust return.
• Appraisals of real property, vehicles, farm equipment, jewellery and collections.
• Carrying costs on estate property until it sells: insurance, utilities, property tax, security,
  lawn and snow service.
• Cleaning, clearing, storing, moving and shipping the contents of a residence.
• Travel on estate business at a reasonable rate — mileage, flights, parking.
• Postage, couriers, bank charges and bond premiums where a bond is required.

Normally not claimable

• The personal representative's lost wages, meals near home, or personal expenses. That is what
  compensation covers.
• Costs run up for the convenience of one beneficiary rather than for the estate.
• Improvements to a property that go beyond preparing it for sale in its condition.
• Anything that cannot be documented.

The rule that decides it

Open an estate bank account as soon as the grant issues and run every dollar through it, and
keep a dated log of time and mileage from the first day. The personal representative has to account
to the beneficiaries and, if accounts are passed, to the Court of King's Bench. Reconstructing two
years of expenses from memory, in front of a beneficiary who is already unhappy, is a bad place to
be standing.

Not required — most Alberta estates are administered perfectly well by a family member. A trust
company or a lawyer acting as personal representative earns its cost in specific situations.

Consider a professional when

• The estate holds an operating business, a farm, or a portfolio of rental property that has to
  keep running while the estate is settled.
• There is conflict among the beneficiaries, or a challenge to the will looks likely.
• A beneficiary is a minor or a represented adult, which means a trust running for years and
  mandatory involvement of the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee.
• The intended appointee lives outside Alberta, or outside Canada. A non-resident personal
  representative can be required to post a bond, which is sometimes expensive and occasionally
  unobtainable, and a non-resident trustee carries real tax consequences.
• Assets sit in more than one province or country.
• The obvious candidate is grieving, elderly, unwell, or simply does not want the job.

What it costs

Trust companies charge a negotiated percentage, broadly comparable to what an individual would be
allowed under Schedule 1, often with a minimum fee that makes small estates uneconomic. Ask for the
schedule in writing before appointing anyone.

Middle options

• Appoint a family member and let them retain a lawyer and an accountant at the estate's expense.
  This is by far the most common arrangement and works well.
• Appoint a family member jointly with a trust company.
• Name a professional as the alternate, in case the family appointee cannot act.

A named personal representative who does not want the role can renounce — but only before they
start dealing with the estate. Once they have intermeddled, they are in.