Notifications

Show Table of Contents

There are number of people and organizations you will want to notify about the death, and some of these notifications are time-sensitive. For example, you typically have up to 30 days after the death to notify the court and present any will.

If you are using EstateExec, the software will calculate due dates in relation to the date of death you specify on the Decedent tab, and show the relevant tasks and due dates on the Tasks tab.

Typical Notifications

While not a complete list, here is a good starting point for some of the notifications you may want to make over time:

  • Banks
  • Brokerage accounts
  • Businesses and partnerships
  • Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
  • Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
  • Close friends and family
  • Credit card companies
  • Credit reporting agencies
  • Creditors
  • Extended circle of acquaintances
  • Employer & any pension providers
  • Heirs
  • Insurance companies
  • Landlord
  • Lawyer
  • Leasing companies
  • Local service providers
  • Medical providers
  • Membership organizations
  • Newspaper and other subscriptions
  • Post office
  • Probate court
  • Provincial driver's license authority
  • RCMP (firearms)
  • Retraite Québec
  • Revenu Québec
  • RRSPs and other beneficiary accounts
  • Québec SIAF (firearms)
  • Québec RDPRM
  • Service Canada
  • Trustees
  • Utility companies
  • Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC)

Some notifications may be made informally, while others require specific contact methods, ranging from phone calls to notarized letters to public notifications. If you are using EstateExec, it will provide you with due dates and contact methods for many of these official notifications.

See also Inform the Federal Government of a Death. Note that you do NOT need to notify Elections Canada, unless the death occurred outside of Canada.

Discount $$:  EstateExec users can access significant discounts on expedited notification mailings and shipping in general (see Task: Notify heirs).

Caution

While the above list may be useful, it's best to make notifications in the manner and time outlined by EstateExec's automatically constructed tasks in the Tasks tab, or as outlined in the general Timeline documentation. For example, many states have strict rules about creditor notification timelines, and failure to follow these statutes can result in the estate owing money that it otherwise would not have ... or in the executor becoming personally responsible for certain estate debts!

Copyright © 2014-24 EstateExec