What Should an Executor Do First After a Death in Canada?
Someone has died. You are the executor. And your mind is already racing through banks, taxes, lawyers, and beneficiaries.
Here is the reframe that matters: your first job is not to settle the estate. It is to protect it.
Quick answer: in the first days, locate the will, secure the property and insurance, handle the funeral and immediate family needs, get proof of death, and start a log. Most of the administration comes later.
Settling takes months. Protecting takes days, and it starts now.
One note before we go further. If you have been asked to be an executor and have not yet said yes, that is a different decision. We wrote a separate guide for it: Executors: Decisions to Make Before You Commit. This article is for the moment after. The death has happened, the role is yours, and you are wondering where to start.
Why protection comes first
From the moment you begin acting as executor, you are responsible for the estate. Not just for getting it done. For keeping it intact while you do.
That responsibility is why the first days have a narrow job. An estate can lose value quickly in small, quiet ways. A house sits empty and unwatched. An insurance policy lapses in the shuffle. Someone with a key removes something before anyone has taken stock. A payment goes out before you understand what the estate owes.
None of these are settling problems. All of them are protection problems. And all of them happen in the first days, not the first months.
So the day-one question is not “how do I administer this estate?” It is “what needs protecting right now?”
There are three answers. Then one habit to start.
Protect the instructions
Find the original will and any codicils. Read them. Confirm the documents are complete, with no missing pages and no obvious problems.
The will names who is in charge and who gets what. Keep in mind that how each asset passes also depends on how it is owned and on provincial law. But the will is the starting document, and every later step depends on it. Until you have it in hand, you are working from memory and assumption, and estates do not run well on either.
If you cannot find it, that becomes your first task. Check the files at home, contact the lawyer who may have drafted it, and ask the bank how to access any safety deposit box. Do not start acting on what you think it says.
Protect the property
An estate is at its most exposed in the first days, when grief is high and attention is scattered.
Secure the home. If there is any uncertainty about who has keys, change the locks. This is not an accusation against anyone. It is basic stewardship of something you are now responsible for.
Keep insurance in force. Home, vehicles, business property. If a house will sit empty, tell the insurer. Vacant homes have their own rules, and a quiet lapse now is a loss the estate absorbs later.
Think past the house. Pets and livestock need care. If the person owned or controlled a business, someone needs to keep the doors open. Contact the people already running it and confirm who has authority to keep operations moving. A business does not pause for probate.
Protect the people
The estate is money and property. The first days are also about the humans attached to it.
Make the funeral arrangements, honouring any wishes in the will or left with the family. Notify family, close friends, and the employer. Arrange the obituary if there is to be one.
Then one financial question, and only one: does anyone need money now? A surviving spouse or dependants may need cash for living costs before any accounts move. Naming that need is a day-one task. Get advice before moving any estate money to meet it.
Finally, order several copies of the funeral director's statement of death. It works for many government notifications. Some banks and insurers will also want the provincial death certificate, so find out early what you need and order accordingly. Nearly every institution you deal with later will ask for one or the other.
Start a log today
One habit protects everything else: write things down from day one.
Record decisions, calls, expenses, and anything you hand off to someone else. Keep the receipts with the estate records.
This feels like paperwork at the worst possible time. It is also one of the simplest ways to protect the estate, the beneficiaries, and yourself. Months from now, when someone asks why a decision was made, the answer will be on paper instead of in your memory.
Most of the administration can wait
Probate. Bank meetings. The full inventory of assets and debts. Tax returns. Distribution to beneficiaries.
All of it matters. None of it belongs to the first days.
A few notifications do carry deadlines. Service Canada should hear promptly, because CPP and OAS payments made after death must be paid back. The checklist sequences these notifications and deadlines so you do not have to guess.
Everything else settles in sequence, over months, and no bank or beneficiary expects otherwise. Nothing is gained by starting Phase 4 during Phase 1. Things are lost that way: clarity, records, and sometimes money.
If the will is found, the property is secure, the immediate needs are handled, and your log is started, you have done the first days well. Full stop.
The working tool for what comes next
The rest of the role is a long project with a natural order, and it goes better with a map than a memory.
We built the Executor Duty Checklist for exactly this. It breaks the entire estate into six phases, from these first days through final distribution. It is fillable, so you can track what is done and what is next. And every task has a delegation column, because you are allowed to hand things off. Good executors usually do.
Download it, fill in what you have already done, and let it hold the sequence so you do not have to.
Clarity now reduces chaos later.
Related resources: the Executor Guide (Decisions to Make Before You Commit), and The Surviving Spouse.
About Shea Sanche
Shea Sanche, CFP®, is the Founder and Senior Financial Advisor at Insight Planning, with 27 years of experience guiding Canadian families through retirement, estate transitions, and loss.
Educational information only. This article is not tax, legal, or investment advice. Executor duties, deadlines, and requirements vary by province and by estate. Personal circumstances vary and professional advice should be obtained before acting.
Common Questions About This Topic
Do I still need a will in Canada if assets are joint?
Yes. Joint ownership can simplify transfers, but it can also create fairness, control, and tax issues. A will plus clean ownership and beneficiary structure protects intent.
What is probate in Canada?
Probate is the legal process that validates a will and allows an executor to distribute assets. Avoiding probate should not create worse tax or family outcomes.
What does an executor do?
An executor administers the estate: collects assets, pays debts and taxes, files returns, and distributes the remainder according to the will. Preparation reduces delays.