Need legal advice: Estate Admin for low income deceased person

[curves2000]

Hello CP'ers,

I asked this question about a year ago but I can't find the post or the thread it was being discussed in.

Long story short, I am looking for some options for assisting with an deceased family friend's estate. Nobody will step up as he had only a few elderly immigrant friends and their English is poor.

Probably $10k or less in assets, no will, no children or relatives in Canada but I was able to track down a few relatives in Australia.

I have a lot of his paperwork, ID, passport. I can try and assist where possible and the family overseas is willing to help out too.

I don't want to drown in paperwork or an executor's job here. Can any the CP legal minds provide any advice on this? Any places do pro-bouno work for low income people?

Thanks in advance,

[Canadianman]

I don't know of any free legal assistance for estate work, as for most people (especially low asset individuals), it can be done without legal representation. Further, the government will appoint a public trustee to do it if no one steps forward.



Have you considered letting the public trustee do it?


https://www.alberta.ca/deceased-persons-estates

[firebug]

I work full-time in estate administration and am a Certified Executor Advisor (not a lawyer though).

PM me and I can arrange a complementary call and give you some insight.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by firebug

I work full-time in estate administration and am a Certified Executor Advisor (not a lawyer though).

PM me and I can arrange a complementary call and give you some insight.

Thank you so much for the offer! I will follow up in a few weeks when I am back into town and can assist more easily.

Thanks again and I will PM you.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by Canadianman

I don't know of any free legal assistance for estate work, as for most people (especially low asset individuals), it can be done without legal representation. Further, the government will appoint a public trustee to do it if no one steps forward.



Have you considered letting the public trustee do it?


https://www.alberta.ca/deceased-persons-estates

I believe I may have spoken to the public trustee previously about this. If I recall correctly, if the deceased was not being taken care of by the Public Trustee, they don't normally get involved.

Thanks again for the suggestion. One thing this entire scenario has taught me is there must be a lot of poor, low income and lonely people who have nobody to look after their estates or what little funds they have.

It's shocking how often I have come across a "If I don't do this and that, than who will?"

Thanks again

[Sliver]

Is there a pressing need for you to get involved, anyway? If the deceased didn't care about their estate, why do you? Especially if there is only $10k value. I'm the executor of two estates right now and I wouldn't lift a finger on these if the value of the estate was only $10k. There won't be enough to even cover your time from the perspective of compensation.

Maybe hit the basics like sending the death certificate to the federal gov't, but other than that...IDK...fata it? And even with that, who knows if you even want your name tied to this. Could open you up for ongoing communication with the gov't if he hadn't filed taxes in a while or something and they'll want difficult-to-track-down paperwork, etc. to wrap things up.

I see an estate as a two-person job. First job needs to be done by the deceased. If they didn't do their job and the estate is small, I'd not involve myself.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Is there a pressing need for you to get involved, anyway? If the deceased didn't care about their estate, why do you? Especially if there is only $10k value. I'm the executor of two estates right now and I wouldn't lift a finger on these if the value of the estate was only $10k. There won't be enough to even cover your time from the perspective of compensation.

Maybe hit the basics like sending the death certificate to the federal gov't, but other than that...IDK...fata it? And even with that, who knows if you even want your name tied to this. Could open you up for ongoing communication with the gov't if he hadn't filed taxes in a while or something and they'll want difficult-to-track-down paperwork, etc. to wrap things up.

I see an estate as a two-person job. First job needs to be done by the deceased. If they didn't do their job and the estate is small, I'd not involve myself.

IIRC, that was the recommendation from a lot of posters in the previous thread. Don't get involved. Just do enough to get the ball rolling for the public trustee to do it.

It might have been different if you're helping a spouse or kid that's here. But if the rest of the family don't seem to care, you've never met etc. Don't expose yourself to that type of headache.

[taxbuster]

A few thoughts:
As @firebug will probably tell you, in order to do *anything* with the estate, someone needs to have legal authority to act for the deceased. This is usually a named executor. Where a deceased is intestate (no Will) there are established rules. A Court may need to name an Administrator.

Probate is likely necessary as there is no surviving spouse and the deceased was intestate. AFAIK there is no option to this (I'm more familiar now with BC rules so may be out of date here.) There is, literally, no value here as it may not an inexpensive process.

Presumably the Feds have been notified and have ceased paying CPP, OAS or other amounts, as applicable, as well as any other regular payors. CRA will, ultimately, issue a Clearance Certificate (if requested).

This WILL be a headache for you. Not sure why you want to do this, but it will likely not be a straightforward process, even though his relatives may indeed receive a small amount. Really, it's THEIR problem.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

IIRC, that was the recommendation from a lot of posters in the previous thread. Don't get involved. Just do enough to get the ball rolling for the public trustee to do it.

It might have been different if you're helping a spouse or kid that's here. But if the rest of the family don't seem to care, you've never met etc. Don't expose yourself to that type of headache.

Makes you wonder why a year later he's still flapping around about this then. Just forget about it already lol.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Makes you wonder why a year later he's still flapping around about this then. Just forget about it already lol.

Maybe he thinks he’ll get a “free” couple G out of it.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Makes you wonder why a year later he's still flapping around about this then. Just forget about it already lol.

My memory recollection seems to be this thread was earlier than a full year ago. But time duration has been occasionally weird for me since the pandemic.

[curves2000]

As I had indicated previously, this is a family friend, specifically a friend of my fathers for a long time. The situation is just flat out tragic for him but also for a lot of other people who are low income, don't have a strong support network or who may have fallen through the cracks of life.

Everybody deserves to have a proper burial, what little money they had being able to be accessed to some level of beneficiary or something.

I totally understand proper estate planning and having a will etc. I have a finance and banking background. What is shocking to me is how often this scenario must be playing out daily. How many homeless people, overdoses, low income and isolated people are not looked after.

Just dealing with people's sh** box cars must be a mess across Alberta. A lot of headaches for a lot of $200 cars that just pile up for no reason.

I would assume in 2023 we may have a slightly more easy process for basic things.

[Ferarri]

Didn't want to start a new thread, but does anyone know if there is a lawyer on CP? Had a question about Estates and thought I would search here first.

[Fuzz]

Troutman

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Ferarri

Didn't want to start a new thread, but does anyone know if there is a lawyer on CP? Had a question about Estates and thought I would search here first.

I'm not an estates lawyer but my firm has some of the top ones, if you want me to hook you up.