If you have been named executor for an estate in Atlantic Canada, one of the first questions is what the court is going to charge before you can deal with the house. The answer swings a long way depending on which of the four provinces you are in, and Nova Scotia is by some distance the most expensive.
Here is what probate actually costs in each province, and what it means if the estate’s main asset is a house.
Why you usually need probate before selling
Title to the house sits in the name of the person who died. A buyer’s lawyer will want proof that whoever signs the deed has authority to sign it, and that proof is a grant issued by the probate court.
Until that grant is in hand, most sales cannot close. You can negotiate, you can sign an agreement conditional on obtaining the grant, but the closing waits.
The usual exception is joint ownership with a right of survivorship, where the property passes to the surviving owner outside the estate. Check the deed before you assume you need a grant at all, because it is a quick thing to confirm and it changes everything.
Nova Scotia charges the most, and it is not close
Nova Scotia probate tax is tiered, and it keeps climbing with no cap.
For estates over $100,000, the tax is $1,002.65 plus $16.95 for every $1,000, or portion of a thousand, above $100,000. Smaller estates pay a flat amount within their bracket.
Work that through on a $500,000 estate. You are $400,000 above the threshold, which is 400 thousands, times $16.95, which is $6,780. Add the $1,002.65 base and the probate tax is $7,782.65.
On top of the tax there are service fees for the documents themselves, and one detail worth planning around: the tax covers one of each key document, including the original grant and a certified copy of the will. Each additional grant beyond the first costs $133.35. If the estate has several properties or institutions that each demand an original, ask for what you need up front.
New Brunswick is simple and far cheaper
New Brunswick charges probate fees at $5 per $1,000 of the value of the estate, with a minimum fee and no maximum.
That is 0.5 percent, flat, all the way up. On a $500,000 estate you are looking at roughly $2,500, and on a $1,000,000 estate roughly $5,000.
Compared with Nova Scotia’s $7,782.65 on the same $500,000, New Brunswick is a little under a third of the cost. For families with property on both sides of the border, that gap is worth understanding before deciding where assets sit.
Prince Edward Island sits in the middle
Prince Edward Island uses a tiered structure with flat amounts up to $100,000, then $4 per $1,000 above that.
On a $500,000 estate that works out to roughly $2,350, and around $4,350 on a $1,000,000 estate. Cheaper than New Brunswick at the higher end, and dramatically cheaper than Nova Scotia.
Newfoundland and Labrador charges by the hundred
Newfoundland and Labrador starts at a small base fee and then charges 60 cents per $100 of value above the first $1,000.
Sixty cents per hundred is 0.6 percent, which puts it slightly above New Brunswick in proportional terms. On a $500,000 estate that lands around $3,050, and near $6,050 on a $1,000,000 estate.
Newfoundland is the province where the contrast between probate and land transfer is sharpest. It has no traditional land transfer tax, just a registration fee, so buying is cheap there while probating an estate is middling.
Putting the four side by side
On a $500,000 estate, in round numbers: Nova Scotia about $7,780, Newfoundland and Labrador about $3,050, New Brunswick about $2,500, Prince Edward Island about $2,350.
Nova Scotia costs roughly three times what its neighbours do on the same estate. If the estate’s main asset is a house, and Atlantic house prices being what they are, most estates with a home in them will clear the $100,000 threshold easily and land squarely in the per-thousand range.
None of these figures include the lawyer. Probate fees are what the court takes. Legal fees for administering an estate are separate, vary widely by complexity, and are worth getting quoted before you engage anyone.
What this means for the house
Three practical consequences.
First, the probate bill is usually payable up front, before the house is sold and before any money comes in. Executors regularly discover they need several thousand dollars from an estate whose only real asset cannot be liquidated yet. If the estate has no cash, that money often comes out of a beneficiary’s pocket temporarily.
Second, valuation matters. The tax is calculated on estate value, so the number you put on the house directly drives the bill. Use a defensible valuation as at the date of death and keep the documentation, because that figure has to survive scrutiny in both directions.
Third, carrying costs run the whole time. Mortgage, property tax, power, heat and insurance keep going while you wait. Watch the insurance especially. Most home policies treat a property differently once it is standing empty, and coverage can be reduced or voided after a set number of vacant days. Call the insurer, tell them the owner has died and nobody is living there, and get the vacancy endorsement in writing.
On an older Atlantic house, also check the oil tank. Insurers and lenders have both become particular about tanks past their service life, and a tank that will not pass can stall a financed sale after you have already waited months for the grant.
We went through the full cost of selling, including commission and HST, in our post on what it actually costs to sell a house in Atlantic Canada.
Selling the house once you have the grant
Inherited houses in this region are often dated. The person living there may have been elderly for years, and the maintenance shows.
You can put money into it and list it, list it as-is and take the market’s discount, or sell directly to a buyer who takes it in its current condition. Which is right depends on whether the estate has cash to fund repairs, how many beneficiaries are waiting, and how far away everybody lives.
An estate with three siblings in three provinces, no spare cash and a house that needs a roof usually does better selling as-is than trying to project manage contractors from a distance.
If you want a number without committing to anything, you can get a cash offer today, and we will tell you plainly if listing would serve you better. Here is how it works, and our company page tells you who you would be dealing with. Common questions are on our FAQ page, there is more in our seller resources, or you can contact us in writing.
We buy in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, and we can set a closing date around when your grant is expected. Call us at (902) 400-5736.
This post is general information, not legal or tax advice. Probate fees and rules change, and every estate is different, so confirm current figures with the probate court in your province and talk to a lawyer about your situation.
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