My brother is still trying to finalize our father’s late estate. I live in ALberta and the estate situation is in Ontario. I was advised by my ALberta lawyer that I should seek legal counsel from an Ontario lawyer if I have any concerns about how things are going. I would like to hear from our members that live in Ontario if they have had to deal with parent’s estates on the following:
1) Is it true in Ontario that the executor must get a clearance certificate from Revenue Canada before dispersing the estate to the benenficiaries? In Alberta we don’t have to.
2)What am I legally entitled to knowledge wise from the executor regarding the estate?
3) When it comes to property (in our case, my dad’s house) does the executor have the final say in what is done with it? My brother and family currently live in the house. I asked for a buyout since he doesn’t want to move anytime soon. We have verbally agreed on it but a figure has yet to be determined.
4)Is it possible for an executor to access the monies and use it without my knowledge? I’m having some niggling doubts that my bro has locked up the money in something and is possibly stalling for time.
5) Does anyone know an approximate time period it takes to get final taxes processed and a clearance certificate in Ontario? My bro filed the final taxes and the paperwork for the clearance certificate in mid April. He claims to have checked with Revenue and things still haven’t been processed.
I would appreciate any commentary on this as it will help me decide what to approach a lawyer with in Ontario. Thanks for any help guys.