Tool · Updated August 10, 2026
Cost of settling an estate in Québec
Choose your type of will and see which costs actually apply to your estate. Québec does not work the way the common law provinces do, and that changes the total.
This tool does your own arithmetic, in your browser. It does not calculate a premium and it transmits nothing: no figure you enter here ever reaches us. The result is an estimate based on your numbers, not a quote. Learn more.
This tool adds up service costs that you enter or confirm. It shows no premium and no insurance rate, and it names no insurer.
The point most Canadian calculators miss. In several common law provinces, settling an estate triggers probate fees calculated as a percentage of the value of the estate: the bigger the estate, the bigger the bill. That is not how it works in Québec. The costs of a Québec succession are service costs — will searches, verification, professional fees, publications — and they do not depend on the value of the estate. That is why this tool never asks you what the estate is worth.
And the type of will changes everything. According to Éducaloi (2026), a notarial will does not have to be verified after the death: the heirs will have no verification costs to pay and will avoid long delays. A holograph will, or a will made in the presence of witnesses, does have to be verified.
The total updates as you type.
Estimated cost of settling the estate
Calculated from the amounts you entered or confirmed.
No verification cost applies. According to Éducaloi (2026), a notarial will does not have to be verified after the death: your heirs will not have to pay these costs and will avoid long delays. The expense was paid during your lifetime, in fees to prepare the will.
Verification is added on, and the estate is frozen while it runs. Éducaloi (2026): plan for several weeks, and throughout the process no one can open the estate account, close the deceased's accounts, or sell anything. A notary cannot verify a contested will — the file then moves to the court.
With no will there is nothing to verify — but the timeline gets harder. Article 785 of the Civil Code of Québec makes the heirs liquidators by operation of law, and they may designate one among them by majority. When the family cannot agree, it has to go through the court. A will search is still worth doing: its whole purpose is to establish that no will exists.
Zero, and that is not a mistake. Québec does not charge fees calculated as a percentage of the value of the estate, unlike the practice in several common law provinces. That is why this tool never asks you what the estate is worth: it would change nothing in the total above.
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Where the money comes from while everyone waits. The expenses arrive right away; the inheritance does not. Revenu Québec (2026) allows certain urgent expenses to be paid before the certificate authorizing distribution is issued, as long as they do not exceed $12,000: funeral costs, electricity, heating, insurance, urgent repairs to a building.
Article 2455 of the Civil Code of Québec also provides that the sum insured payable to a beneficiary does not form part of the succession of the insured. It therefore does not depend on verification of the will, on tax certificates, or on the heirs agreeing with one another.
Sources for the public figures used
- Éducaloi, “Making a non-notarial will official: verification” — total bill generally above $1,500 through a notary and above $1,000 through the court, estate frozen during the process (accessed August 2026): educaloi.qc.ca
- Éducaloi, “How do you do a will search?” — roughly $30 to $40 depending on the type of service (accessed August 2026): educaloi.qc.ca
- Éducaloi, “The three types of wills” — a notarial will does not have to be verified (accessed August 2026): educaloi.qc.ca
- Revenu Québec, “Applying for a certificate authorizing the distribution of property of a succession” — $12,000 ceiling for urgent expenses (accessed August 2026): revenuquebec.ca
- Civil Code of Québec, articles 785, 789 and 2455: legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca
- Our detailed guides: time and costs of settling an estate and the types of wills
This result is an estimate produced from the amounts you entered or confirmed yourself. It is not a quote, not an official fee schedule, and not legal, tax or insurance advice. Professional fees vary from one file to the next: only a notary or a tax specialist can put a number on your situation. Nothing you enter in this tool is transmitted, recorded or stored: the entire calculation runs in your browser.