How the accounts are put together
Start with what the person owned at death, or for later accounts what the estate held on the opening date. Record each receipt and payment as it happens. When an asset is sold, cashed or handed over, pick it, so the statement of assets points to the entry that disposed of it.
Ontario accounts follow rule 74.17: a capital account and a revenue account, each with its balance forward, an investment account, the assets not yet realized, and the money, investments and liabilities at the closing date. BC accounts follow Exhibit A of Form P40, with numbered items (A1, C1, D1, E1) and the remuneration worksheet.
Example: Doreen Patel's estate in Ontario sold a house, closed two bank accounts and bought a GIC. Her accounts close with a capital balance of $459,808.22 (money plus the GIC), and the compensation her son claims at his own percentages comes to $28,621.25. Open the Ontario example. In BC, Gordon MacLeod's executor claims $19,622.78 under Form P40, and $142,268.00 is left to split after a reserve. Open the BC example.
Questions estate trustees ask
What has to be in Ontario estate accounts?
Rule 74.17 lists it: the assets at death (or at the opening date of later accounts) cross-referenced to the entries that dispose of them, all money received and paid out, an investment account, the assets still unrealized, the money and investments and the liabilities at the closing date, and the compensation claimed. This page prints each part.
Do I have to split capital and revenue?
Rule 74.17(3) requires it where the will deals separately with capital and income, and the judgment on a passing (Form 74.51) sets out a capital account and a revenue account. Interest, dividends and rent start as revenue here and everything else as capital; change any entry if the will says otherwise. When an investment the estate trustee bought matures, type the interest part in its own box: it goes to revenue and the cost goes back to capital.
How much compensation can an Ontario estate trustee claim?
The rules set no tariff: the court allows fair and reasonable compensation. Type the percentages you claim on each account and any management fee with how you valued the assets. The page works out the amounts on this period's totals; the court decides.
What is Form P40 in BC?
The statement of account affidavit under BC Supreme Court Civil Rule 25-13. Its Exhibit A lists assets and liabilities at the start and the effective date, capital and income transactions, the remuneration claimed, specific gifts, the residue after a reserve and how it will be split. The page prints Exhibit A in that order.
How much can a BC executor charge?
The Trustee Act, section 88, allows up to 5% of the gross value of the estate, capital and income, and a care and management fee of up to 0.4% a year of the average market value. Form P40 works it out as a capital fee, an income fee and a care and management fee for each calendar year. The court or registrar decides.
How do I prepare second or later accounts?
Use Start the next accounts. It opens a new set from the day after this closing date with the money on hand, the investments, the assets still held and the totals carried forward, so each account shows its balance forward.
My province is not Ontario or BC. Can I use this?
Choose Another province to get a general layout with separate capital and revenue accounts, the same one used for Ontario. It is not another province's prescribed form, so check your court's own rules and forms first.
Where are my figures kept?
Only in this browser on this device, saved as you type. Download a backup file now and then: it opens on another computer, or here if the browser's data is ever cleared.
Sources: Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure, rules 74.16 to 74.18 and Form 74.51; British Columbia Supreme Court Civil Rules, Form P40 and Trustee Act, section 88. The people in the examples are made up. A court-filed account must follow the court's own rules and forms. This is a bookkeeping tool, not legal or tax advice.