New Brunswick
What to do when someone dies in New Brunswick: a step-by-step checklist
A New Brunswick checklist for the first days after a death: registering the death with Service New Brunswick, the Probate Court process, probate fees, and provincial notifications.
- Called
- personal representative
- Court authority
- Grant of Probate
- Death registered with
- Service New Brunswick Vital Statistics
New Brunswick has a Probate Court that sits as a division of the Court of King's Bench, operating under the Probate Court Act. The person administering the estate is the personal representative — the executor named in a will, or an administrator where there is none.
Registering the death in New Brunswick
The funeral home files the medical certificate of death and the registration of death with Vital Statistics at Service New Brunswick. Death certificates are ordered through Service New Brunswick. Order extras in the first request — the province is bilingual, so confirm which language the receiving institution requires.
The Probate Court process
- The application is filed in the Probate Court for the county where the deceased lived.
- New Brunswick probate fees are calculated on a sliding scale by the value of the estate.
- An inventory of estate assets is filed, and the court may require a passing of accounts before the estate closes.
- Real property is transferred through the New Brunswick Land Registry.
New Brunswick-specific notifications
- Medicare New Brunswick — cancel the provincial health card.
- Service New Brunswick — driver's licence, vehicle registration and plates.
- The New Brunswick Land Registry, where real property is held.
- Social Development, if the person received provincial income assistance or long-term care support.
- NB Power and municipal property tax accounts.
Steps that are the same everywhere in Canada
- 1Get the legal pronouncement of death. In hospital or long-term care, staff handle it. At home, call 911 unless the death was expected and a plan is in place.
- 2Contact the funeral home or crematorium. They register the death and file the paperwork that produces the death certificate.
- 3Find the will and any funeral or burial wishes before arrangements are finalized.
- 4Tell close family and the person's employer. Ask the employer about group life insurance, a final pay period and benefits for a surviving spouse.
- 5Secure the home, pets, vehicles and anything of value. Redirect the mail once you have authority to do so.
- 6Do not cancel anything paid automatically until you know what it covers — insurance especially.
Federal notifications
- Service Canada — cancel the Social Insurance Number, Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement, and apply for the Canada Pension Plan death benefit, survivor's pension and children's benefit. In Quebec, this is Retraite Québec instead.
- Canada Revenue Agency — report the date of death, stop benefit payments such as the GST/HST credit and Canada Child Benefit, and file the final T1 return.
- Passport Canada — return the passport for cancellation.
- Veterans Affairs Canada, if the person served.
- Any federal pension plan the person contributed to.
General information about public processes in New Brunswick, not legal or tax advice. Confirm current requirements with the province or a lawyer.
Everything above starts with finding information.
A Life Box holds the documents, accounts, policies, property and people your personal representative would otherwise have to go looking for — organized while you're here, released only after authority is verified.