Quebec
What to do when someone dies in Quebec: a step-by-step checklist
A Quebec checklist for the first days after a death: the liquidator's role, will searches at the Chambre des notaires and Barreau, the declaration of transmission, and Quebec-specific notifications.
- Called
- liquidator
- Court authority
- will search certificate and probate where the will is not notarial
- Death registered with
- Directeur de l'état civil
Quebec's civil law system handles estates differently from the rest of Canada, and the vocabulary is different too. The person who settles the succession is the liquidator, not the executor, and much of the process runs through notaries rather than the courts.
Registering the death in Quebec
The death is declared to the Directeur de l'état civil using the attestation of death and the declaration of death, usually filed by the funeral home. Copies of the act of death are ordered from the Directeur de l'état civil, and Quebec institutions will generally ask for that document specifically.
Searching for the will
Quebec requires searches of two registers before a succession can be settled: the register of testamentary dispositions held by the Chambre des notaires du Québec, and the equivalent register held by the Barreau du Québec. A notarial will takes effect without probate. A holograph will or a will made before witnesses must be probated by the court or by a notary.
The liquidator's sequence
- 1Obtain the will search certificates and confirm which will governs.
- 2Register the liquidator's designation in the Register of Personal and Movable Real Rights (RDPRM).
- 3Prepare an inventory of the succession and publish notice of its closing in the RDPRM and a newspaper.
- 4Publish a declaration of transmission for immovable property in the land register.
- 5Obtain tax clearance certificates from both Revenu Québec and the Canada Revenue Agency before distributing.
Quebec-specific notifications
- Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) — cancel the health insurance card.
- Retraite Québec — Quebec Pension Plan death benefit, surviving spouse's pension and orphan's pension.
- Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) — driver's licence and vehicle registration.
- Revenu Québec — final provincial return and clearance certificate.
- The land register (registre foncier) for immovable property.
Note that the Quebec Pension Plan, not the Canada Pension Plan, pays the death benefit for someone who contributed in Quebec. Families sometimes apply to the wrong programme and lose weeks.
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 Quebec, 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 liquidator would otherwise have to go looking for — organized while you're here, released only after authority is verified.