What an Executor Actually Has to Do in Alberta

Being named an executor can feel like an honour and a burden at the same time. Someone trusted you enough to put you in charge of their estate, often at the hardest moment for their family. What most people do not realize until they are in it is that being an executor is a legal role with real duties, real deadlines, and real personal liability if it goes wrong. This guide explains, in plain terms, what an executor in Alberta actually has to do, where the traps are, whether you get paid, and how to protect yourself.

Executor, administrator, personal representative: the same job

In Alberta, the official legal term for the person who administers an estate is personal representative. It covers the executor named in a will, an administrator appointed where there is no will, and a trustee of an estate. If a will appoints you as executor, the court documents will call you the personal representative. For everyday purposes the words are
interchangeable, but it helps to recognize the term when you see it in the legislation and the forms.

The rules that govern the role are set out in the Estate Administration Act, which came into force in 2015 and deliberately uses plain language to spell out a personal representative’s duties, core tasks, and responsibilities. Importantly, those duties apply whether or not you obtain probate. Even a small estate that does not require a grant still has to be administered by someone who follows these rules.

A useful way to understand your authority is this: as personal representative, you stand in the shoes of the person who died. Subject to the will and the law, you have the powers they had to deal with their property, so that you can gather it, deal with it, and pass it on.

You do not have to say yes

Here is something many people do not know. Being named in a will does not force you to serve. If you have not yet started acting in the role, you can generally renounce, meaning decline to take it on, and let an alternate or another appropriate person step in. Once you have begun dealing with the estate, stepping away is harder. So if you have doubts about whether you can take on the responsibility, the time to consider declining is at the start, before you begin acting.

Your legal duties: the fiduciary standard

A personal representative is a fiduciary, which is the law’s word for someone who must act in the interests of others, not themselves. The Estate Administration Act sets out the core duties. You must act honestly and in good faith. You must act in accordance with the intentions of the person who died and with the will, if there is a valid one. You must act with the care, diligence, and skill that a person of ordinary prudence would use in comparable circumstances. And you must administer and distribute the estate as soon as practicable, without unreasonable delay.

There is an important wrinkle for professionals. If you are a professional personal representative, for example a trust company or a lawyer acting in that capacity, you are held to a higher standard of skill than an ordinary person would be. But even for a family member acting as executor, the ordinary prudence standard is real, and courts do enforce it.

The four core tasks

Beyond the general duties, the Act sets out four core tasks, with a detailed schedule listing what each involves. Everything an executor does falls under one of these four headings.

1. Identify the estate’s assets and liabilities

The first job is to figure out what the person owned and what they owed. That means locating bank accounts, investments, real estate, vehicles, personal property, business interests, and pensions, and identifying debts, from mortgages and loans to credit cards, taxes, and potential claims against the estate. The Act’s schedule even contemplates identifying the nature and value of online accounts, a modern addition. You then value these assets, often as of the date of death, obtaining appraisals where needed.

2. Administer and manage the estate

Once you know what is in the estate, you have to protect and manage it. That can mean securing a vacant home, insuring valuable property, maintaining assets, managing a business until it can be dealt with, and investing estate funds prudently while the administration is underway. A practical early step is to open an estate bank account and keep estate money completely separate from your own, which makes accounting far easier and protects you from any suggestion of mixing funds.

3. Satisfy the estate’s debts and obligations

Before anyone inherits, the estate’s debts and obligations have to be paid. This includes funeral expenses, outstanding bills, loans, and taxes, and dealing with any legitimate claims against the estate. To limit the risk of an unknown creditor surfacing later, a personal representative can advertise for creditors, giving notice so that claims can be brought forward and dealt with. Paying debts and taxes properly, and in the right order where the estate is short, is one of the most important parts of the role.

4. Distribute and account for the estate

Finally, once debts and taxes are handled, you distribute what remains to the beneficiaries according to the will, or, where there is no will, according to Alberta’s intestacy rules. You then account for what you did, providing beneficiaries with a record of the assets, the debts paid, your dealings, and the distributions. Getting beneficiaries to sign releases at the end is common practice, confirming they have received their share and approve the administration.

Notice: who you have to tell

The Act and the Surrogate Rules require you to give notice to the right people, and this obligation applies whether or not you apply for a grant. Notice generally has to go to beneficiaries, to certain family members, and, where minors or represented adults have an interest, to the Public Trustee. Residuary beneficiaries are generally entitled to a copy of the
will and the inventory of the estate. Skipping or mishandling these notices is a common source of problems and delay, so it is worth getting right at the start.

Keep records and be ready to account

Underneath everything is a duty to keep good records. A personal representative should document all estate transactions, decisions, and communications with beneficiaries, and keep inventories, financial statements, receipts, proof of debt payments, and records of every distribution. This is not busywork. It demonstrates that you met your duties, it gives beneficiaries the transparency they are entitled to, and it protects you if your handling of the estate is ever questioned. Beneficiaries are entitled to an accounting, and the Surrogate Rules require that they receive financial statements at appropriate intervals.

The tax trap that catches executors

This one deserves its own heading because it is where personal liability most often bites. Before you distribute the estate, the estate’s taxes have to be dealt with. That means filing the deceased’s final tax return, and any returns for the estate, and, crucially, obtaining a clearance certificate from the Canada Revenue Agency confirming that no tax remains owing. If you distribute the estate to beneficiaries before the taxes are cleared, and it turns out tax was owing, you can be held personally responsible for the shortfall. The clearance process takes time, often several months, and a careful executor waits for it before making final distributions. Rushing this step to satisfy impatient beneficiaries is a serious risk to you personally.

Do you get paid?

Yes. A personal representative is entitled to fair and reasonable compensation for the work involved. Alberta does not fix a set dollar amount or percentage in the legislation. Instead, the Surrogate Rules provide guidance, and compensation is assessed on factors such as the value of the estate, the complexity and responsibility involved, the time spent, the skill required, and the results achieved. Compensation is often expressed as a percentage of the estate’s value, and figures in the low single digit percentages are commonly discussed as reasonable depending on the circumstances, but the guiding principle is what is fair for the work, not a fixed rate. The compensation is either agreed to by the beneficiaries or approved by the court.

One practical note. Executor compensation is taxable income to you, while an inheritance is not. Where an executor is also a beneficiary, and especially in a family estate, they sometimes choose not to take a fee for that reason. That is a personal decision, and the law allows compensation either way.

What beneficiaries can do if an executor fails

The role comes with accountability. If a personal representative fails to perform a duty or a core task, fails to give the required notice, or otherwise breaches their obligations, a beneficiary or other interested party can apply to the court. The court has a range of remedies, including ordering the personal representative to perform the task, imposing conditions, removing the personal representative, revoking the grant, or ordering compensation for losses caused by the misconduct. Courts have not hesitated to intervene where executors have delayed unreasonably, failed to account, taken estate property, or paid themselves excessive fees. Doing the job properly is the best protection against all of this.

Should you do it alone?

You are allowed to administer an estate yourself, and for a simple estate with cooperative beneficiaries, some people do. But the duties are real, the tax exposure is personal, and the mistakes are expensive and sometimes irreversible. Many executors retain a lawyer, not because the law requires it, but because it protects them, keeps the administration moving, and gives beneficiaries confidence that things are being done properly. The estate generally bears the reasonable cost of that help, so it does not come out of your own pocket.

How Keystone Legal helps executors

Keystone Legal guides personal representatives through the entire administration, from confirming the appointment and giving proper notice, through identifying and valuing assets, dealing with debts and taxes, obtaining the grant where needed, and distributing and accounting to beneficiaries. The focus is on keeping the administration efficient and on protecting the executor from the personal liability that comes with getting the tax, notice, or distribution steps wrong. Where a dispute arises among beneficiaries or over the will, the firm handles that with the same preparation applied across its contested work. Matters are handled through secure virtual consultation across Alberta, with court attendance in Calgary where required, in English and French.

Frequently asked questions

If you have been named an executor, or you are already administering an estate and want to make sure you are doing it right, the firm can guide you and protect you from the risks.

This article is general information about Alberta law and is not legal advice. Every estate is different, and you should speak with a lawyer about your situation.