Probate Fees Across Canada: The Full Comparison Table

A $500,000 estate in Manitoba pays $0 in provincial probate fees. The same $500,000 estate in Nova Scotia pays roughly $7,780. Same paperwork, same family, same will. The only thing that changed was the postal code. The 60× spread between Canada's cheapest and most expensive provinces on identical estate facts is one of the most-overlooked numbers in Canadian estate planning.

This is the full picture as of 2026 for the nine common-law provinces and three territories. We cover the fee formula for each, worked examples on three estate sizes, the legal mechanisms that explain the variation, and the practical question that follows — when probate-fee planning is worth the effort and when it is not. Quebec is excluded from this comparison: as a civil-law jurisdiction it has no probate process in the common-law sense (a notarial will requires no court verification at all) and its own court-fee schedule, so its figures are not comparable on this table.

The full comparison table #

The structure varies more than the numbers alone suggest. Three groups separate naturally:

Group 1: Effectively no probate-value fee. Manitoba and the territories. Manitoba abolished its probate charge in November 2020.^[4] The territories charge flat fees that top out between roughly $140 and $435 regardless of estate size.

Group 2: Modest tiered or flat fees. Alberta, PEI, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland. Alberta's $525 cap is the most generous in this group — it applies regardless of how large the estate gets.^[3] Saskatchewan's flat 0.7% has no cap but is meaningfully lower than the high-fee provinces.

Group 3: Higher percentage fees. Ontario, BC, and Nova Scotia. These three provinces have effective rates of 1.4% to 1.7% above their thresholds, and Nova Scotia has no upper cap. They are the provinces where probate-fee planning has the most upside.

Worked examples — three estate sizes #

The fee formulas only become tangible when applied to specific numbers. Three illustrative estates:

A $250,000 estate

A $500,000 estate

A $1,000,000 estate

The $1,000,000 row makes the planning math obvious. Nova Scotia, Ontario, and BC each take more than $13,000 in probate fees from the same estate. Alberta takes $525. Manitoba takes nothing. The differences are not nominal — they justify several thousand dollars of planning work in high-fee provinces.

Why the variation exists #

Each Canadian province sets its own probate-fee schedule under its own statute. There is no federal probate fee — only the provincial charge.

Ontario's Estate Administration Tax Act, 1998 sets the 1.5%-above-$50,000 schedule.^[1] BC's Probate Fee Act sets the tiered formula with the $200 filing fee plus per-thousand rates.^[2] Alberta's surrogate court fees are set in Schedule 2 of the Surrogate Rules under the Judicature Act — those rates have not changed since May 1, 2015.^[3] Manitoba's Court Services Fees Act (the renamed successor to the old Law Fees and Probate Charge Act) abolished the probate charge effective November 6, 2020.^[4]

The historical pattern is that provinces revisit the fees when court budgets need adjusting or when policy attention turns to the structure. Manitoba's 2020 abolition was unusual — most provinces have moved in the other direction over the past two decades.

How probate fees are calculated — the base #

Probate fees are charged on the value of property passing under the will and through probate. Three categories of asset are generally excluded from the fee base:

• Joint property with right of survivorship. Title passes by operation of law to the surviving joint owner. Not part of the probate-fee base. The matrimonial home owned jointly with the surviving spouse is the textbook example.
• Beneficiary-designated assets. Life insurance, RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs, and registered pension plans with valid named beneficiaries pay directly to those beneficiaries and bypass the estate.
• Trust assets. Property held in a properly funded inter vivos trust (alter-ego trust, joint partner trust, family trust) is outside the deceased's estate and outside the probate-fee base.

The practical consequence is that the probate-fee base often differs substantially from the deceased's total net worth. An estate where most assets are joint with the surviving spouse and registered accounts have named beneficiaries can produce a small probate-fee base even when the underlying wealth is large.

When probate-fee planning is worth doing #

The arithmetic on planning effort vs. fee savings sorts cleanly by province.

Worth serious planning effort: Ontario, Nova Scotia, BC, on estates above ~$500,000. The fees on these estates run thousands to tens of thousands of dollars and the structural moves (multiple wills, alter-ego trusts, life insurance strategies) can save meaningful amounts.

Marginal benefit: Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, PEI, Newfoundland on large estates. The percentage is lower and the planning cost often eats much of the saving.

Usually not worth it: Manitoba, Yukon, NWT, Nunavut, Alberta. The fee is too small or capped too low for planning effort to pay back.

The most common planning structures:

• Multiple wills (Ontario). Two wills — one for assets that need to be probated and one for assets the executor can deal with informally (private company shares, personal effects). Only the probated will pays the Estate Administration Tax.
• Alter-ego trusts (over 65). Property transferred to an alter-ego or joint partner trust during the settlor's lifetime is outside the estate and outside the probate-fee base, while remaining under the settlor's control.
• Joint ownership with right of survivorship. Effective but risk-laden. Adding an adult child to title exposes the property to the child's creditors and divorce risk, and the Supreme Court's Pecore v. Pecore presumption of resulting trust applies to gratuitous transfers to adult children. Joint ownership is rarely a clean answer.
• Beneficiary designations. Properly maintained beneficiary designations on registered accounts and life insurance are the simplest, lowest-risk probate-fee reduction tool. The only operational requirement is reviewing the designations every time you review the will.

Probate fees vs. estate tax — keeping the distinction clear #

The probate fee is a provincial administrative charge for validating the will and authorizing the executor. It is calculated on estate value and paid to the province.

Canada has no separate inheritance or estate tax. What does apply at death is capital gains tax under the federal Income Tax Act. The deceased's final T1 return reports a deemed disposition of capital property at fair market value, and the resulting capital gains are taxed at the deceased's marginal rate. This is a federal tax owed to the Canada Revenue Agency — a completely separate calculation, often a much larger number than the provincial probate fee, and one that probate-fee planning generally does not touch.

The single most common misunderstanding in Canadian estate planning is conflating these two. Probate fee = provincial, charged on estate value, paid up front. Capital gains tax = federal, charged on accrued gains, paid as part of the final T1. Different payee, different formula, different timing.

What we focus on at It's Simple Will #

The probate fee calculator on our site walks the exact formula for every Canadian province and gives a worked number for any estate value. It is the right tool for estimating what your estate will pay — and for deciding whether the planning effort is worth doing in your province.

The Will Creator at app.itssimplewill.ca produces a will that lines up with the probate-fee base in the province where you live. Beneficiary-designation guidance is built into the question flow — the most common avoidable probate-fee mistake is letting RRSP and TFSA designations drift out of sync with the will, which pushes those balances back into the estate and into the probate-fee base unnecessarily.

Related reading: what is probate in Canada, how to avoid probate in Canada, and probate fees in Ontario.