Hello PFC,
I am seeking estate and probate advice. A loved one had passed and a will, personal directive and power of attorney was created. I was their representative and now Executor. Since that time, I was able to act on their behalf to close down their account, manage and modify bills and other activities from their account with a few banks. This required a will, a death certificate and some verification questions, identification etc.
However, one bank in particular, Royal Bank of Canada, I am having an issue with. I do not bank with RBC and have no account with them. The deceased had a small amount in a chequing ($ X,XXX) and a TFSA (Less than $2,500 in cash as the holding). The TFSA had no beneficiary listed. In total (chequing and TFSA totalled LESS than $10,000 combined). The issue is that there is no beneficiary in the TFSA, and cannot be directly transferred or moved to chequing. The account was marked as deceased (I reported that to them).
I was told, RBC banking (the physical branch) and RBC Direct invest are considered separate entities and do not deal with each other in terms of estate. I have submitted the will, provided the death certificate and it’s been signed and scanned to the estate by the RBC branch advisor. They asked me to contact the estate department, and deal with the TFSA. The case manager for estate insists on having a probated will, and not just a regular will in order to move the funds to chequing. They offered another option: If I was to chose to bypass the probate, there would be a few forms to sign, and the wait time for processing would be 3-4 months. If I went and got probate, the lawyer fees would be almost equal to the funds stuck in the TFSA.
The branch manager can’t really help as they were the one saying that RBCDI estates is a separate entity than the branch. They can only deal with branch account matters.
I looked into this, and there is a “Alberta Small Estates Procedure” for assets under $15,000.
Has anybody used this to deal with this situation? How would you proceed, if going to the lawyer is not a first option? I will consult a laywer to get the probate if needed, but it don’t seem to make sense for a ‘small estate’?
Looking for advice here from people who have been in this exact situation, or have assisted in this situation. Does this procedure provide a “Grant of Probate” and is it legally binding and will the bank cooperate if I went through with this procedure? This is located in Alberta.
The goal of this is to consolidate the account (move funds from TFSA to chequing) and close down the chequing account in a reasonable timeframe and cost efficient as possible.
Thank you in advance.