Wills in Alberta: who inherits when there's no will, the Public Trustee and the $25,000 line, naming a guardian, and choosing the age your kids get the money
If you've got kids at home and no will yet, you've probably told yourself you'll get to it once life slows down a bit. It rarely does. And in the meantime Alberta already has a plan for your family, written into law, and it might not be the one you'd pick.
Emily and I had the best of intentions. After the kids came, we knew we needed a will, and we kept getting stuck on the same question: who would raise our kids if something happened to both of us? And because we couldn't settle that one, we stalled on the whole will. Trying to make the perfect decision was keeping us from making the right decision, which was getting a will done.
The rule
When someone in Alberta dies without a will, Part 3 of the Wills and Succession Act decides who inherits. If you have a spouse or adult interdependent partner and every one of your kids is also theirs, the whole estate goes to them. If you have kids from an earlier relationship, your spouse gets the greater of $150,000 or 50% of the estate, and the rest is split among your kids.
If there's no surviving spouse, everything goes to your kids. That's the case that matters most for young parents, because it's what happens if you both die together.
Your kids can't manage that money while they're minors, and Alberta says parents and guardians don't automatically get the power to manage a minor's money either. When no will, court order or settlement names a trustee, money of $25,000 or more owed to a child must be held by the Public Trustee, with some exceptions. It's paid out at 18, or at the age a trust document sets.
How a will changes it
A will lets you make three choices the law can't make for you. First, who raises your kids. The Government of Alberta says a will can name a guardian for any children who are minors when you die, and under section 22 of the Family Law Act that appointment doesn't need a court to confirm it unless someone challenges it.
Second, who manages the money. Name a trustee in your will and the Public Trustee doesn't automatically hold your kids' shares. Third, when they get it. The payout follows the age in the trust document, so if your will says 25, it's 25.
A formal will in Alberta has to be in writing, signed by you, and signed in front of two witnesses who also sign in your presence. A will written entirely in your own handwriting and signed by you, called a holograph will, is recognized too.
The fine print
- A surviving parent usually keeps the kids. The guardian you name generally steps in when both parents have died, or when the surviving parent can't care for them. Name a backup in case your first choice can't do it.
- Guardian and trustee are two different jobs. One raises your kids and one manages their money. It can be the same person, but it doesn't have to be, and some families choose two.
- Under $25,000 works differently. With no trustee named, whoever holds the money can pay it to the Public Trustee or to the parent or guardian, who signs a form accepting responsibility for using it in the child's best interest.
- Beneficiary designations matter too. Alberta lists life insurance, RRSPs and TFSAs among the ways a minor ends up with money. If a child is named directly on one of those, the same trustee question comes up, so check how yours are set up.
- This is Alberta's version. Every province has its own wills and intestacy rules. These are provincial laws, not lender rules, so they're the same whether you deal with a bank or a credit union.
What it looks like in dollars
Here's an example, not a real family. Two parents in Alberta die together with no will. After debts, the estate is worth $600,000. They have three kids, and the youngest is 8.
Each child's share is $200,000. Nobody was named as trustee and each share is over $25,000, so the Public Trustee holds it. Using the fees Alberta lists today, the youngest's share pays a $75 file opening fee plus 1.5% on the money coming in, capped at $1,000. Then it's $300 a year in administration, because the share is over $100,000. Over 10 years that's $4,075 in fees before any investment growth. And on the youngest's 18th birthday, the whole share is theirs to spend however an 18-year-old decides.
Same family with a will: they name a guardian and a backup, name a trustee they trust, and set the age at 25. The kids still get the money. It just shows up on the timeline the parents chose.
The blended-family version looks different. Say a parent with two kids from an earlier relationship dies with a $400,000 estate and no will. Their spouse gets $200,000, because 50% is more than $150,000, and the two kids split the other $200,000. For some families that's fine. For others it's far from what they'd have written down.
Why people miss this
A will feels like something for older people with bigger estates. But for a young family the estate is usually the house, a life insurance payout and a few registered accounts, and those add up quickly. And the most important line in a parent's will is the name of the person who'd raise your kids.
It also feels expensive or complicated, so it slides to next year. Most of the work is the decisions, and you can make those at your kitchen table before you ever book an appointment.
Try this week
Sit down with your spouse and write two names: who you'd want raising your kids, and who you'd trust with their money. Then pick an age. If you already have a will, pull it out and check it still says what you'd say today. When you talk to a lawyer, ask:
- Does my will name a guardian and a backup guardian?
- Who's the trustee for my kids' shares, and at what age do they get the money?
- Do my life insurance and registered account beneficiaries line up with my will?
Do you have a will that names a guardian? Yes, no, or it's out of date.
Disclaimer: Education, not advice. These are my personal views, not my employer's. Your situation is your own, so check with a qualified professional before acting.
Sources: Government of Alberta, Wills in Alberta · Government of Alberta, Assets of a minor · Government of Alberta, Protecting minors entitled to money or property · CPLEA, Beneficiaries under the Wills and Succession Act · LawyerInfo, Choosing a guardian in your Alberta will
