Letters of Administration in Nunavut

When someone dies without a will in Nunavut, the bank won't talk to you. The Land Titles office won't transfer the house. Qulliq Energy won't change the account name. Everyone wants the same thing: a court document proving you have legal authority to act for the estate. With no will, there's no executor named — so that document isn't probate. It's Letters of Administration, and getting them involves one hurdle that catches almost every family off guard: the administration bond.

Here's how the process actually works in Nunavut, what forms you need, and how to clear the bond requirement without buying an expensive surety.

When Letters of Administration are required

You need Letters of Administration when the deceased died intestate — without a valid will. (If there is a will, you apply for a grant of probate instead, which is a different process; see the Nunavut probate process.)

A few situations trigger the need for administration:

• No will exists at all.
• A will exists but is invalid (improperly signed, revoked, or otherwise defective).
• A will exists but names no executor, or the named executor has died or refuses to act.

Not every intestate estate needs a court grant. Tiny estates may qualify for summary administration under Nunavut's $3,000 threshold, and some banks will release small balances on an indemnity rather than demand a grant — see small estates in Nunavut. But for any estate with real property, a vehicle, a snowmobile, or a meaningful bank balance, Letters of Administration are almost always required.

Who can apply

Nunavut law sets an order of priority for who is entitled to administer an intestate estate. In practice it follows the family tree:

1. The surviving spouse (or common-law partner — someone who cohabited with the deceased for at least two years, or in a relationship of some permanence with a child of the relationship).
2. Adult children of the deceased (age of majority in Nunavut is 19).
3. Other next of kin — parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives.

If the person with first priority doesn't want the job, they can renounce in favour of someone further down the list. Where custom adoption is part of the family, a certified custom-adopted child has the same standing as a biological child — see custom adoption inheritance rights in Nunavut.

The forms you'll file

The core application document is Form 16 — the application for a grant of administration filed with the Nunavut Court of Justice. Along with it, you'll typically file:

• The original death certificate (order copies from Vital Statistics in Rankin Inlet — $10 each, Box 889, Rankin Inlet, NU, X0C 0G0).
• An inventory of the estate's assets and their values, which also determines the court fee.
• The bond or a Consent to Waive Bond (Form 20) — see below.

The court filing fee is tied to estate value: $25 under $10,000, $100 for $10,000–$25,000, $200 for $25,000–$125,000, $300 for $125,000–$250,000, and $400 over $250,000. Full breakdown in our guide to Nunavut probate fees.

Settling an intestate estate involves a lot of moving paperwork, and missing a step restarts the clock. The Nunavut probate guide includes the full document checklist and walks through completing each form.

The administration bond — and how to waive it

This is the part that surprises people. Because an administrator (unlike an executor named in a will) wasn't chosen by the deceased, the court wants security that they'll handle the estate honestly. So it requires an administration bond — essentially a guarantee, often equal to the value of the estate, that protects the beneficiaries if the administrator mismanages or misappropriates assets.

Buying a surety bond from an insurer is expensive and, in a small Nunavut community, often impractical. The far more common path is to waive the bond — and you do that with Form 20, Consent to Waive Bond.

To waive the bond, every adult beneficiary of the estate must sign Form 20, consenting to the administrator serving without security. If all the beneficiaries trust the administrator (usually the case in a close family), this costs nothing and clears the requirement cleanly.

The complication is a minor beneficiary. A child under 19 cannot legally consent, which means they can't sign Form 20. If any beneficiary is a minor, you generally cannot waive the bond by consent alone — you'll need to either post the bond or petition the court for directions, often involving the Public Trustee, who protects minors' interests. This is one of the situations where getting an estate lawyer in Iqaluit is worth the cost, because the petition has to be done correctly.

NCJ processing and the powers you get

Applications go to the Nunavut Court of Justice (Building 510, PO Box 297, Iqaluit, NU X0A 0H0). Processing time varies with the court's workload and whether your paperwork is complete — clean applications with all consents and the correct fee move faster, while anything missing a signature or the right death certificate gets sent back. Build in weeks, not days, and longer if assets need valuing or a bond petition is involved.

Once granted, Letters of Administration give you legal authority to:

• Access and close the deceased's bank accounts (banking in Nunavut is only available in Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, and Cambridge Bay — plan for travel or mail if you're in one of the 22 communities with no branch).
• Collect debts owed to the estate and pay the estate's debts.
• Sell or transfer real property and register transmissions at Land Titles.
• Distribute what remains to the beneficiaries according to the intestacy rules, not according to your own judgment.

That last point matters. An administrator has no discretion to favour one relative over another — Nunavut's intestacy formula governs, including the surviving spouse's preferential share (only $50,000 in Nunavut, far below other provinces). For who inherits what when there's no will, read dying without a will in Nunavut and surviving spouse rights in Nunavut.

Before you start

Pull together the death certificate, a realistic inventory of assets and values, and the names and contact details of every beneficiary — you'll need their consent to waive the bond. If there's a minor among them, get advice early rather than filing and being sent back.

The complete Nunavut probate guide lays out the whole administration process step by step, including filled-in examples of Form 16 and Form 20, the asset inventory, and how to avoid the executor mistakes that derail an estate. Get the guide before you file so the court accepts your application the first time.

See more Nunavut guides →