Who Pays for a Funeral With No Will in New Brunswick?

When someone dies without a will in New Brunswick, two urgent questions collide almost immediately: who has the legal authority to arrange the funeral, and who is actually on the hook for the bill? The answers are not always who the family assumes, and getting them wrong can lead to costly disputes, unnecessary debt, or outright blocked funeral arrangements.

Authority Before Money: Who Controls the Arrangements?

In provinces like British Columbia, the legislature has enacted a clear statutory pecking order for funeral authority. New Brunswick has not. Instead, the province relies on common law principles, and under those principles, the right to direct a funeral flows through the Devolution of Estates Act.

When no will exists, the person who has the right to apply to administer the estate — the administrator — also has the right to direct the funeral home. The priority order, derived from intestate succession rules, is:

1. Legal spouse or common-law partner (if they lived together in a conjugal relationship)
2. Adult children
3. Parents
4. Adult siblings
5. Other next of kin

That order matters enormously in disputes. If three adult children disagree about burial versus cremation, the funeral home will halt proceedings until they reach a consensus or someone obtains a court order from the Court of King's Bench. No funeral home in New Brunswick will act on the instruction of one sibling over the objection of another sibling with equal priority.

The Common-Law Trap

Here is where many New Brunswickers get blindsided. Unlike some other provinces, **common-law partners in New Brunswick have no automatic statutory right to the estate under the *Devolution of Estates Act*** if there is no will. A surviving common-law partner may have priority over funeral arrangements as "spouse" under common law (provided they can demonstrate a conjugal relationship), but their inheritance rights are not protected without a will.

This means a common-law partner could legally direct the funeral yet simultaneously have no claim on the estate funds used to pay for it. In practice, if the deceased's blood relatives contest the funeral decisions, this situation can become legally volatile very quickly.

Who Pays the Bill?

Funeral expenses are treated as a priority debt against the estate in New Brunswick. This means before any assets are distributed to heirs, reasonable funeral costs come out first — ahead of unsecured creditors like credit cards.

But "priority debt" only helps if there is an estate with assets to pay it. Here is how the money question plays out:

If there are estate assets: The administrator collects the estate's liquid funds, pays the funeral invoice, and applies for Letters of Administration from the Probate Court if the estate exceeds $25,000 (the 2026 small estate threshold). Estates at or below $25,000 that hold no real property may qualify for simplified administration through the Public Trustee — avoiding a full court application and its associated costs.

If the estate is insolvent or near-empty: The family may need to pay out of pocket, apply for provincial assistance, or both.

If the estate is genuinely zero: The Department of Social Development provides a Funeral Benefit for low-income families. The total benefit is capped at $6,000 plus HST, with a maximum of $5,000 for professional funeral services. Critically, you must apply within two weeks of the death — missing this window can result in the application being rejected outright.

Federal Benefits That Offset Funeral Costs

Even in an intestate situation, certain federal benefits can reduce the financial burden:

CPP Death Benefit: If the deceased contributed to the Canada Pension Plan, the estate is entitled to a one-time lump sum of up to $2,500. Apply via Service Canada using form ISP1200. This payment goes to the estate, not directly to any individual, which reinforces why having a proper administrator in place matters.

WorkSafeNB Survivor Benefits: If the death resulted from a workplace injury or occupational disease, WorkSafeNB provides survivor benefits including a lump-sum payment equal to 60% of the deceased worker's net annual earnings, plus ongoing annuities in some cases. These claims must be filed promptly.

Be aware: if you receive the Social Development Funeral Benefit, it may affect your ability to also claim the CPP Death Benefit. Review this trade-off carefully before accepting provincial assistance.

The 2026 Small Estate Rule Change

Legislation passed in March 2026 raised New Brunswick's small estate threshold from $3,000 to $25,000. For intestate estates below this value with no real property, the Public Trustee can release estate property directly to a verified administrator without requiring a formal probate application. This is significant because probate fees add up: the 2026 rate structure starts at a flat $200 for estates up to $20,000, then $5 per $1,000 of value between $20,000 and $100,000.

Avoiding probate on a $22,000 estate saves money, but it still requires establishing that you are the rightful administrator. The CRA also requires Form RC551 (Affidavit for Intestate Situation) to manage the deceased's tax affairs when no will exists.

Practical Steps If There Is No Will

1. Identify the highest-priority next of kin and determine if they are willing and able to act as administrator.
2. Do not sign a funeral contract until you understand whether the estate has funds to cover it. If it does not, contact Social Development before signing anything.
3. Gather financial documents: bank statements, pension information, any life insurance policies.
4. Apply for the CPP Death Benefit as soon as the death certificate is available.
5. Get multiple death certificates from Service New Brunswick — $40 online, $45 by mail or in person. Banks, insurers, and land registries will not accept photocopies.
6. Assess the $25,000 threshold: if the estate is under this amount and holds no real property, simplified administration may be available through the Public Trustee.

When Disputes Arise

If family members cannot agree on who is in charge or what the funeral should look like, the funeral home will stop taking instructions from anyone until the dispute is resolved. The only way to break the deadlock is an emergency application to the Court of King's Bench for an order of disposition. This is expensive and stressful. It is also entirely avoidable — if the deceased had left a will naming an executor, that executor's authority would have been unambiguous.

For a complete breakdown of the intestate funeral process in New Brunswick — including the administrator hierarchy, how to negotiate with funeral homes, and worksheets to calculate estate assets against funeral costs — the New Brunswick Funeral Laws & Consumer Rights Guide covers it in step-by-step detail.

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