The Bank Said "Letters Probate." The Province Changed the Rules. Nobody Gave You a Roadmap.
Someone you love just died in New Brunswick. Within 48 hours, you discovered that the bank has frozen every account, the Probate Court website still shows last year's fees, your sister in Ontario apparently needs a bond you have never heard of, and there is a 4-month deadline on your spouse's share of the house that nobody mentioned until now.
You searched online. PLEIS-NB told you what the law says. A law firm told you what could go wrong. The funeral home gave you a checklist that covered the first two days and stopped. None of them told you what to do on Day 8, or Day 30, or Day 90 — in what order, with which forms, at which offices, before which deadlines.
The 90-Day Executor's Roadmap — Every Form, Every Deadline, Every NB-Specific Trap
This is the guide that bridges the gap between "what the law says" and "what you actually do tomorrow morning." It translates New Brunswick's Probate Court Act, Devolution of Estates Act, Marital Property Act, and Land Titles Act into a chronological, week-by-week action plan — built specifically for the province's post-2026 rules.
Every chapter gives you the exact agency name, form number, filing fee, and processing time. No guesswork. No generic Canadian advice. No upsell to a $350/hour retainer.
What's Inside
- The First 48 Hours Triage — what to secure, who to call, what to defer. Covers the Social Development Funeral Benefit (and its strict household means test) for families who cannot afford burial costs.
- Death Certificates and Notifications — order Long Form certificates from SNB Vital Statistics ($45 paper, $40 online), then work through the complete federal and provincial notification sequence: Service Canada, CRA, SNB Motor Vehicle, Medicare NB, and credit bureaus.
- The Probate Decision Framework — determines whether your estate needs formal probate at all. Joint assets, beneficiary-designated accounts, and estates under the new $25,000 threshold may skip the court entirely through the Public Trustee.
- Probate Court Application — Form 2A/2B (testate) or Form 2E/2F (intestate), the 7-day and 14-day waiting periods, and the bilingual form trap that causes automatic rejection when executors fill out both language fields instead of one.
- The 2026 Probate Tax Calculator — the new tiered structure with worked examples at every common estate value. $200 base, $5 per $1,000 from $20k to $100k, $15 per $1,000 above $100k — plus how mortgage encumbrances reduce the taxable value.
- Property Transfer (Form 41 and Form 48) — the exact filing sequence at the SNB Land Registry, the $62 + $3/parcel fee, the 10-day simultaneous death rule under the Survivorship Act, and the land transfer tax exemption for estate-to-beneficiary transfers.
- Spousal and Family Rights — the 4-month Marital Property Act election deadline, the Devolution of Estates Act intestacy hierarchy, and the statutory exclusion of common-law partners — plus the Provision for Dependants Act claim that is their only remedy.
- Tax Clearance and Liability Protection — Terminal T1 returns, T3 Trust Returns, and the CRA Clearance Certificate that shields you from personal liability under Section 159(1) of the Income Tax Act.
- Executor Compensation — the standard 3% base fee under the Trustees Act, plus the 0.4% annual care fee for prolonged estates, with clear guidance on when and how to claim it.
- Out-of-Province Executor Bonds — Rule 2.09 requirements, Form 2XX personal bonds, Trust Company options, and when a judicial waiver is possible.
- Edge Cases — insolvent estates, Indigenous/on-reserve estates under the Indian Act, cross-jurisdiction property resealing, and contested wills.
Who It's For
- Named executors who need a clear action plan — not a legal textbook — before the irreversible deadlines start expiring
- Surviving spouses who need to know whether the house transfers automatically, when the bank will release funds, and why the 4-month Marital Property Act election cannot be missed
- Out-of-province adult children managing a parent's estate from Ontario, Alberta, or BC — who need to understand the bond requirement and how to coordinate with NB agencies remotely
- Common-law partners who have just discovered that NB law gives them zero automatic inheritance rights without a will
- Families planning ahead who want to position assets now to minimize probate tax and administrative burden later
Why Not Just Use the Free Resources?
PLEIS-NB explains what the law says. Law firm websites explain what can go wrong. Funeral home checklists cover the first 48 hours.
None of them give you a week-by-week sequence. None calculate the new 2026 probate tax for your specific estate value. None walk you through the Form 41 and Form 48 filing order at the Land Registry. None warn you about the bilingual form rejection trap. None flag the 4-month deadlines that destroy spousal claims and common-law partner rights if missed.
This guide connects the dots that the free resources leave scattered across dozens of separate websites, in language written for lawyers, not for families in crisis.
Satisfaction Guarantee
If this guide does not help you navigate the estate settlement process in New Brunswick, email us for a full refund. No forms. No questions. No time limit.
— Less Than One Hour of a Lawyer's Time
A single consultation with an estate solicitor in New Brunswick costs $350 or more per hour. This guide gives you the complete roadmap — every form, every deadline, every fee — so you know exactly what to do before you ever need to pick up the phone.
Download the free First 48 Hours Checklist to start immediately, or get the complete guide to handle everything from death certificate to final distribution.