Is there one set of intestacy rules for all of Canada?

No. Estate succession is set by each province and territory, so dying without a will produces different outcomes in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec. Ontario uses the Succession Law Reform Act, BC the Wills, Estates and Succession Act (WESA), Alberta the Wills and Succession Act, and Quebec the Civil Code. This is general information, not legal advice.

How much does a spouse get in Ontario if there is no will?

Under Ontario's Succession Law Reform Act, a married spouse first takes a preferential share of $350,000 for deaths on or after 1 March 2021. If the estate is larger, the residue is split with the children: 50/50 with one child, or the spouse takes one-third where there are two or more children. Confirm your situation with an Ontario lawyer.

Does my common-law partner inherit if I die without a will?

It depends entirely on the province. In Ontario, a common-law partner is historically not entitled to an intestate share and may have to bring a separate claim. In BC and Alberta, a qualifying common-law or adult interdependent partner can inherit. In Quebec, a de facto spouse inherits nothing on intestacy. This is general information, not legal advice.

What happens to a de facto spouse in Quebec with no will?

Under the Civil Code of Quebec, intestate succession recognises married spouses, civil-union spouses and relatives, but not de facto (common-law) spouses. A de facto partner inherits nothing on intestacy in Quebec, even after a long relationship, unless covered by a more recent reform. A notary can explain how this applies to you.

Do RRSPs, TFSAs and joint accounts pass through intestacy?

Often not. Property held in joint tenancy usually passes to the surviving joint owner by survivorship, and registered accounts (RRSP, RRIF, TFSA) and life insurance with a named beneficiary generally pass directly to that beneficiary, outside the estate. Quebec treats some designations differently. Out-of-date beneficiaries are a common and costly trap, so review them.

Who inherits if I have no spouse and no will?

Across the provinces, the estate generally passes first to your children and their descendants, then to parents, then to siblings (and sometimes their children), then to more distant relatives in a statutory order. If no eligible relative is found, the estate can pass to the Crown. The exact ladder varies by province, so check your provincial statute with a lawyer.

Dying without a will in Canada: what each province decides for you

If you die intestate, your province's law, not your wishes, sets who inherits. The rules differ sharply by province, and common-law and de facto partners are often left out. General information only, not legal advice.

Reviewed: 29 June 2026 · General information, not legal advice

When someone dies without a valid will in Canada, the law calls it dying "intestate." At that point your own wishes stop mattering and a default formula takes over. Crucially, there is no single national rule. Estate succession is set province by province, so what your family inherits depends heavily on where you lived when you died. This article is general information, not legal advice. Intestacy outcomes turn on specific facts and on legislation that changes, so always consult a lawyer or, in Quebec, a notary, in your own province.

The scale of the problem is large. A 2023 Angus Reid Institute poll, widely reported by Canadian media, found that roughly half of Canadian adults do not have a will, and that four in five Canadians under 35 say the same. Even among Canadians aged 55 and older, about one in five still have no will. That is a lot of estates that will be distributed by a formula nobody in the family chose.

What intestacy actually means

If you die without a will, a court appoints an administrator (rather than an executor you named) to manage the estate, and provincial intestacy rules dictate who inherits and in what shares. You lose the ability to choose guardians for minor children, to leave specific gifts, to provide for a friend or charity, or to protect a partner the statute does not recognise. The province's grid is blunt by design. It cannot know that you wanted your spouse to keep the house, or that one child needs more support than another.

Ontario: the preferential share

Ontario's rules sit in the Succession Law Reform Act. Where a married person dies intestate leaving a spouse, the spouse first takes a "preferential share" off the top of the estate. By regulation, that preferential share is $350,000 for deaths on or after 1 March 2021 (it was $200,000 before that date). If the estate is worth $350,000 or less, the spouse takes everything.

If the estate is larger, the remainder after the $350,000 is split with the children:

Spouse and one child: the residue after the preferential share is divided 50/50 between spouse and child.
Spouse and two or more children: the spouse takes one-third of the residue, and the children share the other two-thirds equally.

The Ontario trap to understand is who counts as a "spouse." For intestacy, Ontario has historically meant a married spouse only. A common-law partner, no matter how many years you lived together, is not automatically entitled to an intestate share under the Succession Law Reform Act. A surviving common-law partner may have to pursue a dependant's support or other claim rather than simply inherit. This is one of the most common and most painful surprises in Ontario estates.

British Columbia: WESA and a sliding preferential share

British Columbia's Wills, Estates and Succession Act (WESA) also gives a surviving spouse a preferential share, but the amount depends on the family structure:

If all of the deceased's children are also the surviving spouse's children, the spousal preferential share is $300,000.
If any of the children are not the surviving spouse's (a blended family), the preferential share drops to $150,000.

Above that threshold, the residue is generally divided between the spouse and the children. Importantly, BC's definition of "spouse" under WESA is broader than Ontario's: it can include a person who lived with the deceased in a marriage-like relationship for at least two years. So a qualifying common-law partner in BC may inherit on intestacy where an equivalent partner in Ontario would not.

Alberta: the Wills and Succession Act

Alberta's Wills and Succession Act takes a different approach again, and it recognises "adult interdependent partners" (Alberta's framework for committed unmarried and certain other relationships) alongside married spouses.

If the deceased leaves a spouse or adult interdependent partner and all of the children are shared with that partner, the partner generally takes the entire estate.
If there are children from another relationship, the surviving partner takes a prescribed share (the greater of a set figure or one-half of the estate) and the rest passes to the children.

The headline point is that, unlike Ontario, Alberta does not automatically shut out an unmarried partner. A qualifying adult interdependent partner has standing in the intestacy.

Quebec: de facto spouses inherit nothing

Quebec is the sharpest warning of all. Under the Civil Code of Quebec, intestate succession (articles 653 and following) recognises married spouses, civil-union spouses and blood or adoptive relatives. It does not recognise a de facto spouse, the term Quebec uses for what other provinces call common-law. A de facto partner, even after decades together and shared children, inherits nothing on intestacy in Quebec. The estate passes to the deceased's legal heirs in a fixed order: descendants, then the married or civil-union spouse together with descendants or other relatives, and so on.

Quebec has been reforming this area (a parental union regime took effect in 2025 for certain de facto couples with a child), but the core lesson stands: in Quebec, if you are not married or in a civil union and you have no will, your partner is not on the list. Speak to a notary.

The order of inheritance when there is no spouse

Across the provinces, when there is no surviving spouse or recognised partner, the estate generally passes down and then out along the family tree, in a sequence that looks broadly like this:

1. Children (and their descendants) share the estate, with a deceased child's share typically passing to that child's own children.

2. Parents of the deceased, if there are no children or grandchildren.

3. Siblings (and in some cases their children, your nieces and nephews).

4. More distant relatives such as grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, in a statutory order.

If no eligible relative can be found, the estate can ultimately pass to the Crown (escheat). The exact ladder and the cut-off point vary by province, which is why two identical families can see different outcomes on either side of a provincial border.

What intestacy does not touch

Not every asset flows through the intestacy formula. Several common assets pass outside the estate entirely:

Jointly owned property held in joint tenancy (often a home or a joint bank account) usually passes to the surviving joint owner by right of survivorship, not through intestacy.
Registered accounts with a named beneficiary, such as an RRSP, RRIF or TFSA, generally pass directly to the named beneficiary (outside Quebec, where beneficiary designations on such plans work differently).
Life insurance with a named beneficiary pays out to that person directly.

These designations override the intestacy rules, which is exactly why they are so easy to get wrong. An out-of-date beneficiary, such as a former spouse named years ago, can quietly redirect a large sum regardless of what your family expects. Reviewing beneficiary designations is part of any honest estate conversation.

Frequently asked questions

Intestacy is technical and provincial. The questions below give general information only and are not legal advice for your situation.

Why this matters beyond the legal grid

The statutes decide who gets the money. They cannot pass on who you were. Even a perfectly drafted will moves property, not memory: your voice, your stories, the way you explained things, the advice you would have given your children at milestones you will not see.

This is where Afterlife AI™ fits, alongside proper legal planning rather than instead of it. You build a Persona from your own memories and conversations, free, with a one-time build budget of 60 memories and 100 conversations, no card required and no expiry on your build. You can add a consent-based voice of yourself, created free while you are alive, with your consent explicitly covering playback after you are gone and locked at Executor Lock™. Listening is the paid experience on our Legacy plan from $14.99 a month, and the time you pay for is inherited by your family. None of this replaces a will, a lawyer or a Quebec notary. It simply makes sure that when the legal forms are sorted, what made you you is not lost too.

If you take one action from this page, make it this: find out exactly how your province treats your partner and your children on intestacy, then make a will. The default formula is rarely the one you would have chosen. This article remains general information, not legal advice; please consult a lawyer or notary in your province before acting.

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