What Happens If You Die Without a Will in Ontario? (2026 Intestacy Guide)

Most people assume that if they die without a Will, their spouse simply inherits everything and the family sorts out the rest. In Ontario, that assumption is often wrong, and the gap between what people expect and what the law actually does is where families get hurt.

When you die without a valid Will, you die "intestate." At that point you no longer decide who inherits your home, your savings, or your possessions. A formula written into the Ontario Succession Law Reform Act decides for you, and it applies the same rigid rules to a blended family, a common-law couple, and a young parent that it applies to everyone else. It does not know your wishes, your relationships, or your intentions. It only knows the categories.

Here is exactly what happens, using the rules and figures in effect for 2026.

First, someone has to volunteer to run your estate

With a Will, you name your executor. Without one, no one has automatic legal authority to act. A family member has to step forward and apply to the Superior Court of Justice to be appointed as the estate trustee "without a Will."

This is slower and more expensive than most people realize. The court often requires the applicant to post an administration bond, which is a form of insurance guaranteeing the estate against mistakes. Getting that bond, or getting a judge to waive it, adds cost, paperwork, and delay before anyone can even touch a bank account. If more than one relative wants the role, or none of them do, the friction gets worse.

How your estate actually gets divided

Once an estate trustee is appointed, the estate is distributed according to a fixed statutory order. Your own preferences carry no weight. Here is how it breaks down.

If you have a married spouse and no children

Your spouse inherits everything. This is the one scenario where the outcome usually matches what people expect.

If you have a married spouse and children

This is where families are most often surprised. Your spouse does not automatically inherit everything. Instead, your spouse first receives a "preferential share," which is the first $350,000 of the estate (this amount applies to deaths on or after March 1, 2021). Whatever remains above $350,000 is then split:

Situation	Spouse receives	Children receive
Spouse + one child	First $350,000, then half of the remainder	Half of the remainder
Spouse + two or more children	First $350,000, then one-third of the remainder	Two-thirds of the remainder, divided equally

For a modest estate under $350,000, the spouse still inherits everything. But once the family home and savings push the estate past that threshold, the children start taking a share, even where a surviving spouse needs the full estate to live on. In the Golden Horseshoe, where a single paid-off home can easily exceed $350,000 on its own, this catches families constantly.

If you have no spouse but you have children

Your estate is divided equally among your children. If a child has died before you but left children of their own, that branch inherits their parent's share.

If you have no spouse and no children

The estate flows outward through your family tree in a fixed order: to your parents, then if none survive, to your siblings, then to your nieces and nephews, then to more distant next of kin measured by degree of relation. If no relatives can be found at all, your entire estate escheats to the Ontario government under the Escheats Act.

The rules that surprise people most

Common-law partners inherit nothing on an intestacy

This is the single most dangerous myth in Ontario estate planning. If you live common-law, even for decades, even with children together, your partner has no automatic right to inherit under the intestacy rules. Those rules apply only to legally married spouses. A common-law partner may have to launch a dependant's support claim or a costly civil case to receive anything at all, at exactly the moment they are least equipped to fight. A Will is the straightforward way to protect a common-law partner, and intestacy leaves them exposed.

A separated spouse can be cut out, but the rules are technical

Ontario law was amended so that a married but separated spouse is treated as having predeceased you for intestacy purposes if you had been living separate and apart for at least three years, or had a separation agreement, court order, or family arbitration award dealing with your affairs. The intent is sensible, but the conditions are specific, and relying on the statute rather than an updated Will invites disputes about whether the test was actually met.

Minor children cannot simply receive their inheritance

If a child under 18 inherits under an intestacy, they cannot legally receive the money directly. Their share is typically paid into court and held by the Accountant of the Superior Court of Justice until they turn 18, at which point they receive the entire amount as a lump sum with no strings attached. Many parents are alarmed by both halves of that: the funds are locked away from the surviving parent who may need them for the child's care, and then handed over in full the day the child becomes a legal adult. A Will lets you appoint a guardian of property and set the terms and timing. Intestacy does not.

What intestacy costs the estate

Dying without a Will does not avoid tax. It usually adds cost and delay.

Your estate still owes the Ontario Estate Administration Tax (commonly called probate tax) on the value of assets passing through the estate. There is no tax on the first $50,000, and the estate pays $15 for every $1,000 above that, which works out to 1.5% on everything over $50,000. On an $800,000 estate, that is roughly $11,250.

On top of that, the Canada Revenue Agency treats you as having sold most of your capital property at fair market value on the day you die. This "deemed disposition" can trigger capital gains tax on things like a cottage, a rental property, or investments, and the final personal tax return still has to be prepared and filed. None of this changes because there was no Will. What a Will and good planning can do is reduce and organize these costs. Intestacy simply leaves them to fall where they may, often less efficiently.

The real cost is rarely the money

The pattern we see is consistent. Intestacy takes a family that is already grieving and hands them delay, cost, and a distribution formula that frequently splits assets in ways the person who died would never have chosen. A surviving spouse discovers the house is partly owned by the kids. A common-law partner of twenty years finds they inherit nothing. Siblings who assumed everything was equal end up in a standoff over who applies to the court.

A Will prevents almost all of it. So do up-to-date beneficiary designations and properly structured joint ownership. None of this requires a large estate or a complicated life. It requires a plan.

Frequently asked questions

Does my spouse automatically get everything if I die without a Will in Ontario? Only if you have no children. If you have children, your spouse receives the first $350,000 and then shares the remainder with them, either half or one-third depending on how many children you have.

We are common-law. Does my partner inherit if I have no Will? No. Ontario's intestacy rules apply only to legally married spouses. A common-law partner has no automatic right to inherit and may have to make a legal claim to receive anything. A Will is the reliable way to provide for them.

What is the $350,000 preferential share? It is the amount a married spouse receives off the top of an intestate estate before anything is divided with the children. It applies to deaths on or after March 1, 2021.

What happens to my kids' inheritance if they are still minors? It is generally paid into court and held until they turn 18, then released to them in full. A Will lets you control the timing and appoint someone to manage the funds instead.

Is there still probate tax if there is no Will? Yes. The Estate Administration Tax still applies: nothing on the first $50,000, and 1.5% on the value above that.

You do not have to leave it to a formula

Whether you are putting your own plan in place or you have been named to settle the estate of someone who died without a Will, the path forward is clearer than it looks from the inside. At New Dawn Financial, we help Ontario families organize estates, understand their obligations, and avoid the costly mistakes that intestacy creates.

Book a free 30-minute consultation and we will walk you through your situation and your options, with no pressure and no commitment.

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This article is for general information about Ontario estate law and is not legal advice. The intestacy rules and figures cited are current as of 2026.