Wills, Powers of Attorney and Estate Planning in Fredericton

Why you actually need a will

Nobody in Fredericton wakes up excited to plan their own death. It sits on the to-do list somewhere below cleaning the eavestroughs and above nothing at all. But a will is not really about you: it is a set of instructions for the people you leave behind, written for the worst week of their lives. Without one, your family has to guess, argue, or hand the whole thing to a court that has never met you.

A will does a few concrete things. It names the person who will settle your affairs (your executor). It says who gets your money, your house, your grandmother's ring and your fishing gear. If you have kids under 19, it lets you nominate a guardian rather than leaving that to a judge. And it can spare your family months of paperwork and cost at a time when they are already raw.

Here is the local truth: most Frederictonians who die without a will are not reckless, they are just busy. The estate still gets sorted out. It just gets sorted out slower, more expensively, and according to a formula written by the province rather than by you. If you own a home anywhere from the North Side to New Maryland, have RRSPs, or have anyone depending on you, you have an estate worth planning. This article walks through the pieces in plain language. It is general information for New Brunswick, not legal advice, and every situation is different, so treat a lawyer or PLEIS-NB as your source of truth.

What happens if you die without a will in New Brunswick

When you die without a valid will, lawyers call it dying intestate, and New Brunswick's Devolution of Estates Act takes over. The Probate Court appoints an administrator (usually a close relative) to do the executor's job, and your assets are divided by a fixed statutory formula. It does not care what you would have wanted or what you told people around the kitchen table.

Two things surprise people most. First, a common-law partner gets nothing automatically under the Act, no matter how many years you were together, unless they can prove financial dependency and go to court under the Provision for Dependants Act. Same story for stepchildren you never legally adopted. Second, a spouse you are separated but not divorced from still counts as your surviving spouse and still inherits. Estranged does not mean disinherited.

Roughly, here is how the province splits an intestate estate. Your spouse first receives the marital property (broadly, the shared family assets), and only what is left over gets divided:

Notice there is no line for a favourite niece, a charity, a best friend or a beloved cause. The intestacy rules only follow bloodlines and legal marriage. If you want anything to go anywhere else, the only tool that does that is a will. See our funerals and end-of-life guide for the practical steps in the days right after a death, which is a separate process from settling the estate.

Powers of attorney: the paperwork for while you are still alive

A will only takes effect when you die. A power of attorney (POA) covers the other risk nobody likes to picture: being alive but unable to make your own decisions, after a stroke, an accident, or advancing dementia. This is the single most overlooked piece of estate planning, and it matters even more if you are younger, because incapacity does not wait for old age.

New Brunswick modernized this area with the Enduring Powers of Attorney Act, in force since July 1, 2020. "Enduring" is the key word: it means the document keeps working (endures) after you lose mental capacity, which is exactly when you need it. Under the current Act an enduring POA can cover two different jobs, in one combined document or two separate ones:

Choose your attorney the way you would choose a co-pilot: someone trustworthy, organized, and willing to actually do it. You can name different people for property and personal care, and you can name a backup. PLEIS-NB publishes free "Planning Ahead" guides and optional forms for the personal-care POA and for a related Health Care Directive (sometimes called a living will), which records your wishes about medical treatment.

How to make a will: lawyer, kit, or DIY

To be valid in New Brunswick your will generally has to check a few boxes under the Wills Act: you must be at least 19 years old (with narrow exceptions for people who are married, in the Canadian Forces, or a mariner at sea), of sound mind, and the document has to be properly signed and witnessed. Get the formalities wrong and a court can toss the whole thing, which is how DIY wills fail.

You have three realistic routes:

For most people in a house on Fredericton's south side with a mortgage, a couple of kids and an RRSP, a lawyer is money well spent. A local wills-and-estates lawyer will spot the things a kit never asks about: blended-family friction, a disabled beneficiary who needs a trust, business assets, tax on your registered accounts, or the fact that jointly held property and named beneficiaries on insurance often pass outside the will entirely. One important note from PLEIS-NB: do not put funeral instructions in your will, because the funeral usually happens before anyone reads it. Tell your family separately, and consider writing your wishes somewhere they can find quickly.

Whichever route you pick, revisit the will after big life changes: marriage, divorce, a new child, a death, a move, or a major purchase. In New Brunswick, a change in your marital status can affect your will, so it is worth a fresh look after any of them. An out-of-date will can be worse than none.

Choosing your executor (the person who does the work)

Your executor is the person who carries out your will, and it is a real job, not an honour. According to PLEIS-NB, they may end up arranging the funeral, finding the original will, listing every asset, applying for probate, paying debts and taxes, filing a final tax return, and dividing what is left. On a tidy estate that is a few months of admin. On a messy one it can stretch for years.

Who can do it? Anyone you trust who is at least 19. Most people name a spouse, an adult child, a sibling or a close friend. For larger or complicated estates you can hire a professional, a trust company or a lawyer, though they charge fees. If truly no one is available, the provincial Public Trustee can step in as a last resort. A few things worth thinking through:

Name an alternate. Your first choice might die before you, decline the role, or be unable to serve. A backup keeps the estate from stalling.

Think twice about co-executors. Naming two adult children to "keep it fair" sounds nice until they disagree over the house. If you do name more than one, consider spelling out how decisions get made.

Pick capable over sentimental. The kindest sibling is not always the most organized. This role rewards someone patient with paperwork and comfortable saying no to relatives.

They can be paid. Executors are entitled to reasonable compensation from the estate, whether you set an amount in the will or they apply to the court. Family members often waive it; professionals will not. Either way, ask the person first. Being surprised by the job in a moment of grief is a rotten gift.

Probate basics in New Brunswick

Probate simply means proving the will. It is the Probate Court's stamp confirming that your will is valid and that your executor has the authority to act. With a valid will the court issues letters probate; when there is no will it issues letters of administration to the administrator instead. Applications go to the Probate Court in the judicial district where the person lived or owned property, and Fredericton is served by the local court.

Not every estate needs probate. If everything was jointly owned or had a named beneficiary (many bank accounts, insurance policies and registered plans do), assets can pass without it. But probate is usually required when the executor needs to sell or transfer real estate, unlock a solo bank account, collect money owed to the estate, or protect against a challenge. Banks and the land registry often insist on it.

Probate in New Brunswick carries a probate tax based on the value of the estate. Small estates pay a modest flat fee on a sliding scale: about $25 on an estate of $5,000 or less, rising through $50, $75 and $100 as you move up to $20,000. Above $20,000 the tax works out to $5 per $1,000 of estate value, roughly 0.5%. So a $300,000 estate lands somewhere near $1,500 in probate tax. These figures can change, and additional court fees can apply, so confirm the current schedule with the Probate Court or a lawyer before you rely on a number. Lawyer's fees for handling the estate, if you hire one, are separate and normally paid out of the estate.

One planning note locals ask about: because probate tax is charged on the value that flows through the estate, some people reduce it by holding assets jointly or naming beneficiaries directly. That can help, but it can also create unintended results and family disputes, so it is a conversation to have with a professional rather than a DIY move.

Rough costs and where to get help in Fredericton

Estate planning is cheaper than most people fear and far cheaper than the mess of skipping it. A simple will from a local lawyer generally runs a few hundred dollars, more if you add powers of attorney and a health care directive as a package (many lawyers offer exactly that bundle, so ask). Powers of attorney add modestly to the bill. Against that, the cost of dying intestate, court applications, delays, and family conflict is far higher. Always ask for a quote up front; prices vary by firm and by how complicated your affairs are.

Where to turn locally:

PLEIS-NB (Public Legal Education and Information Service of New Brunswick) is Fredericton-based and the best free starting point. Its website legalinfonb.ca has plain-language guides and forms on wills, executors, probate, powers of attorney and health care directives. Reach it at (506) 453-5369 or toll-free 1-888-236-2444, or email [email protected]. PLEIS-NB gives legal information, not legal advice about your specific situation.

A wills-and-estates lawyer. Fredericton has plenty of firms that handle wills, POAs and estate administration. The Law Society of New Brunswick (lawsociety-barreau.nb.ca) maintains a public directory of practising lawyers you can search.

Service New Brunswick and the Probate Court handle the filings once someone has died. Our guide to Service New Brunswick and government services covers the local offices and how to navigate them.

Two more Hey Freddy guides pair naturally with this one. If you are planning for later life, our Fredericton seniors guide and retiring in Fredericton cover the wider picture of aging well here. And when the time comes, our funerals and end-of-life guide handles the immediate arrangements. None of this is legal advice: it is a nudge to book the appointment you have been putting off, because the version of your family that has a signed will and a POA in a drawer will be quietly grateful.