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Inheritances
Assets (a house, shares, bonds, cash, valuable family heirlooms etc.) have just been bequeathed to the child whose property you are administering in your capacity as parent or dative tutor.
Will you accept the estate on the child's behalf?
Renouncing a succession
After analyzing the situation, you decide it is better for the child if you renounce the succession: you may do so in a notarial act or judicial declaration. The inheritance then becomes an unclaimed succession and you have to notify Revenu Québec.
That is the first question to ask yourself.
- As a rule, it is preferable to refuse if the debts (the accounting term is "liabilities") exceed the value of the property ("assets").
- Give your consent if the assets exceed the liabilities. Once the estate has been liquidated, you are responsible for managing the bequeathed property. Before deciding whether to keep it or sell it, you should take various factors into consideration. Here are some tips.
Warning: Indemnities paid to the child by the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité au travail (CSST) or the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec following the parent's death are not part of the succession: they must not be used to pay the deceased person's debts. They belong to the child. The same applies to the life insurance of which the child is the beneficiary, unless it is the subject of a clause in the will.
Real estate
Generally speaking, you should conserve real estate items and administer them. However, if needs arise (maintenance or repair costs that are too high, etc.), the tutorship council can authorize you to sell them, or the court does so if their value exceeds $25,000.
Civil Code: For the sale of real estate (article 213)Stocks and bonds
Even if they are not presumed sound, you should keep existing investments until they mature.
Have you decided to dispose of them before the maturity date? You should act discerningly, taking market fluctuations into account.
In both cases, you must re-invest the amounts in presumed sound investments.
