Alberta probate fees 2026: $35 to $525, set by net estate value

What does each Alberta estate size pay for a grant?

Issuing a grant of probate or administration, or resealing a grant from elsewhere, costs a flat fee picked from five bands of the net value of property in Alberta alberta.ca. The bands sit in section 1(1) of Schedule 2 to the Surrogate Rules (AR 130/95), and the fee includes one certified copy of the grant. They are the bands printed in the consolidation current as of June 1, 2026, which includes amendments up to AR 80/2026 kings-printer.alberta.ca.

Each band includes its upper limit. A net value of exactly $250,000 pays $400, and $250,001 pays $525. Above that line there is no percentage at all, so an estate of $5 million pays the same $525 as one of $260,000.

How is the net value of property in Alberta worked out?

The applicant builds it on the inventory, Form GA2. Part 4 adds the assets the deceased owned to the jointly owned assets that form part of the estate, then deducts all of the deceased's liabilities (other than mortgages, which already came off the land) from the assets located in Alberta. Values are as at the date of death kings-printer.alberta.ca.

The table follows the GA2 headings. Alberta's own guidance confirms that property with a beneficiary designation or a surviving joint owner passes outside the estate alberta.ca.

The gotcha is a joint account with an adult child. The GA2 tells the applicant to decide whether each joint asset held with someone other than a spouse forms part of the estate or passes by right of survivorship, based on the deceased's intention and legal presumptions, and says that decision isn't final kings-printer.alberta.ca. At $525 the fee rarely turns on it, but the beneficiaries' shares do.

What does a Calgary estate with a BC cabin and a RRIF pay?

Your client, a widower, died in 2026. He owned a Calgary house worth $650,000 with a $210,000 mortgage, $42,000 in bank accounts, a $95,000 taxable investment account, a $260,000 RRIF naming his adult son, a $15,000 joint chequing account with the son that the executor concludes passes by survivorship, a $300,000 cabin in BC with no mortgage, and $28,000 on credit cards and a line of credit.

The cabin is where the real probate cost hides. If a BC grant or a resealing is needed to deal with it, BC's Probate Fee Act charges $6 per $1,000 from $25,000 to $50,000 and $14 per $1,000 above $50,000 on the gross value of BC real property bclaws.gov.bc.ca. On $300,000 that's $150 plus $3,500, or $3,650, about seven times the Alberta fee. The BC rules are on the BC probate fees page.

How does Alberta compare with Ontario and BC?

Alberta's top fee is $525. Ontario charges $15 per $1,000 above $50,000, with only mortgages and liens on real property deducted, never credit cards or lines of credit ontario.ca. An Ontario estate also files an Estate Information Return within 180 days of the certificate. BC charges on gross value: nothing to $25,000, $6 per $1,000 to $50,000, then $14 per $1,000 bclaws.gov.bc.ca.

The rows aren't perfectly like for like, because each province measures value differently: Alberta nets off every debt, Ontario only real property encumbrances, BC none. Run the Alberta assets in the worked example through Ontario rules and the value is $577,000, since the $28,000 of consumer debt stays in, so Ontario would charge $7,905. The full Ontario calculation is on the Ontario probate fees page.

What other surrogate fees can an Alberta estate pay?

The grant fee isn't the only one in Schedule 2. These are the other fees as of October 2026 alberta.ca.

The extra certified copy and per page copy fees ($20 and $1) come from Schedule 2 itself, and rule 44.1 lets the clerk waive a Schedule 2 fee in whole or in part for an individual unable to pay kings-printer.alberta.ca. Applications go online through the Surrogate Digital Service or on paper GA forms, and members of the Law Society of Alberta must use the online service for every application it can process alberta.ca.

Why does the final return cost more than the grant?

Probate or not, the deceased is treated as having sold all property at fair market value just before death, and only property that vests in a Canadian resident spouse or common law partner within 36 months can roll over canada.ca. In the worked example, the BC cabin and the investment account are deemed sold on the final T1 even though neither needs an Alberta grant to pass. The mechanics are on the deemed disposition page.

The RRIF is the bigger bill. Naming the son kept $260,000 out of the Alberta net value, but when the beneficiary isn't the spouse, the CRA includes the RRIF's fair market value in the deceased's income for the year of death canada.ca. Saving a few hundred dollars of probate fee doesn't change that, which is why probate avoidance planning is rarely worth much in Alberta.

So the Alberta grant fee is a rounding error next to the estate's tax. Hold back enough for the final return and the T3 returns before distributing, and wait for the clearance certificate. Canada has no inheritance tax, as the inheritance tax page explains.