Probate fees in Alberta: what an estate actually pays

Probate fees in Alberta are capped, which is the whole answer most people came for. The Court of King's Bench charges a flat filing fee on a five-step scale that stops at $525 once the net value of property in Alberta passes $250,000. An estate holding one Canmore condo and an estate holding a $5M Silvertip house pay the identical court fee. At the 2025 average sold price of $2.15M for a Canmore detached home, $525 is 0.02% of the property alone. So stop worrying about the filing fee and look at the four costs below it.

How much are probate fees in Alberta

$525 for almost every Bow Valley estate. The fee is set by Schedule 2 of the Surrogate Rules, Alta Reg 130/1995, and it is a filing charge for issuing the grant, not a tax on wealth. It is paid out of the estate, so neither the personal representative nor the beneficiaries fund it personally.

The reason the answer is so blunt here is arithmetic. Canmore's 2025 average sold prices were $2.15M detached, $1.92M half-duplex, $1.15M townhouse, $814,000 apartment condo and $960,000 tourist home, on 483 sales. Every one of those sits far above the $250,000 top tier as a gross figure. The tier is read after any mortgage comes off the land, so a long-held or mortgage-free Canmore property lands at $525 before a single bank account is added, while a recently bought home carrying a large balance can land a tier or two lower. Either way $525 is the ceiling, so budget for it and move on.

The five Alberta probate fee tiers in full

To work out your own tier, add up the Alberta assets, subtract any mortgage registered against the land, and read the figure off the column above. There is nothing else to compute, because the charge stops moving once you pass $250,000, which is the short answer to what an Alberta probate fees calculator would tell you.

Schedule 2 prices the extras separately. Item 1(1) sets the grant fee "including one certified copy of the document", and item 6 charges $20 for each certified copy after that. A search is $25, a caveat is $300, and a double probate, supplemental grant or grant of administration of unadministered property is $300. Documents that open an estate court file outside a grant application are $300, and an application in the course of a proceeding is $100.

What counts as net value of property in Alberta

Only Alberta assets, and only after secured debt. The inventory, Form GA2, splits everything into "within Alberta" and "outside Alberta" columns, and the tier is set by the Alberta figure alone. Land and minerals are entered at estimated gross value, then mortgages and other financial encumbrances are subtracted to give an estimated net value. Part 3 liabilities are then deducted separately, and it says "excluding mortgages" precisely because the mortgage already came off the property.

That matters more in the Bow Valley than almost anywhere, because recreational property here is often carried on a large balance. A $2.15M Canmore home with $1.1M outstanding enters the inventory at about $1.05M. It still lands in the $525 tier, but the same deduction in Ontario or British Columbia, where the fee is a percentage, would be worth thousands.

The Alberta column is also why a death outside the province still comes through this court. If the deceased lived in Vancouver or Toronto and owned a Canmore property, the home province charges on its own estate and leaves the Canmore title out of the sum: Ontario's Estate Administration Tax lists "real estate outside of Ontario" among the assets not to include, and British Columbia's Probate Fee Act counts only "real and tangible personal property of the deceased situated in British Columbia". Alberta then takes the Canmore side, either on a fresh application here or on an application under rule 35 to reseal the other province's grant, which is what Land Titles wants before it will register a transmission. One consequence for the executor: the Surrogate Digital Service is open to a self-represented applicant only if that applicant is an Alberta resident, so an out-of-province personal representative is pushed onto paper filings or onto a lawyer, and that is a real cost where the $525 is not.

What assets are subject to probate in Alberta

Everything the deceased held alone or as a tenant in common. Form GA2 Part 1 lists land and minerals, bank and investment accounts, shares in public or private companies, annuities, pensions and benefit plans payable to the estate, life insurance payable to the estate, household goods and personal effects, and other property.

What sits outside it: property held in joint tenancy that passes by right of survivorship, and registered plans or insurance with a named living beneficiary. The form is careful here. It asks separately about assets owned jointly with someone other than a spouse or adult interdependent partner, and requires the applicant to say whether each one forms part of the estate or passes to the survivor, because entitlement turns on the facts and the deceased's intention, not on the label on title.

Probate fees by province: why Alberta is the cheap one

Alberta charges a flat fee. Ontario, British Columbia and Saskatchewan all charge a percentage of estate value instead. That is why probate fees in Alberta barely register next to the rest of the estate bill. Run the same $2.15M estate through each.

Alberta

$525

Flat top tier, Surrogate Rules Schedule 2

Saskatchewan

$15,250

$7 per $1,000 plus a $200 filing fee

British Columbia

$29,750

$6 then $14 per $1,000 above $50,000, plus $200

Ontario

$31,500

Estate Administration Tax, $15 per $1,000 above $50,000

Read that as the same estate priced in four provinces, not as a cheque anyone banks. Ontario and British Columbia both leave out-of-province real estate outside their fee base, so an estate in either province that happens to hold a Canmore home pays at home on everything else and $525 here on top, rather than saving $30,975. The number worth carrying away is the ceiling. That $525 is the whole Alberta exposure whether the Canmore property is worth $600,000 or $6M, where an Ontario estate of the same size keeps paying $15 per $1,000 the whole way up. Alberta also charges no land transfer tax on the eventual sale, which the land transfer tax in Alberta post covers in full.

How much does a lawyer charge to probate a will in Alberta

There is no published tariff, and any page quoting one is quoting something Alberta does not have. Schedule 1 Part 2 of the Surrogate Rules instead requires the lawyer and the personal representative to agree the categories of service and an amount or arrangement for each set of fees, disbursements and charges up front, and requires a written statement of fees at the end.

The factors the rules list are the ones to negotiate against: complexity and novelty, skill and responsibility, the lawyer's estate experience, documents prepared, the value of the estate, work on jointly held or designated assets, results and time. A simple grant with a will and one Canmore property is at the light end. Ask for the fee agreement in writing before the file opens. A self-represented applicant who is an Alberta resident can file through the Surrogate Digital Service; lawyers must use it for anything it can process.

What are the typical executor fees in Alberta

Also unfixed. Schedule 1 Part 1 entitles a personal representative to "fair and reasonable compensation" and lists seven factors: gross value of the estate, revenue receipts and disbursements, complexity and unusual questions, skill and responsibility required, time expended, tasks delegated, and how many representatives the will named. Additional compensation is available where the representative runs a business or instructs on litigation.

Three practical rules follow. Compensation fixed in the will cannot be exceeded unless beneficiaries agree or the court orders it. Compensation can be taken before the administration finishes only if the will allows it, all affected beneficiaries agree, or the court orders it. And where a lawyer performs the representative's duties, the representative's compensation must be reduced to match, so read both invoices together.

How to avoid probate fees in Alberta, and whether it is worth it

You can, and for a Canmore property it is usually the wrong question.

What probate means for an inherited Canmore property

It sets the order of operations, and the timing of the possession date.

1. 1Apply for the grantFile through the Surrogate Digital Service or on the GA forms, with Form GA2 valuing the Canmore property at gross value less any mortgage. Pay the $525.
2. 2Register the transmission at Land TitlesThe grant supports transmission of title to the personal representative. Until that is registered, title sits in the deceased's name and no transfer can be registered.
3. 3List, but leave slack on possessionYou can market and accept an offer before the grant issues. You generally cannot close, because the buyer's lawyer will require the grant and the transmission. Build the possession date around the court, not the calendar, because [how long probate takes in Alberta](/blog/how-long-does-probate-take-alberta/) sets the floor under it. Read the [Canmore selling process](/selling/process/) before you commit to a date.
4. 4Close and register the transferAlberta charges no land transfer tax, but Land Titles registration runs $50 plus $5 per $5,000 of value, about $2,200 on a $2.15M sale. Commission and legal fees sit on top.
5. 5Get a clearance certificate before distributingCRA Information Circular IC82-6 and subsection 159(2) require a clearance certificate before the legal representative distributes property. Distribute without one and the representative is personally liable for unpaid amounts, up to the value distributed.

Meanwhile the property is generating tax. An inherited Canmore home is rarely anyone's primary residence, so unless an Alberta resident sits on title, the 2026 non-primary residential rate of 0.833% applies rather than the 0.457% primary rate: about $17,919 a year on a $2.15M home instead of $9,816, a Livability Tax delta of $8,103. On an $814,000 apartment condo it is $6,784 against $3,716. The jump is usually not immediate: a property carries the classification the previous owner declared through a mid-year change, so where the deceased was an Alberta resident the exemption tends to hold for that tax year and the higher rate bites the following year, once title has transmitted and a fresh declaration is due. Model your own figure in the property tax calculator and read Canmore property tax for the declaration deadline of 31 December, which an estate can miss without noticing. If the property is a tourist home, the zoning and licence picture the heirs inherit is a separate question again, covered in selling a Canmore tourist home.

What this means if you have inherited in Canmore

Probate fees in Alberta are the one line on this file you can stop thinking about. Pay the $525, then spend your attention where the money actually is. Get the fee agreement with the lawyer in writing, and agree the personal representative's compensation with the beneficiaries early rather than at the accounting. Order a valuation and a real property report while the grant is pending so the listing is ready the day it issues. Budget for the non-primary tax rate every month the estate holds the property, and put slack in the possession date. Then read estate tax on inherited property in Canada for the deemed disposition on death, capital gains on a second home for growth since that date, selling a second home and Alberta real estate commission with the full cost to sell.