How to find the assets of a deceased person

If you are the executor of an estate, your first real job is also your hardest: finding everything the person owned and owed. Not just what the family knows about. Everything. Courts require a complete inventory, beneficiaries expect a full accounting, and a missed creditor can come back long after you thought the estate was closed.

Why "everything" is the standard

In most provinces, the executor applying for probate files an inventory of the estate, and in Ontario the Estate Information Return must list the estate's assets. The reported value determines the estate administration tax. Understating it, even by accident, can mean penalties. Overstating it means overpaying. "What we knew about at the time" is not a defence the process accepts, so discovery is not optional paperwork. It is the foundation.

Where a person's assets hide

Work down this list. Most estates hold items from at least six of these categories:

• Bank accounts: chequing, savings, TFSAs and credit unions, often across several institutions and provinces
• Registered plans: RRSPs, RRIFs, workplace pensions and LIRAs; pensions may carry survivor benefits even at a zero balance
• Investment and brokerage accounts, including old ones people forget for decades
• Real property: the house, plus cottages, vacant land, condominiums and timeshares
• Vehicles: cars, boats, trailers and RVs, and any loans against them
• Life insurance: policies pay named beneficiaries outside the will, and old policies are the classic missed asset
• Business interests: shares in private companies, partnerships and sole proprietorships
• Money owed to the deceased: undeposited cheques, final pay, tax refunds, CPP or QPP benefits
• Digital balances: payment apps, online wallets, cryptocurrency and domain names
• Physical valuables: safe deposit box contents, jewellery and collectibles, often overlooked until the bank asks

The other half: debts

An inventory is not complete without the liabilities. Credit cards, lines of credit, mortgages, personal loans, utility accounts, taxes owing and medical bills. A creditor who surfaces after the estate is distributed is the executor's nightmare scenario. Reconciliation means matching what the estate owes against what it holds before anything is paid out.

Doing it by hand

The traditional route: request statements from every institution you can name, call each one, wait for each response, order title and corporate searches, and repeat for anything you discover late. Executors report this stage taking months, usually on evenings and weekends, usually while working and grieving at the same time.

The research and compilation route

Succession Intel was built for this exact stage. You provide the intake information once. Our research identifies accounts, holdings and creditor claims across the estate, reconciles the debts against the assets, and returns a Estate Research Report within 5 business days of intake completion, formatted so your lawyer or accountant can work from it directly.