In Ontario the probate application itself has to be served on the people entitled to share in the estate before it is filed with the court, and proof of that service is filed with the application. On a regular application for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee there is no prescribed waiting period between serving and filing. On a small estate application under Rule 74.1 there is: the material must be served at least 30 days before the application is filed. Where a minor, an incapable person, an unascertained person or a charitable interest is involved, additional parties have to be served and the material describing that service is now considerably more detailed than it used to be. This article sets out who gets served, how, and what has to be proved. What happens after a defective application reaches the registrar is dealt with separately.
What Exactly Has to Be Served?
The application, not a notice about it. This is the change most commonly missed by anyone working from older material. Rule 74.04, introduced when the estate rules were overhauled effective January 1, 2022, replaced the previous two-step procedure under which an applicant served a notice of application and then filed a different document. The current rule requires service and filing of the same document: the application. It covers applications both with and without a will, and it deliberately mirrors the approach taken in the small estate process under Rule 74.1.
The application forms carry an explanatory notice addressed to the recipient. It tells beneficiaries why they are receiving the document, what a certificate of appointment means, and how to file a Notice of Objection if they wish to. The August 13, 2025 amendments improved that language further. This matters practically: the document an executor serves is not a bare court form, it is a document that tells the recipient how to oppose the application. Executors should expect questions and should not be surprised by them.
Who Must Be Served?
| Who is entitled | Who is served |
|---|---|
| An adult person entitled to share in the distribution of the estate | The beneficiary, whether the entitlement is vested or contingent |
| A beneficiary under 18 | Not the minor. A parent or guardian, and the Children's Lawyer |
| A mentally incapable adult beneficiary | The beneficiary, and in addition the guardian of property or attorney for property, or the Public Guardian and Trustee where there is neither |
| An unborn or unascertained interest | The Children's Lawyer |
| Certain charitable interests | The Public Guardian and Trustee |
The minor is the exception, and it runs the opposite way to what people expect. Where a person entitled to share is under 18, the rule provides that the documents are not served on the minor. They go instead to a parent or guardian and to the Children's Lawyer. Serving a fourteen-year-old beneficiary directly is not extra diligence; it is a departure from the rule.
An incapable adult is treated differently. That beneficiary is still served, and service on their guardian of property or attorney for property is in addition rather than instead. Where there is neither, the Public Guardian and Trustee is served. Collapsing the minor rule and the incapacity rule into a single approach is a reliable way to have an application returned.
A person named as estate trustee who is not applying has to be dealt with, but not by service. Either they join the application, or they renounce on Form 74G, the consolidated Renunciation and Consent form. That is a document requirement for the application itself rather than part of the notification rules, which is why it does not appear in the table above. The renunciation is filed by the person who is applying, not by the person renouncing.
How Is Service Made and Proved?
Service on ordinary beneficiaries is made to the last known address, with the rules and forms accommodating mail, courier and electronic delivery. What is filed to prove it depends on which stream you are in.
On a regular certificate application, proof goes in on one of two forms:
Form 74B, an Affidavit of Service, sworn by the person who served or arranged service.
Form 74B.1, a Lawyer's Certificate of Service, which is unsworn and available where a lawyer served the document or caused it to be served.
On a small estate application, the document is Form 74.1B, a Request to File an Application for a Small Estate Certificate or an Amended Small Estate Certificate, which confirms that the required notification took place at least 30 days earlier. Using Form 74B on a small estate application is a common misstep, and it does not carry the 30-day confirmation the small estate stream depends on.
Service on the protected-party recipients now requires substantially more detail. Since August 13, 2025, an applicant serving the Children's Lawyer, the Public Guardian and Trustee, a guardian or attorney for property, a parent or guardian of a minor, or a proposed litigation guardian must identify the recipient's legal role, specify the method of service used, confirm the date and location of service, and attach supporting documentation such as delivery confirmations. The affidavit language on the forms was expanded to match.
The point of the change is that vulnerable-party service is the part registrars scrutinise. Where a minor or an incapable adult has an interest, the court is being asked to grant authority over money belonging to somebody who cannot speak for themselves, and the paperwork is expected to demonstrate that the appropriate office was actually notified rather than merely listed.
What Is the Waiting Period?
| Regular certificate application | Small estate application | |
|---|---|---|
| Rule | 74 | 74.1 |
| Main form | 74A | 74.1A |
| Wait between service and filing | No prescribed waiting period | At least 30 days |
| Court's published processing standard | About 15 business days | About five business days |
The small estate route is faster to process and slower end to end. Thirty days of notice plus roughly five business days of processing is a longer path than filing a regular application immediately and waiting about fifteen business days. Executors choosing the small estate route because it is described as the fast track are sometimes surprised by this. Our guide to the Small Estate Certificate covers the $150,000 threshold and where the route helps and where it does not.
What Is the Order of Operations?
Identify every person entitled to share, including contingent interests, and establish current addresses. This is genuinely the hard part on many estates.
Identify the protected interests: minors, incapable adults, unborn or unascertained persons, and charitable gifts. Work out for each of them who actually receives the documents, since a minor is not served directly.
Obtain renunciations on Form 74G from any named estate trustee who is not joining.
Prepare the application, on Form 74A for a regular application or Form 74.1A for a small estate.
Serve the application on everyone identified, recording the method, date and location for each recipient.
Wait, if this is a small estate application: at least 30 days.
Complete the proof document for your stream: Form 74B or Form 74B.1 on a regular application, or Form 74.1B on a small estate application, attaching delivery confirmations for the protected-party recipients.
File the application with proof of service and the Estate Administration Tax deposit.
Our guide to applying for probate in Ontario sets out the wider application requirements, and our guide to the first 30 days covers the asset and notification work that has to happen before any of this can be prepared properly.
Where This Goes Wrong
Serving only the beneficiaries who are receiving something now. Contingent interests count. A gift over to grandchildren if a child predeceases creates interests that have to be served even though nobody expects them to take.
Deciding a beneficiary does not need to know. Executors sometimes leave out an estranged relative, a beneficiary receiving a small legacy, or someone they expect to be difficult. The rule is not discretionary, and an unserved beneficiary who later learns the certificate issued without notice to them has a straightforward complaint.
Assuming a parent can stand in for the Children's Lawyer. Where a minor is entitled, both the parent or guardian and the Children's Lawyer are served, and the minor is not served directly. This is a common vulnerable-party error, and since August 2025 the forms require enough detail that it is immediately visible.
Filing a small estate application before the 30 days have run. The waiting period runs from service, and filing early means starting the clock again with a fresh service date rather than salvaging what has already been done.
Serving the wrong document. Anyone working from precedents drafted before 2022 may prepare a notice of application. The current rule requires the application itself.
Losing track of the delivery confirmations. The material now has to show method, date and location of service on the protected-party recipients, with supporting documentation attached. Confirmations discarded after a successful delivery are difficult to reconstruct, and reconstruction is what holds applications up.
Treating a missing address as an unsolvable problem. Where a beneficiary genuinely cannot be located after real efforts, the answer is to bring the difficulty to the court rather than to file as though the person does not exist. Directions can be sought.
If you are working out who has to be served on an estate with minors, a missing beneficiary, or a charitable gift, you can book a free call before the application is prepared.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to serve beneficiaries before filing for probate in Ontario?
Yes. Under Rule 74.04, the application is served on the people entitled to share in the estate first, and proof of that service is filed with the application. This is different from the pre-2022 procedure, under which a separate notice of application was served and a different document was then filed. Anyone working from older precedents will prepare the wrong document.
How long do I have to wait after serving before I can file?
On a regular application for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee there is no prescribed waiting period, so the application can be filed once service is complete and proof is prepared. On a small estate application under Rule 74.1 the material must be served at least 30 days before filing. The two streams are genuinely different on this point and the small estate waiting period is not optional.
Who is the Children's Lawyer and when do they have to be served?
The Office of the Children's Lawyer represents the interests of minors and of unborn or unascertained persons in estate matters. Where a minor has an interest in the estate, whether vested or contingent, the documents are served on a parent or guardian and on the Children's Lawyer, and are not served on the minor. Since August 13, 2025 the application material has to identify the office's role, the method of service, the date and location, and attach supporting documentation.
What if a beneficiary refuses to accept the documents?
Refusing delivery does not defeat service, and it does not give a beneficiary a veto over the application. What matters is that service was properly effected and can be proved. Where delivery is genuinely frustrated, record what was attempted and when, and raise the difficulty with the court rather than filing material that overstates what happened.
Can I serve beneficiaries by email?
The current forms and rules accommodate electronic delivery alongside mail and courier, and the practical question is usually whether you can prove it. An email to a last known address that produces no response and no delivery confirmation is weaker proof than a courier receipt. For the protected-party recipients, where method, date and location must be specified and supporting documentation attached, a method that generates a confirmation is the safer choice.
What happens if I miss someone?
It depends on when it is discovered. Before the certificate issues, the practical answer is usually to serve the person and correct the material. After it issues, an omitted beneficiary has grounds to complain, and depending on what has happened since, the remedies range from simply being brought into the administration to an application challenging the certificate. Service errors are cheap to fix before filing and expensive afterwards.
This article provides general information about Ontario law and is not legal advice. Speak with a lawyer about your specific circumstances.