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Unclaimed successions
The succession (or estate) of a deceased person is considered to be unclaimed where, six months after the person's death, no successor is known to exist or has stepped forward to claim the succession. A succession is also considered to be unclaimed where all the successors have renounced the succession by an act signed before a notary or by a judicial declaration.
What are the consequences of a renunciation?
The usual reason for renouncing a succession is that its debts are greater than its assets. A succession may also be renounced when the successors consider that its settlement will be too complex for the benefit to be gained. For Revenu Québec to exercise jurisdiction over an unclaimed succession, it must be renounced by all successors. If only one heir renounces his or her share, that share is divided among the heirs accepting the succession.
What is the time limit for renouncing a succession?
The Civil Code of Québec gives successors a maximum of six months to inventory a succession. They then have an additional 60 days in which they may renounce the succession. They do so by signing an act of renunciation in the presence of a notary. A successor who does not renounce a succession within the prescribed time is presumed to have accepted it.
What is the role of Revenu Québec?
When Revenu Québec has received all the documents proving to its satisfaction that a succession is unclaimed, it publishes a notice of quality in the Gazette officielle du Québec and in a newspaper circulating in the locality of the deceased person's last known residence. This notice invites creditors of the deceased to submit their claims to the Minister of Revenue, who becomes liquidator of the succession in accordance with the rules set out in the Civil Code of Québec. The Minister sells the property of the succession at fair market value and, if possible, reimburses the creditors according to the prior claims and the rank prescribed by the Civil Code of Québec.
