Inherited & Estate · Ontario

What to Do With a Parent's House After They Die in Ontario

The most urgent step is calling the home insurer within the first week, since most policies limit or void coverage after roughly 30 days unoccupied. After that: redirect mail, drain or maintain heat in the plumbing before a freeze, secure important documents, and confirm who has legal authority to act — the will's executor, or someone applying for that role if there isn't one.

Opened wall showing lath and layers of old wallpaper

The things with a real deadline

Insurance notification, freeze protection for the plumbing, and mail redirection all have practical clocks running. None of them require having decided anything about selling the house — they're about protecting it while a decision gets made.

The decision that doesn't have a deadline

Whether to sell, rent, or keep the house is a family decision that can take the time it needs, once the protective steps above are handled. There's no legal requirement to decide quickly.

Where a free checklist helps

A written, ordered list removes the guesswork during a period when very little else feels ordered — see The Empty House Checklist for the full nine-step version.

Common Questions
Only if the estate requires probate or there's a dispute — for the immediate protective steps (insurance, mail, utilities), no lawyer is needed yet.
See the note on what happens without a will, or on power of attorney ending at death, for how authority actually gets established.
Next step
The Empty House Checklist
Nine things, in order, for the first fourteen days a house sits empty -- starting with the one call that protects everything else.
Get the free checklist
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