How do I find out which law office in Toronto is handling my…

Dear Sir or Madam,

Welcome to JustAnswer,

The process of administering an estate is a rather complicated one and there does not exist a set of standard procedures that are followed in every single estate administration.

For instance, some estates are administered entirely without having to seek the assistance of the court while others involve substantial court involvement.

Similarly, some estates of a modest financial nature sometimes don't even involve a lawyer.

Much depends on the nature of the assets in the estate and whether the asset holders require a court certificate or not.

Figuring out if there is a law firm involved and if the court is involved can be a bit of a detective game sometimes.

But here are some of the steps of the proceeding wherein you can make inquiries of sorts.

First, if the estate had any real estate, a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee With or Without a Will is going to necessarily be required of the Court.

When this happens, a law firm does become involved and a couple of things will happen that may alert you to the identity of the firm that is dealing with this.

First, the estate trustee may actually advertise for creditors of the estate.

This usually entails advertising in the local newspaper and inviting any creditors of the deceased to contact the law firm.

So, you may want to look in the applicable notices section of the local newspapers for a few weeks after the death of your father.

Next, the law firm will actually make an application to the court.

This file created with the court is a public record.

You can ask the local registrar to check for your father's estate file and they will tell you.

More importantly, there is a procedure provided for in Rule 74.03 of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure whereby you can file a request for notice with the court which will entitle you to receive notice of any application for a certificate which is subsequently made.

You can see the Rules at:

http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/regs/english/elaws_regs_900194_e.htm

Next, you can also try contacting the funeral home and see if they would be willing to give you some information. They may or may not.

Finally, you can post your own advertisement in the local paper inquiring as to who the lawyer is for the estate.

Again, it is a bit of a detective game.

I suggest you start with the request for notice with the court so that any proceeding that is filed does not escape your attention.

Then if that does not produce any results, keep trying some of the other techniques and see what you can find out.

Hope this helps.

Kindly accept so that I can be credited with the above assistance.