How Joint Ownership Can Complicate Estate Administration

By Adrian Taylor lawyer at Merovitz Potechin LLP on Tuesday September 29, 2026

Joint ownership of assets, including real properties and bank accounts, can be an effective estate planning tool. However, it is important to understand how joint ownership of assets work, and how the law sees and interprets joint ownership of assets on the death of one of the joint owners.

Key Terms to Properly Understand Joint Ownership of Assets

1. Right of Survivorship

Joint assets generally carry what’s known as a “right of survivorship”. This means when one of the joint owners dies, the entire asset vests in (passes to) the surviving owner. This applies to joint bank accounts, jointly held real property, and any other jointly held asset.

2. Presumption of Resulting Trust

The Presumption of Resulting Trust is a common law doctrine, which was established by the Supreme Court of Canada decision Pecore v. Pecore, 2007 SCC 17. The doctrine applies to instances where a parent gratuitously transfers an asset to an adult child (including adding the adult child as a joint owner). It creates a presumption that the adult child is holding the asset in trust for the parent’s estate. Which means that on the death of parent, the law considers the asset part of the parent’s estate, and it does not pass to the child by right of survivorship.

The child can rebut this presumption, but they bear the burden of proving the parent intended the transfer as an outright gift.

3. Presumption of Advancement

The Presumption of Advancement most commonly applies to gratuitous transfers between spouses. The law assumes these transfers are gifts rather than loans, making the recipient the beneficial owner. This presumption reverses the resulting trust. The challenger must now prove the original owner did not intend a gift.

Administration of Jointly Held Assets

The rules for administering jointly held assets depend heavily on the relationship between the owners.

Joint Ownership Between Spouses

In cases of jointly held assets between spouses, the presumption of advancement applies (unless clear evidence rebuts this presumption). The asset vests in the survivor of the owners upon the death of the other, and is not considered to be an estate asset to be dealt with in accordance with the terms of the Will.

Joint Ownership Between Parents and Adult Children

Parents increasingly add adult children to their bank accounts for convenience. This helps the children manage bills and daily expenses. These are the instances that can complicate the estate administration.

Often, when a parent adds a child to the account, they sign bank paperwork that includes a right of survivorship. This often confuses the deceased’s intentions as to what is to happen to the money in the account upon their death. This almost always causes issues between the beneficiaries if not immediately addressed and resolved.

Parents also frequently add children to their property title to avoid estate administration taxes upon death. Adding a child to the title creates several possible complications that parents often fail to properly explore. These include: an inability by the parent to sell the property without the child’s consent, an exposure to the parent for debts of the child, which can result in writs being registered on title of the property for the child’s debts, and tax implications such as a loss of the principle residence exemption.

The law as it stands states that the presumption of resulting trust applies to such situations. Therefore, the law considers the jointly held asset an estate asset, requiring the executor to distribute it according to the provisions of the Will.

Estate Administration Tax on Jointly Held Assets

Another important consideration when administering an estate is whether the jointly owned asset is subject to estate administration tax (probate). Where the presumption of advancement or right of survivorship applies, the estate pays no administration tax on the value of the asset. But where the presumption of resulting trust applies, the law treats the asset as part of the estate, and the estate must pay administration tax on its value at the time of death.

Take Aways for Estate Planning

It is important when preparing your Will and/or making any such transfers of assets (including setting up a joint bank account) that your intentions are clear and recorded.

If you have or plan to make any gratuitous transfer (i.e. transfer for no consideration) and have questions on how to confirm your intentions, our experienced Wills Team can assist with preparing the proper paperwork to avoid confusion down the road.

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