A home cannot simply be listed because a family has agreed it should be. Someone has to have legal authority to deal with the property, and that authority comes from the will and, in most cases, from the court.

The usual sequence is: locate the will, identify the estate trustee named in it, apply for probate where required, receive the certificate, then deal with the property. There are exceptions, including jointly held property that passes by survivorship, and your lawyer will tell you quickly which situation applies.

Where there is no will, the process differs and someone has to apply to be appointed. That takes longer and the rules about who inherits are set by statute rather than by the family.

The practical point: speak to an estates lawyer early. Families often spend weeks sorting belongings and interviewing agents before anyone establishes who actually has the authority to sign a listing agreement.

The value of the property as at the date of death matters in two places. It feeds the estate information required by the court and the Ontario estate administration tax, and it establishes the baseline against which any change in value between death and sale is measured for tax purposes.

That second point is the one families miss. If the property sells for more than it was worth at the date of death, the difference may have tax consequences for the estate. Whether it does, and how it is treated, depends on the specific circumstances, including whether the home was the deceased's principal residence. This is an accountant's question, not a general one, and the answer genuinely differs case to case.

What matters practically is that you obtain a credible written valuation as at the date of death, early, rather than reconstructing one later. A formal appraisal is often the right route. Ask your lawyer and accountant what they will need before you commission anything.

Insurance is the urgent one. Most home insurance policies treat a vacant property differently from an occupied one, and coverage can lapse or be restricted after a period of vacancy. Contact the insurer immediately and tell them the situation. Do not assume the existing policy continues as it was. This is the single most common serious oversight in estate properties.

Keep the utilities on. Particularly heat through winter. A frozen pipe in an unheated empty house causes damage that can exceed anything the sale was going to net.

Make it look occupied. Mail collected, driveway cleared, lawn cut, lights on timers. Empty houses attract attention.

Keep paying the bills and keep the records. Property tax, utilities, insurance and maintenance continue, and the trustee needs a clear account of what the estate spent.

One sibling buying out the others, or a child buying the family home, is a frequent outcome and there is nothing wrong with it. Two things make it go smoothly.

Establish fair market value independently. Not a figure the family agreed over dinner. An independent valuation protects the trustee, protects the buying family member from later accusations, and is what the tax treatment is generally based on regardless of the price actually paid.

Document it properly. A real agreement of purchase and sale, independent legal advice on both sides, and a clear record of how the price was arrived at.

Selling below market value to a relative has tax and legal implications that differ from an arm's length sale. Get accounting and legal advice specific to your situation before agreeing a number, not after.

This causes real confusion. A power of attorney for property allows the attorney to act for someone while that person is alive, including selling a home if the document permits it. That authority ends on death. It does not carry over, and it does not make the attorney the estate trustee.

So an adult child who has been managing a parent's affairs under a power of attorney, perhaps through a move into care, cannot continue to sell the house on that basis once the parent has died. Authority has to come from the will and the estate process instead.

If a parent is still living and a sale is being considered, that is a different situation with its own rules, and an attorney acting under a power of attorney has duties to the person they act for. Take legal advice on both the authority and those duties before listing.

Most estate properties have been lived in for decades and are dated rather than damaged. Full renovation rarely returns its cost, and an estate spending heavily on a property it is about to sell is a decision the trustee has to justify. Paint, flooring where it is poor, a thorough clean, decluttering and good photography do most of the work.

A trustee usually did not live in the home and cannot answer the questions a long-term owner could. That is normal and buyers understand it, but it needs stating plainly rather than guessed at. Your lawyer will advise on how disclosure should be handled.

Price it against what comparable homes in the area actually sold for recently. Families sometimes attach a number to the property from memory or from what a neighbour supposedly got, and an estate sale is the worst context in which to test an unrealistic price, because the carrying costs continue and the family grows impatient.