How Ontario probate rules changed, year by year

Ontario’s probate rules have changed a lot since 2020. The tax math changed. A whole new path for smaller estates arrived. Dozens of forms were replaced. If you found an old guide, or saved a form years ago, it may now be wrong. This page walks through the changes, year by year, in plain words.

One quick note first. Probate is the court process that proves who is in charge of an estate. If you are new to all of it, start with our plain-words guide to probate.

2020: the first $50,000 became tax-free

When you apply for probate, the estate may owe a tax. Its full name is the Estate Administration Tax. In 2020, the math changed. For applications made on or after January 1, 2020:

• An estate worth $50,000 or less pays no tax at all.
• Above that, the tax is $15 for every $1,000 over $50,000. A part of a $1,000 counts as a whole one.

Ontario’s own worked example: a $240,000 estate pays $2,850. Our free calculator does this math for you — no email needed.

2021: the small estate path arrived (April 1, 2021)

This was a big one. A regulation — a rule made under a law — set a new line: O. Reg. 110/21 says a “small estate” is an estate worth $150,000 or less. The value is counted on the day the person died.

Estates under that line got their own shorter court process, called the small estate path. It uses its own forms, like Form 74.1A, and it ends with a Small Estate Certificate instead of the full certificate. The small path is a choice, not a rule — a small estate may still use the standard process instead.

2022: the big forms overhaul (January 1, 2022)

On January 1, 2022, a regulation called O. Reg. 709/21 remade the estate court forms. The official court forms site says the change:

• got rid of 43 forms,
• brought in 8 new, simpler combined forms, and
• changed 15 more.

This is the change that made most old guides wrong. Form numbers and form names from before 2022 often no longer exist. Our list of the current Ontario probate forms shows what is used today.

2024: Form 74H disappeared (April 1, 2024)

Before this change, two separate forms existed. Form 74G was for giving up the estate trustee job. Form 74H was for agreeing to an application. A regulation called O. Reg. 388/23 combined them into one new Form 74G, “Renunciation and Consent”. Part A is the giving-up part. Part B is the agreeing part.

The official court forms site is blunt about the deadline: the new forms 74F, 74G, 74A, 74.1A and 74J (dated November 1, 2023) must be filed as of April 1, 2024. So if a guide tells you to file “Form 74H,” that guide is out of date.

2025: fresh versions of the main forms (August 13, 2025)

The newest round came into force on August 13, 2025, under O. Reg. 72/25. The main application forms got new versions — including Form 74A, Form 74B, Form 74.1A, and Form 74.1B. A related regulation, O. Reg. 173/25, replaced Form 74B.1 the same day.

As we write this, the August 2025 versions are the current ones. But form versions keep changing. Always download forms fresh from the official court forms site, and check the version date printed on them. We check the official forms index every month for exactly this reason.

Why the version date matters

Each official form carries a version date. Court staff check the papers you file. An outdated form version is one of the things that can get an application sent back — and going to the back of the line costs real time.

The safe habit is simple. Never trust a form saved on someone’s computer. Never trust a form attached to an old blog post. Get each form from the official site, today, right before you fill it in.

What this means for you

Look at the date on any guide or template you found. If it is older than the dates above, its form list may be wrong:

• Older than 2022? Most of its forms were replaced.
• Older than April 2024? It may still name Form 74H, which is gone.
• Older than August 2025? Its form versions may be stale.

Start from the current forms list instead. And before you file, read why applications get sent back — old forms are only one of the traps.

Related guides

• Ontario probate forms: the full list in plain words
• Small estates in Ontario: the $150,000 path
• Why probate applications get sent back

Sources

• Estate Administration Tax Act, 1998 — the $50,000 exemption and the $15 rate for applications on or after January 1, 2020
• Estate Administration Tax (ontario.ca) — the rounded-up math and the $240,000 worked example
• O. Reg. 110/21 — the $150,000 small estate limit
• Estates Act — small estate provisions in force April 1, 2021
• Rules of Civil Procedure, r. 74.1 — the small estate process
• Recent estate court form and rule amendments (ontariocourtforms.on.ca) — the 2022 overhaul and the 2024 Form 74G/74H change
• O. Reg. 388/23 — the combined Form 74G “Renunciation and Consent”
• Estates forms index (ontariocourtforms.on.ca) — current form versions, including the August 13, 2025 amendments

Every fact above is checked against these official sources on the dates recorded in our rule audit — the tax and filing rules on 14 July 2026, the forms-history page on 17 July 2026, and the small-estate regulation re-read 17 August 2026. We check the official forms index every month.