Survivorship applications in Ontario, in plain words

Many couples own their home jointly. When one owner dies, that home usually does not go through probate at all. It passes to the surviving owner automatically. The paper that updates the land records is called a survivorship application. This guide explains what it is, who prepares it, and what the government charges.

What is a survivorship application?

Ontario’s land law has a section just for this. Under the Land Titles Act (section 123), when a registered joint owner dies and the land records show the ownership passed to the survivor, the land registrar may take the deceased owner’s name off the record. Someone has to apply for that. The application is the survivorship application.

It is registered in Ontario’s land registration system, and it must contain the evidence the Director of Titles asks for. Today that evidence is a set of statements: the applicant owned the property as a joint tenant with the person who died, the applicant is entitled to it as the surviving joint owner, and the date of death. An older paper-form route (Forms 42 and 43) still exists as an alternative. The official pages do not name one exact death document — the statements themselves include the date of death.

Joint owners and owners in common

There are two ways to co-own property, and they end very differently.

• Joint tenants. When one owner dies, their interest passes automatically to the other owner(s). Ontario’s estate tax page says these assets are left out when you value an estate for probate.
• Tenants in common. Each owner has their own share, and there is no automatic pass. The deceased owner’s share goes through their estate: the law says their personal representative — the estate trustee — is entered on the record next to the surviving owner. Estate land that does not pass by survivorship is one of the listed reasons people apply for probate.

Not sure which kind you have? The land records show it. You can look them up on OnLand, the online portal for viewing Ontario’s land records.

The no-probate point

This is the part that saves people real money. Ontario’s own probate page lists real property that does not pass by right of survivorship among the reasons a person may apply for probate — and says probate is not always required. A joint home that does pass to the survivor is not on that list.

The survivorship application itself asks for no probate certificate either. The required statements say nothing about a court appointment. Court papers only enter the picture in the land registry’s separate process for property that is in the estate.

Other things the person owned may still need probate — a bank account in their name alone, or land with no surviving owner. Our free 2-minute check gives an honest answer, and our guide on when probate is required covers the full picture. No email needed for either.

Who prepares and files it

Here is the plain reality: this is lawyer work.

• The official bulletin says the survivorship statements can only be made and signed by a solicitor — the formal word for a lawyer.
• Ontario’s land registry services are online only. There is no counter to walk up to with papers.
• Only authorized Teraview account holders and their registered users can submit documents in the electronic system — lawyers and certain other professionals who pass identity, character, and insurance checks.
• OnLand is for searching the records. It is not a way to register anything.

The official pages never say “a homeowner cannot file this themselves” in those exact words. But the pieces all point one way: the statements need a lawyer’s signature, and the filing system is for authorized users. Plan on hiring a lawyer for this one. The Law Society Referral Service can connect you with one.

One wrinkle: the family home

For deaths on or after March 1, 1986, the application must also include one of three statements about spouses: the owners were spouses of each other; or the person who died was not a spouse; or the property was not a matrimonial home — the law’s word for the family home of married spouses. The reason comes from the Family Law Act: when a married person owns the family home jointly with someone who is not their spouse, the law treats the joint ownership as ended just before death — so the home does not simply pass to the other owner. The lawyer’s statements deal with this.

What does a survivorship application cost?

The government fees come from the official pricing pages. The amounts below are as displayed in August 2026 — the pages show no effective date, and fees change over time, so check the linked pages for today’s numbers.

• Electronic registration: $85.00 in total — a $71.55 statutory fee, an $11.90 system fee, and $1.55 in taxes (Teraview’s pricing page).
• Paper registration under the Land Titles Act: $83.45 (OnLand’s pricing page).

These are the standard fees for registering a document. We did not find a separate survivorship fee in any official source. A lawyer’s own fee to prepare and register the application is on top of the government fee — ask for the price before you say yes. We also found no official published timeline for how long the registry takes.

Where probate fits in

One honest note: our software prepares Ontario probate application packages, not survivorship applications. But the flip side helps you: if the home was jointly owned, probate may not be needed for the home at all. The real question is whether anything else the person owned needs it.

The takeaway

A home owned as joint tenants usually skips probate. The survivorship application is the land-records paper that makes it official — a lawyer prepares and registers it, and the government’s registration fee is about $85. If other assets do need probate, that is a separate court application — the kind our software builds. Start with the free question: do you need probate at all?

Related guides

• When is probate required in Ontario?
• Probate in Ontario: a plain-words guide
• Executor duties in Ontario, in plain words

Sources

• Land Titles Act, ss. 122–123 — joint owners and owners in common
• Director of Titles Bulletin 2000-6 — estate documents: the survivorship statements, the family-home statements, and lawyer signing
• Apply for probate of an estate (ontario.ca) — when probate applies
• Estate Administration Tax (ontario.ca) — joint assets left out of the estate value
• Register land documents electronically (ontario.ca) — who can use Teraview
• Land registry offices (ontario.ca) — services are online only
• OnLand Help Centre — what OnLand is
• Teraview pricing — electronic registration fee
• OnLand Help Centre — payment and pricing (paper registration)

All sources checked 16 August 2026.