Swift Accounting & Business Solutions Ltd.
2440 Kensington Rd NW, Calgary, AB T2N 3S1
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Dying Without a Will in Alberta (2026)
Alberta law, not you, decides who inherits when there is no will. Enter your family details to see the split and the rule behind it.
Enter an estate value to see who inherits.
Assets with a named beneficiary or a joint owner pass outside the estate. These rules do not split them.
Nothing is reserved for the children. If your partner remarries or writes a new will, the children may end up with nothing.
Common-law is not automatic. The partner must meet the adult interdependent partner test in the Adult Interdependent Relationships Act.
Charities, friends and anyone else you would have chosen receive nothing without a will.
Not modelled: a spouse and an AIP both surviving (s.62), children who died leaving children of their own (s.66), the split between grandparent sides (s.67(1)(c)) and relatives of the fifth degree or further (s.67(2)).
Estimate based on 2026 rules. Not tax advice.
How it's calculated
- A surviving spouse or adult interdependent partner (AIP) takes the whole estate if you have no children, or if every child is also theirs (ss.60 and 61(1)(a)).
- If any child is not your partner's, the partner takes the greater of the prescribed amount and half the estate, capped at the estate. The children share the rest equally (s.61(1)(b)). The prescribed amount is set by regulation and shown below.
- With no partner, your children share equally (s.66). With no children, the estate goes to your parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives (s.67). If no relative can be found, the Crown takes it (s.69).
- An AIP is someone you lived with in a relationship of interdependence for 3 years, or for some period of permanence if you have a child together, or who signed an AIP agreement with you.
- A spouse you have lived apart from for more than 2 years, or have a declaration of irreconcilability, separation agreement or order with, is treated as having died first (s.63). Section numbers come from the Alberta Wills and Succession Act.
Frequently asked questions
Who inherits in Alberta if you die without a will?
The Wills and Succession Act decides. A spouse or adult interdependent partner takes everything if all your children are also theirs. If any child is not theirs, the partner takes the greater of $150,000 or half the estate and the children share the rest. With no partner, your children inherit equally. With no children, the estate goes to your parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives.
Does a common-law partner inherit in Alberta without a will?
Yes, if the partner counts as an adult interdependent partner. That means you lived together in a relationship of interdependence for at least 3 years, or for some period of permanence if you have a child together, or you signed an adult interdependent partner agreement. A partner who does not meet one of those tests has no share under the intestacy rules.
What happens to a child's share if the child is under 18?
The share is typically held under the oversight of the Public Trustee until the child turns 18, then paid out in full. A will lets you set up a trust, stage the payments and choose the trustee.
Do stepchildren inherit without a will?
No. The intestacy rules count children by birth or legal adoption, so a stepchild you never adopted has no share unless your will names them.
Which assets does the split cover?
Only assets that form part of the estate. Property you own jointly with a right of survivorship, and plans with a named beneficiary such as an RRSP, RRIF, TFSA or life insurance, pass outside the estate to the joint owner or the beneficiary. Leave them out of the estate value.
Talk to a Swift accountant
We are accountants, not lawyers. We work with your estate lawyer on the tax side: wills, spousal rollovers and corporate assets.