Publish a Notice to Creditors in Minutes

Generate and publish a legally valid notice to creditors to protect the estates from unlimited liability and claims by creditors.

Trusted by over 700 Estate & Trust Administration Practices

Posting a Notice to Creditors is Essential for any Estate

A notice to creditors should be published for every estate, no matter the size. Here’s why:

Legal requirement

In most jurisdictions, executors are legally required to publish a notice to creditors online or in a local newspaper.

Limit estate liabilities

Publishing a notice to creditors removes the ability of creditors of an estate to come forward after the notice period.

Limit executor liabilities

If a notice to creditors is not published and estate assets are distributed, the executor can be personally liable to the creditor(s).

Publish a notice in minutes

Who should be posting a notice to creditors for an estate?

Professional and citizen executors can post notices for the estate.

Professional executors

Submitting a notice to creditors on behalf of your clients is an essential step of the administration process.

Citizen executors

Absolve yourself of future legal liability from creditors and comply with jurisdiction-specific probate requirements.

Beneficiaries

Unsure if your executor has published a notice to creditors for an estate? You can check our list of notices here and alert your executor to submit their notice here.

Publish a notice in 3 easy steps

Publishing a legally valid notice to creditors is quick and easy with Estateably. Here’s how it works:

Notice to Creditor Pricing

Select the package that is right for you and the estate

Online only

Legally valid online notice to creditors

Starting at $105
Get started

Online & Newspaper*

Legally valid online notice to creditors

Local newspaper notice to creditor publication

*Coming soon

Starting at $299
Contact us

Affidavit of Publication

A commissioned affidavit of publication for your notice to creditors

$40
Get started

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I post a notice to creditors for an estate?

Every estate executor or professional should publish a notice to creditors to protect yourself from personal liability. As an executor, If you do not advertise for creditors and the deceased had an outstanding debt, the creditor can sue you for the full amount of the debt.

Who can use Estateably to publish a notice?

Our users include lawyers, law clerks, trust officers, accountants and individual estate executors.

If you're administering an estate, you can use Estateably to publish your notice in minutes.

Estateably is trusted by more than 700 law firms, trust companies, and legal service organizations across North America.

Do I need to create an Estateably account?

No, you can post with or without an account. Professionals can create an account by contacting sales@estateably.com. Creating an account will allow you to post notices directly from Estateably's award winning estate and trust administration software.

The platform will store your billing information for subsequent orders and is ideal for lawyers or firms who will be posting multiple notices.

Is this court approved?

Yes. In July 2017, Justice Conway of the Superior Court of Justice confirmed in a written decision that posting a notice to creditors online satisfied an estate trustee's duty to advertise for creditors under s. 53(1) of the Trustee Act. Read about it here.

How do I post with Estateably?

First, go to our "Post a Notice" page. Fill in the required fields (including the deceased's name, date of death, etc.).

Your notice will appear on the right, and you will have the opportunity to preview it and make changes. If you made a mistake, you can edit the field above and the notice will update in real time.

When you're satisfied with everything, click "Next" and you'll be brought to the Checkout page.

What browsers are supported?

We recommend using Google Chrome or Firefox and we also support Microsoft Edge. Please note that we do not support Internet Explorer.

What security certifications does Estateably hold?

Estateably has obtained its SOC 2 Type 2 Audit certification. A copy of the report will be made available upon request to sales@estateably.com.

I don't see the city I'm looking for on your dropdown list, what can I do?

When you're creating your notice, you will list up to three locations associated with the deceased. As you type the name of the city, you'll see it appear on a dropdown list below and you'll select it from this list.

Our list of cities is powered by Google and does not include entities that were amalgamated into larger cities.

Smaller townships or unincorporated communities are also not on the list. Select the closest municipality available, and contact us by email at notices@estateably.com or with our website's chat feature and we can manually add in any additional locations you require.

How many days should I give creditors to respond to my ad?

There's no set rule for this, but the vast majority of our users give creditors between 30 and 60 days from the date of posting to come forward with their outstanding claims. In a past test case with the Superior Court of Justice, creditors were given 45 days to come forward.

How many times to do I have to post my notice?

You only need to post once. While it was customary to advertise in print newspapers multiple times, our online notices are available and searchable 24/7. This makes it unnecessary to post multiple times, and was acceptable to the Superior Court of Justice in a similar test case.

How long does my notice stay on Estateably?

When you create your notice, you will select an expiry date for your ad. After this date it will be clear to anyone who sees the ad that it has expired. Ads stay in our database after they've expired, but we're also happy to remove your notice from the site at your request.

Where are your notices to creditors published?

Your notice will be published in our public and searchable database. Links to the notices on our site are automatically re-published on Facebook and Twitter for maximum exposure. And our site is search-engine optimized, which means that someone searching online for someone who owes them money may find our notices even if they've never heard of Estateably.

Additionally, we send regular updates about the new notices on our site - by direct mail and email - to major creditors across Canada (including banks, utilities companies, collection agencies, and other businesses and individuals).

What is a commissioned affidavit of publication?

A commissioned affidavit of publication is a written statement, reviewed and signed, that confirms you published a notice to creditors on estateably.com. It can be submitted to the court as evidence that you advertised for creditors.

Should I include the affidavit with my order?

Yes. We recommend that users include the affidavit of publication with their order, if they need to provide evidence that they advertised for creditors (e.g. to waive an administration bond, or if challenged by a creditor). The vast majority of our users include the affidavit with their orders.

How much does it cost to post?

Publishing a notice on Estateably costs a one-time flat fee of $105 (plus applicable tax), regardless of the length of your ad.

Users can optionally choose to add an affidavit of publication for an additional $40 (plus applicable tax).

How do I pay?

You can pay by credit card at check out. Once you pay, your order will go online immediately and a receipt and link to the ad will be emailed to you automatically.

Contact us at notices@estateably.com if you run into any billing issues.

I'm waiting on an email from Estateably that hasn't arrived. Where is it?

Our apologies for the delay.

Estateably sends out account confirmations, receipts, invoices, and other automated emails very quickly. If you’re waiting on a response and it’s been more than a few minutes, the email may have been erroneously categorized as spam. It might not have even reached your spam folder. Check your spam folder. If the email is there, mark it as ‘not spam’. If the email is not in your spam folder, contact your IT support or email provider and ask them to add estateably.com to a safe senders list or whitelist. This will resolve the issue going forward.

If you need a document right away, contact us and we’ll arrange to get it to you.

Do you have a privacy policy?

Yes, it can be found here.

I have a legal question about a will or estate. Can you advise me?

No. We offer technological solutions related to law and estates, but we are not licensed to give legal advice. Any information on our site is for general informational purposes only. Our recommendation is always to raise these questions with an estate lawyer.