The 360

Estate Processing – Four Useful Tips

Written by Investia | January 9, 2025 4:30:00 Z PM

In order to streamline the processing of estate requests and ensure the timely liquidation of a deceased client’s account with the executor and/or beneficiaries, here are four useful tips:

1.    Don’t forget to check out the Estate Checklist! 

The Estate Checklist is your go-to tool for gathering and submitting the necessary nominee estate documents efficiently to head office. This helps reduce delays and ensures a smoother process. There are two versions available: one for Quebec clients and another for clients outside Quebec.

You can find the Estate Checklist on the Advisor Centre under Procedures & Forms / Nominee Accounts and in Univeris under the “Generate Forms” section of the Task Menu:

2.    Always refer to Administrative Procedure # 32 – Estates

This procedure provides a detailed, step-by-step guide for handling your clients’ estate requests, clearly outlining the requirements for both registered and non-registered accounts. It is available on the Advisor Centre under Procedures & Forms / Administrative Procedures.

3.    Use the Estate team email – estates@investia.ca 

This dedicated email allows you to contact our Estate team directly. Please include the following in each of your messages:

•   The specific nominee client ID#
  A clear summary of your question

Note that we address topics based on priority to ensure efficiency. Please remember, this email is exclusively for estate-related questions and should not be used for estate planning, legal or fiscal advice. Please do not send estate documentation to this email. All estate documents should be shared as indicated in Administrative Procedure # 32.
 

4.    Upload documents easily via the Secure File Upload Tool

We want to remind you that you can upload estate documents via the “Estate processing (Nominee accounts)” option on the Secure File Upload Tool to send us your nominee estate documents for processing.

 

Why use this option? Centralizing nominee estate documentation ensures that your documents are not manually split among different teams. This results in:

•   Faster processing for you and your clients
•   Reduced errors 
•   Fewer follow-ups and requests for missing information

Use the nominee estate processing option for: 

  • All Investia nominee estate documents intended for processing (e.g., death notifications, authenticated wills, letters of direction, death certificates, identification documents, instruction forms, void cheques, etc.)

Do not use this option for:

  • Estate documents related to client-name/intermediary accounts – Please continue to use the regular Processing or Imaging options as appropriate.
  • Any non-estate related documentation.


Best practice reminder:
To expedite processing, always send all nominee estate documents (per plan or client) in one batch. Incomplete files will lose their priority in our processing queue and be placed in pending status until all documents are received, causing additional delays. If you use the “Processing” option instead of the dedicated estate option, some documents may not reach our team, resulting in further delays.

Should you have any questions or require additional information regarding estate processing, please contact our Client Services Team, by email at investia@investia.ca, by phone at 1-888-684-5548, or use the chatbot feature available on the Advisor Centre.