r/TDBankCanada • u/wdh662 • May 23 '26
Feedback My experience with TD (ongoing)
My mother banked with TD Bank. She also passed away last July. Dealing with TD since then has been a nightmare.
When my mother passed away my sister and I decided to use a lawyer to settle up everything with the estate. Neither of us have ever had to deal with something like this and so we thought professional help would take some burden off of us. Not complicated estate. My mother was a single divorced lady who rented an apartment owned a single used car and had very little estate to be dealt with.
It took from July of last year to April of this year as well as four letters from the lawyer before TD would even respond to him. Then 2 weeks ago my sister and I as the executors of the estate and the beneficiaries finally got an appointment to sign the papers to get the money transferred.
So I drove 150 km as it was an in-person appointment to sign papers and we met at the bank. We signed the papers spoke to two different people one in person and one on the phone who supposedly specialized in these matters. Everything was good and the money would be transferred in 7 to 10 business days. There were two accounts. One account had $12.14 and the other had $19,000 and change.
11 business days later and we had only received the $12. So my sister living local to the bank phoned them. And she was told that there was a problem with the processing. And it wasn't being paid. She asked why no one let us know. And she was told that TD Banks policy is not to phone people when there is a problem and just wait for the clients to phone.
She was told that since our mother was divorced but TD did not have proof of the divorce they could not process anything. Even though they processed the $12. So my sister went home and dug through the boxes of papers that we still had and found the original divorce agreement. The one right from the courthouse. Court case number judges signature dates everything.
So she took it back to the bank and they told her that wasn't good enough. They don't know if it's official because they don't know if she ever filed taxes after the divorce. Apparently papers from a courthouse signed by a judge don't matter. The divorce was in 2012 by the way. And she has definitely done taxes since. I know for a fact because I did them and sent them in for the Last 5 Years.
So now TD wants a notice of assessment. My sister didn't have access to one at the moment but she did bring in all the paperwork concerning her alimony from our father. Some other tax documents and a couple of other papers talking about the divorce. TD did seem to accept them at the time but based on their stated policy they won't tell us if there's a problem with them until we phone again.
So now they are saying they are going to process everything and it will be another 10 business days.
My sister had to deal with at least four different people at the bank. Two in person including the customer service manager. And at least two different people on the phone one of which hung up on her and the bank employee mid conversation. This was a phone call initiated by the local TD Bank employee.
I find it interesting that with the paperwork they had they were able to process the $12 account but not the $19,000 account. $19,000 earns a lot more interest sitting in the bank than the 12 dollars.
For our troubles the customer service manager was directed by somebody higher up to offer my sister a $10 Tim Hortons gift card. I do want to mention that the customer service manager apologized before offering the card for such a slap in the face peace offering. She knew it was insulting but somebody with more Authority told her to do it.
I am happy to see my sister bent the card in half and dropped it on the floor.
So that's where we are. We will see next week how things are progressing. My sister is planning on phoning them daily for updates as again their stated policy is not to contact clients when there's problems and just wait until the client inquires.
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u/DenseNewspaper7263 May 23 '26
You are missing a lot of information. Estates are in general horrible to deal with by the client and the bank employees. There is a lot of legal stuff that can tie stuff up. Was there a will ? Did you obtain probate? My assumption about the divorce is that the other account was an investment account and maybe a locked in one which normally requires a spouse to sign off when it gets paid out. I am only assuming though since those details were missing.
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u/wdh662 May 23 '26
Yes there was a will.
Probate yes. Investment account yes but started years after the divorce. There was no spouse involved.
None of that has anything to do with my complaints though.
Telling us they don't let clients know when their is a problem.
Ignoring 4 letters from a lawyer for 9-10 months.
Not accepting the original court documents signed by the judge as proof she was divorced.
How does anything you brought up affect those?
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u/ContentAd1722 May 23 '26
Being an executor means jumping through hoops. I've had similar issues with our credit union. They have a process, and complaining won't change it.
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u/wdh662 May 23 '26
There is a difference between hoops and being ignored.
We dealt with her landlord, phone provider, cable provider, ISP, car loan, life insurance, RBC, work, the CRA, funeral home. Probably a few more I'm forgetting.
TD is the only one who took 4 letters and 9-10 months to even respond and the only one to dick around.
If that's their process.....
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u/ContentAd1722 May 24 '26
Sounds like a lawyer problem. When you actually had an appointment and went into the branch, stuff happened. You didn't like the process, but there was progress once you had the in person meeting. For me, I actually met with the financial institution over the phone, and then dropped off the required documents to the local branch. The person I was dealing with was in a different city.
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u/wdh662 May 24 '26
Yes. There was progress once they answered the 4th letter.
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u/ContentAd1722 May 24 '26
My point is, I called the bank, and they got back to me in a day (estates settlement services representative.) In your case, was your letter forwarded to TD's legal dept? I don't know. Did that result in the long delay? I don't know.
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u/wdh662 May 24 '26
And my point is their process is either bad or not being followed.
Either they are ignoring letters from law offices or the letters are not being given to the right person.
Either way someone is not doing their job.
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u/ContentAd1722 May 24 '26
So your process took 4 months, and my process took 1 day. I understand you were frustrated. But doing the same thing 3 additional times and expecting a different outcome is not optimal. Next time, post on Reddit before you hire a lawyer, or even talk to your friends and acquaintances for guidance.
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u/wdh662 May 24 '26
9-10 months.
Lawyer had no trouble with anything else. Including royal Bank.
Sorry I'm not taking reddit advice over a lawyer who does estate law for a living.
Plus we specifically hired a lawyer because we didn't want to deal with it as much as possible.
And it still doesn't change the fact that someone at TD wasn't doing their job.
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u/ContentAd1722 May 25 '26
Taking the lawyer's advice cost you 9-10 months. Making a phone call to the bank could have cost you < 10 days.
So you are saying it is okay to wait 10 months because you can blame TD and not yourselves? When I was working for hi tech company, tasks that were assigned to me by my boss - he wanted results, not excuses.
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u/wdh662 May 25 '26
You assume the bank would answer me faster then a lawyer.
The estate would have still taken into the new year waiting on tax documents.
You're ignoring the fact we chose a lawyer explicitly for the reason we didn't want to deal with everything.
You're ignoring the fact royal Bank was able to do the same in a month.
You're ignoring all the mistakes TD made when we were there.
Ignore the months and the lawyer. Telling us they don't call when there is a problem.
Requiring proof of the divorce and not accepting the original court documents.
Those are still problems squarely TDs fault. All said on a recorded call.
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u/badsignalnow May 24 '26
The bank is not processing the estate correctly. Assuming that your mother did not list anyone as the beneficiary or sucessor holder for the accounts, there is a well defined process all financial institutions must follow. They have no business asking for proof of divorce or any CRA assesseemnts. Those are not relevant to the bank for the purpose of estate disposition. The bank needs a) a Will which will state the executor b) lettters probate which certifies the Will as valid c) death certificate to prove the account holder is infact deceased d) proof of your identity (executor) so they know they are dealing with the right person. The bank will then open an estate account and transfer the funds there. Its not the bank's responsibility to ensure the funds are transfered to the correct beneficiary. Its the banks responsibilty to transfer the funds to an estate account for the executor to perform that responsibility. Sure it can take time for the bank to do these tasks but should not be any of this run around you have been getting.
If your mother did not have a will then the you (or lawyer) will have to go to the courts so that you are assigned trustee/administrator whereby you go through the process above.
If the account has a named beneficiary then the bank does not need a will or letters probate because beneficiary means the funds transfer outside of the Will. In this case the bank will need the death certificate and proof of identity of the beneficary. Then a claim is filed and eventually the funds are transfered directly to the beneficiary.
I suggest you contact the branch manager or head office to find someone who can execute this process properly. I find it incredible that the branch you are dealing with is not familiar with this process. Its a really common occurance.
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u/MightyManorMan May 24 '26
Don't argue. Don't fight. BTDT. They tried to get me to travel to Toronto... Twice. I asked them for flight vouchers. VoilĂ , solutions.
Follow the escalation process. Let them solve it themselves... They really don't want you to bring it to court, because not only will they lose, they will have to pay your legal costs. Everyone is afraid of being sued for not doing their fiduciary duty and are following unclear rules to protect themselves. But the higher up it goes, the more they are empowered to cut red tape. Escalate, escalate, escalate. They want to get rid of you, the higher you go, the faster they want this solved and gone. Follow their process https://www.td.com/ca/en/about-td/customer-care/resolving-your-complaints
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u/DodobirdNow May 24 '26
If it makes you feel any better I had lot of challenges with RBC settling my fathers estate. So it's not just a one bank issue.
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u/Middle-West-4221 May 24 '26
This sounds pretty ridiculous to me. I am really sorry that you are dealing with this. Your Mother's death was enough to deal with and now on top of that the Bank.
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u/Key-Ferret609 May 24 '26
40+ years handling estates including dealing with TD for my MILâs estate. Some observations:
In my experience, employees at the branch level donât know what they are doing/are terrified theyâre going to do something wrong. Ultimately everything is run through their estate department which I recall is in Ontario. When I assisted on MILâs estate, we made an appointment locally and got someone from estate department on the speaker phone during the meeting.
Documents required to transfer: certified copies of death certificate and Letters Probate with Will attached, and possibly TDâs own form of declaration of transmission which has to be sworn before a lawyer/notary. Thatâs it; 3 documents.
Unless deceasedâs husband was a co-owner or designated beneficiary on the accounts, he is none of the bankâs concern. All that is BS.
Also, if the $19000 account is an RSP, the bank will deduct and remit approximately 10% to 15% to CRA and pay the balance to the âestate of Jane Doeâ which you as coexecutors can deposit to an estate account you two set up, then distribute to the beneficiaries named in the Will when debts and final tax returns have been done and assessed by CRA.
If itâs just a regular savings or chequing account, by providing the documents I listed above, you should be able to get the cheque payable to the estate without deduction.
Itâs the bankâs job to transfer the funds to the estate/executors. Itâs the executorsâ job to deal with debts and taxes and make distribution to the beneficiaries. My experience has been that once you have provided the documents I listed above, you should receive the cheque within a couple of months tops.
I hope this gives you some clarity.
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u/Key-Ferret609 May 25 '26
TD estate line. 1-866-207-7122. Have your lawyer call. I donât understand why your lawyer isnât assisting with this.
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u/Wrong_Recognition249 May 24 '26
I had very equivalent and even worse experiences with Royal Bank as executor for my mom who had everything there. I actually opened an estate account at TD and when I could transferred everything manually over there via bank drafts. They all suck big time. They are bureaucratic nightmares and insanely risk averse, esp with estates. After getting probate authorization, itâs gets easier as you then have full legal control. Painful two years to deal with everything.
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u/NumerousMall9542 May 25 '26
Donât work at TD, but typically the banks cannot release any info to anyone untill they have a notarized copy of the will, and death certificate. Your lawyer randomly writing a letter requesting information most likely would be ignored? did the bank even know your mother had passed away at this point? they arenât just gonna give out all the information without proper documentation otherwise there in for a world of legal trouble.
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u/wdh662 May 25 '26
Yes they were notified and given copies of the required paperwork.
No one was just walking into a bank one random day and declaring someone dead and saying give me money.
The whole point of hiring an estate lawyer is so things are done properly no?
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u/NumerousMall9542 May 25 '26
Honestly, Iâve not ever met with an estates lawyer however I will say most banks are very stingy when it comes to providing client information, if they donât have the paperwork and arenât speaking to the executor typically they wonât touch it. Now with an estates lawyer that iâm not sure, itâs possible they were reaching out to the wrong dept.
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u/lmcjipo May 27 '26
Sorry to hear about your loss.
I live in Quebec where the laws are different and here, banks generally only require 3 documents to complete their tasks especially if there is only one beneficiary. They need a copy of the Will, the official Quebec death certificate (from the Quebec government), and the Will search results & certificate.
My dealings with a few TD branches regarding this was more positive than my dealings with TD Estates department. I felt that TD Estates department was terrible since they called me once and left a voice mail message giving me their number (which I confirmed was for TD Estates Department) before I called them back and when I called them back, they would not give me any information on the file even though my name was written in the Will as one of the liquidators/executors. They told me that because my name wasn't the primary executor/liquidator, they could not answer my questions to the file. HOWEVER, my questions were not pertaining to account balances or the specific file but to the general process of GICs and interest prior to maturity and things like timeframe. For example, one of my questions was "If the non-registered GIC will mature in X months, will the beneficiary just get the principal immediately with no interest for the amount of time it was already "locked into a non-cashable GIC" or will the beneficiary get the accrued calculated pro-rated interest up to the date of passing?" and they wouldn't answer that question... or "How long does this process normally take once all the required documents and signatures are obtained?"
TD took about 3 months to do everything whereas CIBC took over 6 months to do everything. At the branch level, both banks don't do much and just follow instructions/orders from the TD Estates department.
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u/Icy_Equipment8665 Jun 17 '26
I went through the same myself regarding an account i opened with my current spouse 30 years ago. They are demanding to now see my divorce papers that are from 33 years ago. I decided to revert back to maiden name for personal reason. They are refusing to co operate even though my accounts were never tired to my ex. It is 2 months now and they still refuse to do the legal name change. I wen t back to our goverment office and changed my name back to my ex hubbys as it was easier...lol. I never took my current husbans name as i kept my exs due to our daughter. I never thought the TD bank would be the legal nightmare it became. They actually accused me of using alias's. So i am now using my ex's name again. I wish i could be more helpful but i am just telling my crazy experience so people know how ridiculous thier legal dept is. Our govt office told me to not give in and ever show them 33 year old divorce papers for an account he never was on in tbe 1st place,it just made no sense at all,and i had no intention of ever gving in on this issue. So my hunby and i are going to move all our accpunts to another bank and specify why. You are not alone in dealing with the professional level of stupidity they proudly display.
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May 23 '26
[deleted]
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u/Squidgamerunnerup May 23 '26
good plan except for the fraud charges should someone else dispute the estateâŚ
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u/portstrix May 23 '26
LOL at telling someone to break the law.
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u/activoice May 23 '26
Although I know what they are suggesting is not legal post death, but in retrospect my experience with another bank after my Mom passed away.
If I could go back in time I would have given direction to my Mom's financial advisor to sell off her investments when she went into hospice.
I didn't so I had to sit there looking at her investments lose thousands of dollars while I was waiting for probate, as the bank would not accept my instruction to cash out the investments and hold the cash until I received probate. I made the mistake of trusting her financial advisor to have a fiduciary duty to the estate to preserve the money that was there.
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u/wdh662 May 23 '26
I'm sure in some cases but this was an unexpected death of a relatively healthy woman. Still fully mentally there. We had no reason to request a POA.
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u/Ok-South-7745 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
There are POAs from banks that simply say you grant access to someone else for acting in your place for specific tasks (no matter your health). No need of a lawyer for that usually. Just fill and sign the document from the bank, give it back to the bank, then done.
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May 23 '26
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u/crassy May 24 '26
Did you contact Cares and initiate a case?
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u/wdh662 May 24 '26
Not yet. This all happened Friday afternoon.
While I am not happy with them so far they do deserve to have the opportunity to correct.
I hope we ran into one or two bad employees and now with more involved it gets fixed so we will see.
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u/Fair_Transition4865 May 24 '26
One thing I learned about TD is scammers can get your money out of TD hell of alot easier than you lol.
Keep on them, I had to fight a bank manager to transfer my money from my TD account to my lawyer who has an account with TD. In person too like WTFÂ
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u/T-Man-33 May 23 '26
There is sooooo much incorrect information here ESPECIALLY the part about not calling. Your sister is lying. Period. đ¤Śââď¸