With the will or letters of administration, the estate's accounts, the executor's distribution statement and the bank records showing the funds arriving and where they have been since. The deceased's source is examined less deeply but still described.
Follow the money from the estate to today's balance
Hypothetical example: the hygienist inherited a share of a parent's estate consisting of a house sale and bank accounts. The file should include the will, the grant of probate, the estate's final accounts, the executor's statement showing her share, and her bank statements from the date of receipt to the present. If the money moved between accounts or into investments since, each movement needs a statement. Officers accept that an heir cannot fully document a parent's lifetime, but a short description of the parent's occupation and how the assets were accumulated helps. Translate nothing unnecessarily; Canadian documents are in English. Combine this with the retirement withdrawal and the house sale so the file shows three streams converging on the investment account, then the transfer to the regional-centre escrow. The investor petition is filed on Form I-526E for regional-centre investors, with the fee on the USCIS schedule, and every page of the source-of-funds narrative should point to an exhibit.
Hypothetical example: a boutique-cheese business is sold by the investor, with proceeds passing through the lawyer's trust account before reaching the investment account. At intake, trace the path in order: proof the investor owned the business, the sale agreement, closing statement, trust ledger, bank credits, and outgoing wire. If tax was paid or debt discharged at closing, include those records so the amount arriving is understandable. The deciding record is a continuous chain, not a statement that the sale was legitimate. Translate non-English documents with the required certification and index each exhibit to the source-of-funds narrative. Files go wrong when an intervening account is omitted, when deposits are combined without explanation, or when the investor relies on a broker's valuation instead of the executed sale documents.