The Supreme Court has decided the appeal should continue, almost a year to the day since he died.
Ellis was convicted on 16 charges of sexual offending against seven children in 1993.
He appealed twice to the Court of Appeal, the second time after a referral by the Governor-General.
The first appeal quashed three of his convictions.
The second appeal against the remaining 13 convictions was dismissed in 1999.
Ellis was granted leave to appeal those remaining convictions in July last year, but died in September.
The Supreme Court says the reasons for this decision will be provided at the same time as the decision is released on the substantive appeal.
Ellis was released from prison in 2000, after serving seven years for abusing seven children at the Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre in 1991.
The verdicts have always been contentious and a year ago, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case once more.
The approved ground of appeal was whether a miscarriage of justice occurred.
After the second Court of Appeal decision there was a Ministerial Inquiry in 2001 by Sir Thomas Eichelbaum, which concluded there was no risk of a miscarriage of justice.
There have also been unsuccessful petitions to Parliament for a Royal Commission in 2003, 2008 and 2014.
