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Can I make a will if I am not a Canadian citizen?

Yes. Residency and citizenship do not affect your ability to make a will covering Canadian assets.

Draft — pending review. This page has been prepared but has not yet been reviewed by a Canadian estates lawyer or a qualified scholar. Treat it as a starting point for questions, not as advice you should act on.

Yes. Residency and citizenship do not affect your ability to make a will covering Canadian assets.

The Canadian position

What matters is where your assets are and where you are domiciled, not your passport.

Foreign assets may need separate wills in their own jurisdictions.

The Islamic position

The fixed shares apply to the net estate after funeral expenses, debts and any bequest capped at one third.

Where a Canadian mechanism has no classical counterpart, treat it as a contemporary question for a scholar rather than assuming an answer.

Across the madhahib

The four Sunni schools are not recorded as differing materially on this point in the sources reviewed. Where your own case turns on it, put it to a scholar of your school.

Before you act on this

General information, not legal or religious advice. Inheritance depends entirely on the exact family circumstances. Confirm the Canadian position with a lawyer in your province and any religious ruling with a qualified scholar.

Citations & sources

Every factual claim on this page traces to one of the references below. Legislation and dollar thresholds change — verify against the primary source before relying on any figure.

Scholarly & institutional references
  1. Research Papers — Cambridge Muslim College
  2. Research — Cambridge Muslim College
  3. Academics — Islamic law and theology curriculum — Zaytuna College
  4. Encyclopaedia of Islam — Brill
Canadian legislation & government
  1. Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 — Government of Ontario
  2. Administering estates — Government of Ontario
Canadian legal commentary
  1. Is ontario will valid if signed by one witness — Treadstone Law
  2. Naming guardian minor children ontario will — Treadstone Law
  3. Selling estate property no will intestate authority ontario — Treadstone Law
  4. How to revoke poa property ontario — Treadstone Law
  5. Probate with will vs without will ontario differences — Treadstone Law
  6. How many executors should you name ontario will — Treadstone Law
  7. Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law