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Can I name different people as guardian and trustee?

Yes, and it is often wise. Caring for children and managing money are different skills, and the split provides a check.

This is legal information only. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a lawyer.

Yes, and it is often wise. Caring for children and managing money are different skills, and the split provides a check.

The Canadian position

Yes, and it is often wise. Caring for children and managing money are different skills, and the split provides a check.

Provincial law governs administration, so confirm the position where the estate will actually be administered.

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 qualified scholar.

Researched — the schools differ

They are two different offices, and classically they sit in different hands. Hadanah — day-to-day care — goes first to the mother and down the female line, in an order every school sets out differently. Wilayah — authority over the child and over the child’s property — goes to the father and, after him, to the wasi the father named. The schools differ sharply on the order of care, on the age at which care ends and whether the child then chooses, and on whether the grandfather or the mother holds guardianship of property at all.

All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — Hadanah and wilayah — who cares for a child, and who has authority over the child.

Note

This is legal information only. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a lawyer.

Citations & sources

Every factual claim on this page traces to a source below. Details change — check the original source before relying on any figure, fee or legal position. Anything under “further reading” is related material, not a source for what is stated here.

Canadian legislation & government
  1. Substitute Decisions Act, 1992 — Government of Ontario
  2. T3 Trust Guide — Canada Revenue Agency
Further reading — Treadstone Law
  1. Leaving money minor children ontario will — Treadstone Law
  2. Guardian minor children will ontario — Treadstone Law
  3. Appointing guardian for minor children ontario — Treadstone Law
  4. Naming guardian minor children ontario will — Treadstone Law
  5. Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law