Legally yes, but tax applies at fair market value regardless of price, and the other heirs may see it as defeating their shares.
The Canadian position
Legally yes, but tax applies at fair market value regardless of price, and the other heirs may see it as defeating their shares.
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.
All four schools treat a gift as an act that has to be completed, not merely intended or announced, and in every school the completing act is qabd — the donee actually taking the thing. What they differ over is what qabd does. For the Hanafis and the Shafi’is nothing at all happens until possession is taken: no ownership passes, and the donor may still change his mind. For the Hanbalis ownership passes on the contract but the gift only becomes binding on delivery. For the Malikis the gift is valid on offer and acceptance and the donee can go to a judge to force delivery, but it is not binding until he has it. The practical consequence is the same in every school and it is the one that matters when someone has died: a gift that was promised but never delivered is not a completed gift, and the asset was still the deceased’s when he died.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — When is a lifetime gift complete and beyond recall?.
Related madhhab issue: A gift made in the final illness — gift or bequest?.
Making an Islamic will in Canada — province by province, and what makes one valid where you live →
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.
- Principal residence exemption — Canada Revenue Agency
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- Estate administration tax value vs deemed disposition value ontario — Treadstone Law
- Conflicting wills which one governs ontario — Treadstone Law
- What is estate administration tax ontario — Treadstone Law
- Estate administration tax ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law