Legally you can in most provinces, but the failure rate is high and the errors only surface once you cannot fix them.
The Canadian position
A holograph will — entirely handwritten and signed — is valid in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Quebec and the territories. It is not valid in British Columbia or Prince Edward Island.
The common failures are a missing residue clause, witnessing by a beneficiary, and wording so vague that the estate needs a court application to interpret it.
The Islamic position
Islamic law prescribes no particular form for a wasiyyah, so a handwritten document is religiously sufficient.
The practical problem is that faraid shares are conditional on who survives, and expressing that correctly in plain prose is harder than it looks.
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.
A handwritten will is also the kind most likely to be lost — and a will that cannot be found may be presumed revoked.
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.
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 55: Wills and Testaments (Wasaya) — Sunnah.com
- Sahih Muslim, Book of Wills — Sunnah.com
- Research Papers — Cambridge Muslim College
- Research — Cambridge Muslim College
- Academics — Islamic law and theology curriculum — Zaytuna College
- Encyclopaedia of Islam — Brill
- Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 — Government of Ontario
- Administering estates — Government of Ontario
- Locating wills and documents — Law Society of Ontario
- How to revoke change will codicil ontario — Treadstone Law
- Probate out of province will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Can you designate beneficiary in a will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Ontario will valid execution requirements — Treadstone Law
- Severance partly valid will costs ontario — Treadstone Law
- Guardian minor children will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law