BC is the one province where the risk is real. Section 60 of WESA lets a spouse or child — including an independent adult child — apply to vary a will.
The Canadian position
In Grewal v. Litt the court varied wills leaving four daughters $150,000 each from a $9 million estate, awarding them 60%. Traditional cultural values did not justify the disparity.
No other Canadian province gives independent adult children this standing.
The Islamic position
The faraid ratio of two to one between sons and daughters is precisely the feature such a claim attacks.
All four schools apply the ratio in Surah an-Nisa 4:11 without variation: where sons and daughters take the residue together, each son takes twice each daughter’s share. No school is recorded as differing on the ratio itself. What the ratio is often taken to mean is wider than what it says.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-08-19. Full positions, evidence and sources — The two-to-one ratio between a son and a daughter.
Related madhhab issue: Can the fixed shares be varied by agreement?.
Islamic wills under British Columbia law — what makes one valid here →
What to do about it
- Get BC-specific advice before signing.
- Document the reasoning in a memorandum.
- Consider lifetime gifts, which are harder to disturb.
- Provide adequately for anyone genuinely dependent.
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.
- Grewal v. Litt, 2019 BCSC 1154 — CanLII
- Wills, Estates and Succession Act, SBC 2009, c 13 — BC Laws
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- Grewal v. Litt, 2019 BCSC 1154 — CanLII
- Conflicting wills which one governs ontario — Treadstone Law
- Specific gifts bequests ontario will — Treadstone Law
- Leaving gifts to charities in a will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Intestacy spouse one child ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law