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.
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.
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 one of the references below. Legislation and dollar thresholds change — verify against the primary source before relying on any figure.
- Research Papers — Cambridge Muslim College
- Research — Cambridge Muslim College
- Academics — Islamic law and theology curriculum — Zaytuna College
- Encyclopaedia of Islam — Brill
- 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
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