Often not. Assets held in joint tenancy pass to the survivor automatically, and assets with a named beneficiary pass outside the estate. If nothing needs a grant, probate may be unnecessary.
The Canadian position
Whether probate is needed is driven by what the institutions holding the assets require, not by a rule. Land registry and most investment firms require a grant; small bank balances often do not.
The Islamic position
Avoiding probate is not religiously neutral. Every asset that passes by survivorship or designation escapes PROBATE. Whether it also escapes the faraid shares is disputed among contemporary scholars, and several fatwa bodies say it does not. Treat probate avoidance and faraid as separate questions.
A family that has carefully avoided probate may have unintentionally avoided the Islamic distribution too.
RRSPs, TFSAs, joint tenancy and beneficiary designations are all newer than the four schools, so this is not a madhhab difference and we have built no four-school table for it. What the schools do agree is the test: the tarikah is what the deceased owned at the moment of death, not how the asset moved afterwards. Applying that test to Canadian instruments is a present-day question, and named bodies reach opposite results — AMJA and Qatar’s Islamweb keep an earned plan in the estate; Singapore’s MUIS treats a nomination as a completed lifetime gift. No source on either side reasons from probate.
No school ruled on this instrument; named present-day bodies differ. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — Assets that pass outside the estate — are they part of the tarikah?.
Making an Islamic will in Canada — province by province, and what makes one valid where you live →
Probate planning and faraid pull in opposite directions. Reducing probate tax by putting everything in joint names can remove the whole estate from the shares.
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.
- Apply for probate of an estate — Government of Ontario
- Estate Administration Tax — Government of Ontario
- Estates Act, RSO 1990, c E.21 — Government of Ontario
- Death of an RRSP annuitant — Canada Revenue Agency
- Death of a TFSA holder — Canada Revenue Agency
- What to do when someone has died — Canada Revenue Agency
- Jointly held assets probate ontario right of survivorship explained — Treadstone Law
- Probate jointly owned property ontario — Treadstone Law
- Ontario land titles vs registry system — Treadstone Law
- Joint tenancy vs tenancy in common ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law