Sometimes, if it meets provincial requirements for formation and independent legal advice. Many do not, so do not assume.
The Canadian position
Sometimes, if it meets provincial requirements for formation and independent legal advice. Many do not, so do not assume.
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.
A valid nikah is one of the three causes of inheritance the four imams agree on, and all four schools agree the contract is formed by offer and acceptance — though they differ over the wali and the witnesses. On the two questions that actually decide estates the split is three-to-one, and it runs opposite ways. The Hanafi, Shafi’i and Hanbali schools hold that an irregular (fasid) marriage creates no inheritance at all, and that a marriage contracted in a death-illness is perfectly valid and does let the new spouse inherit. The Maliki school reverses both.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — Which marriages let a spouse inherit.
Related madhhab issue: Unpaid mahr when the husband dies.
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.
- Family Law Act, RSO 1990, c F.3 — Government of Ontario
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- Marriage contract and will alignment ontario — Treadstone Law
- Marriage contract matrimonial home — Treadstone Law
- Marriage contract matrimonial home before wedding — Treadstone Law
- Rrsp pension clauses marriage contract ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law