Under Canadian law, yes -- assets settled on a trust during life are outside the estate. Islamically that is not the end of it. A gift made during the illness a person dies from is treated as a bequest, capped at one third and barred in favour of an heir without the other heirs' consent; and no fiqh body we could find has ruled on an alter ego or joint partner trust at all. If the purpose of the structure is to redirect the shares, put it to a scholar before doing it. Whether that is acceptable depends entirely on intention — ask a scholar.
The Canadian position
Under Canadian law, yes -- assets settled on a trust during life are outside the estate. Islamically that is not the end of it. A gift made during the illness a person dies from is treated as a bequest, capped at one third and barred in favour of an heir without the other heirs' consent; and no fiqh body we could find has ruled on an alter ego or joint partner trust at all. If the purpose of the structure is to redirect the shares, put it to a scholar before doing it. Whether that is acceptable depends entirely on intention — ask a scholar.
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.
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?.
Related madhhab issue: Is a trust recognised in fiqh, and is waqf the closest thing?.
Related madhhab issue: Can the fixed shares be varied by agreement?.
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.
- Surah an-Nisa 4:11 — shares of children and parents — Quran.com
- Surah an-Nisa 4:12 — shares of spouses and uterine siblings — Quran.com
- Surah an-Nisa 4:176 — the kalalah verse — Quran.com
- T3 Trust Guide — Canada Revenue Agency
- Alter ego joint partner trust ontario estate planning — Treadstone Law
- Alter ego joint partner trust ontario probate — Treadstone Law
- Alter ego trust avoid probate ontario — Treadstone Law
- When alter ego trust fails avoid probate ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law