Usually yes, and often it cannot be redirected. Pension legislation commonly gives a spouse a priority entitlement that survives whatever the will says.
The Canadian position
Many registered pension plans give a surviving spouse a statutory entitlement that can only be waived by a prescribed form signed before death.
The Islamic position
A survivor pension passes outside the estate under Canadian law. This is the strongest case for an asset also sitting outside the tarikah — a statutory spousal entitlement the member cannot waive or redirect is arguably not a designation at all — but no fiqh body we could find has ruled on it, so treat it as open rather than settled. Where it is the largest asset, the faraid distribution applies to relatively little.
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?.
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.
- 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
- Minimum entitlements cannot be waived ontario esa — Treadstone Law
- Spousal trust ontario will surviving spouse — Treadstone Law
- Workplace pension death benefit vs rrsp death benefit ontario — Treadstone Law
- Spousal trust surviving spouse remarries ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law