One eighth of the estate where the deceased left children, and one quarter where he did not. Where there is more than one wife, they share that same fraction between them.
The Canadian position
Provincial intestacy is structured completely differently. In Ontario a surviving married spouse takes a preferential share of $350,000 first, then a share of the residue — which on a modest estate can be the entire thing.
A spouse in Ontario may also elect to take an equalisation of net family property instead of what the will gives, which can override the will's distribution entirely.
The Islamic position
The wife's share is fixed as a fraction of the net estate after funeral costs, debts and any valid bequest. It does not vary with the length of the marriage or with need.
Unpaid mahr is a debt of the estate, payable before the shares are calculated — so a widow may receive both her mahr as a creditor and her one eighth as an heir.
Where the four schools stand
Agreed. The surviving husband takes one half of his wife’s estate if she left no child or son’s child, and one quarter if she did. The surviving wife takes one quarter if her husband left no child or son’s child, and one eighth if he did. Where a man leaves more than one widow, they divide that single quarter or eighth between them — Ibn Qudama puts it as “one or four, it is the same”. He records the whole of this as the consensus of the people of knowledge, and Ibn Rushd likewise opens with “the jurists agreed”; both treat Surah an-Nisa 4:12 as settling it outright. Two features of the spouse’s share follow from the same verse and are worth stating: nothing but a child or a son’s child can reduce it, and nothing can exclude a spouse altogether — a husband or wife is never shut out by another heir. We checked this point; the schools do not differ on it.
Shared evidence: Surah an-Nisa 4:12 — the half, the quarter and the eighth, stated expressly.
Not covered by this finding: how a spouse’s Qur’anic fraction interacts with Canadian matrimonial property law — an equalisation payment or a spousal election is a claim against the estate before the shares are worked out, not a share in it — and whether a surviving spouse takes anything in the surplus where no other heir exists (see radd-spouse) — not yet researched school by school. Treat that as open and ask a scholar of your school.
Researched finding from our madhhab register — issue spouse-share, reviewed 2026-08-19.
Full evidence and history: What a husband and a wife inherit — the issue page.
Related madhhab issue: Unpaid mahr when the husband dies.
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
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 85: Laws of Inheritance (Faraid) — Sunnah.com
- Sahih Muslim, Book of Inheritance — Sunnah.com
- Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 — Government of Ontario
- Administering estates — Government of Ontario
- Family Law Act, RSO 1990, c F.3 — Government of Ontario
- Preferential share spouse intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- What is preferential share ontario intestacy — Treadstone Law
- Ontario intestacy no spouse no children — Treadstone Law
- Intestacy ontario no will distribution — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law