Enough to consume a meaningful share of the estate. Costs are frequently paid out of the estate, so everyone loses.
The Canadian position
Contested estate matters routinely run into tens of thousands of dollars and take years. Mediation is mandatory in some Ontario jurisdictions before a matter proceeds.
The Islamic position
Settlement among heirs is closer to the classical preference than litigation. Takharuj exists precisely so families can resolve without a court.
Where the four schools differ
This question turns on one issue in our madhhab register: Can the heirs agree to divide differently from the faraid? — whether the heirs, once the estate has vested in them, may agree among themselves to divide it otherwise than by the faraid shares — one of them taking a payment to withdraw, or all of them agreeing a different split
Researched positions from our madhhab register — issue takharuj, reviewed 2026-09-01.
Three things a Canadian family gets wrong here. (1) A minor cannot be signed out of an estate. Takharuj is a contract, so it needs contractual capacity: the Mawsu’a states that it is not valid from a child who cannot yet discriminate, nor from someone of unsound mind, and that a party must own what he is disposing of. A guardian does not cure this. A guardian or wasi may act only in what actually benefits the ward, and Ibn Farhun’s ruling is directly on point: a father who settles away part of his daughter’s clear, undisputed inheritance right has made no valid settlement at all, because there is no benefit in it, and she may recover the balance from whoever is holding it. The contemporary formulation is the same — the Qatari fatwa centre permits the heirs to divide as they agree “provided they are adults of sound judgement”. (2) An absent heir is not bound by the others’ agreement — and here the schools themselves split. Someone purporting to deal with another person’s share without authority is a fuduli: the Hanafis and Malikis suspend the transaction on the owner’s later ratification, while the Shafi’is and Hanbalis do not allow it to stand at all. Either way, silence from the absent heir is not consent. (3) Debts come first, and a debt that surfaces afterwards can undo the whole arrangement. If a debt covering the estate emerges after the heirs have settled, the settlement survives only if the heirs pay it, the creditors release it, or someone guarantees it without recourse to the heirs; otherwise it falls. In the Hanafi books the point is put even more bluntly — where a creditor is actively claiming, takharuj does not take effect at all. One further mechanical point: the faraid sum is worked out FIRST, as though the withdrawing heir were still in it, and only then are his shares lifted out. Treating him as if he had never existed silently converts, for instance, a mother’s fixed third of the whole into a third of what is left — which the Mawsu’a calls contrary to the consensus.
Full positions, evidence and history: Can the heirs agree to divide differently from the faraid? — the issue page.
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.
- Grewal v. Litt, 2019 BCSC 1154 — CanLII
- Wills, Estates and Succession Act, SBC 2009, c 13 — BC Laws
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- Mandatory mediation estate litigation ontario — Treadstone Law
- What is mandatory mediation ontario civil litigation — Treadstone Law
- What is cost of litigation in ontario — Treadstone Law
- Estate litigation costs ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law