Yes, substantial. Ja'fari inheritance organises heirs into classes where a nearer class excludes a more distant one entirely, and does not apply 'awl in the Sunni manner.
The Canadian position
Canada has a significant Shi'i population, and a will drafted on Sunni assumptions will not reflect Ja'fari shares.
The Canadian document is enforceable either way; the question is which calculation it embodies.
The Islamic position
A sole daughter may take the whole estate by radd under Ja'fari rules where Sunni schools would pass a residue to agnates.
Ask a scholar of your own school rather than working from a Sunni summary table.
The Hanafi and Hanbali schools return the surplus to the fixed-share heirs in proportion to their shares. The classical Maliki and Shafi’i position sends it to the public treasury instead — but both schools treat that as conditional on there being a treasury worth the name, which in Canada there is not.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-08-19. Full positions, evidence and sources — Radd — the return of a surplus to the fixed-share heirs.
Related madhhab issue: When the fixed shares over-subscribe the estate, is everyone reduced?.
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
- Encyclopaedia of Islam — Brill
- Oxford Islamic Studies / Oxford Reference — Oxford University Press
- Conflicting wills which one governs ontario — Treadstone Law
- Matrimonial home one spouse never lived there — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law