Under Canadian law, joint tenancy passes the property to the survivor without it entering the estate. Islamically the position is less settled than that sounds. Singapore's MUIS Fatwa Committee ruled in 2019 that a joint tenant's interest simply ceases at death and so never enters the tarikah -- but the same committee held the opposite in 1997, and required a formal lifetime gift document in 2008. Canadian law makes the same distinction in its own terms: where a parent added an adult child to title without payment, the survivor must prove a gift was intended, failing which the property falls back into the estate (Pecore v Pecore, 2007 SCC 17). If it is held as tenants in common, each share does form part of the estate.
The Canadian position
Joint tenancy carries a right of survivorship. Tenancy in common does not. Which one applies is recorded on title and is not always what the owners assumed.
Where a parent added an adult child to title, a court may find a resulting trust rather than a gift — meaning the property does form part of the estate after all.
The Islamic position
The family home is usually the largest asset. Under Canadian law survivorship takes it out of the estate. Whether it also leaves the tarikah is disputed: MUIS Singapore says a joint tenant's interest simply ceases, while AMJA and Islamweb reason from whether the deceased still owned it at death. Note that the Canadian block above asks the same question — if a court finds a resulting trust rather than a gift, the asset was never fully given away in the first place.
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?.
What to do about it
- Check the title to find out how the property is actually held.
- Decide deliberately which structure you want.
- If you added a child to title for convenience, document what was intended.
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.
- Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 — Government of Ontario
- Principal residence exemption — Canada Revenue Agency
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- Joint tenancy with right of survivorship vs estate property ontario — Treadstone Law
- Joint tenancy vs tenants in common ontario — Treadstone Law
- Joint tenancy vs tenants in common ontario 2 — Treadstone Law
- Joint tenancy vs tenancy in common ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law