Either works if someone knows where it is. The failure mode is not the location — it is nobody knowing the location.
The Canadian position
A will kept at home avoids the risk of a firm closing, but is exposed to fire, flood and accidental disposal. A will held by a lawyer is safer but can be lost when the practice winds up.
A safety deposit box is secure but often inaccessible immediately after death.
The Islamic position
The hadith speaks of the will being kept ready. Availability, not secrecy, is the point.
No school makes writing a will a duty in itself. The four are recorded as agreed that it is recommended, and obligatory only where a debt, a trust held for someone else, or an outstanding duty would otherwise be lost. That answer assumes the fixed shares apply by themselves — which they do not in Canada, where an estate left without a will is divided by provincial statute instead, and where AMJA has resolved that a Muslim living in the West must make a bequest.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — Is a Muslim obliged to write a will?.
Making an Islamic will in Canada — province by province, and what makes one valid where you live →
What to do about it
- Tell your executor where the original is.
- Keep a copy separately, noting where the original is held.
- Register the location so it can be found even if your executor cannot be reached.
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.
- Locating wills and documents — Law Society of Ontario
- Wills Registry — Province of British Columbia
- Accessing safety deposit box after death ontario — Treadstone Law
- Executor access safety deposit box ontario — Treadstone Law
- Probating a copy of a lost will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Deposit held in trust ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law