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What happens if a Muslim dies without a will in British Columbia?

British Columbia applies the Wills, Estates and Succession Act, which distributes to the spouse and children first. Parents typically receive nothing, and sons and daughters take equally.

This is legal information only. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a lawyer.

British Columbia applies the Wills, Estates and Succession Act, which distributes to the spouse and children first. Parents typically receive nothing, and sons and daughters take equally.

The Canadian position

Under the Wills, Estates and Succession Act a surviving spouse takes a preferential share of $300,000 where all children are the spouse's, with the residue divided with the children.

Probate in British Columbia means probate fees of roughly 1.4% on larger estates, and the province has a government Wills Registry costing about $17 to file.

The Islamic position

Faraid gives each parent one sixth where the deceased left children, and a son twice a daughter's share. Neither feature appears in any provincial formula.

Nothing about intention changes an intestacy. Only a valid will that can be found produces the intended distribution.

Where the four schools stand

Researched — the four schools agree

Agreed. A parent’s entitlement runs as follows. Where the deceased left a child or a son’s child, each parent takes one sixth; if the surviving children are daughters only, the father takes his sixth and whatever is left over after the fixed shares, because he is also the nearest male residuary. Where there is no child, the mother takes one third and the father takes the remainder. Where two or more brothers or sisters survive — of any kind, and whether they themselves inherit or not — the mother drops from a third to a sixth, and the sixth she loses goes to the father. Ibn Qudama records the mother’s third as a point on which there is no disagreement we know of among the people of knowledge, and the father’s three positions as a matter of consensus. On the number of siblings needed to cut the mother back, the schools hold that two are enough; Ibn Rushd names Malik for that view and the only recorded dissent is Ibn ‘Abbas, who required three — and he is a Companion, not one of the four schools. In Canada the practical point is the contrast: under every provincial intestacy statute a surviving parent normally takes nothing while a spouse or child survives. We checked this point; the schools do not differ on it.

Shared evidence: Surah an-Nisa 4:11 — the sixth for each parent, the mother’s third, and her sixth where there are siblings · Sahih al-Bukhari 6732 — “give the fixed shares to those entitled; what remains goes to the nearest male”, the basis of the father taking the residue.

Not covered by this finding: what happens when a grandfather stands in the father’s place, which is a separate and genuinely disputed question — not yet researched school by school. Treat that as open and ask a scholar of your school.

Researched finding from our madhhab register — issue parents-share, reviewed 2026-08-19.

Full evidence and history: What a father and a mother inherit — the issue page.

Related madhhab issue: The two-to-one ratio between a son and a daughter.

Related madhhab issue: Is a Muslim obliged to write a will?.

What to do about it

  1. Make a will valid under the Wills, Estates and Succession Act.
  2. Review every beneficiary designation.
  3. Check how the family home is held.
  4. Record where the original will is kept.
Note

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.

Islamic primary sources
  1. Surah an-Nisa 4:11 — shares of children and parents — Quran.com
  2. Surah an-Nisa 4:12 — shares of spouses and uterine siblings — Quran.com
  3. Surah an-Nisa 4:176 — the kalalah verse — Quran.com
  4. Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 85: Laws of Inheritance (Faraid) — Sunnah.com
  5. Sahih Muslim, Book of Inheritance — Sunnah.com
Canadian legislation & government
  1. Wills, Estates and Succession Act, SBC 2009, c 13 — BC Laws
  2. Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 — Government of Ontario
  3. Administering estates — Government of Ontario
Further reading — Treadstone Law
  1. Preferential share spouse intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
  2. What is preferential share ontario intestacy — Treadstone Law
  3. What happens to a will if a beneficiary dies first — Treadstone Law
  4. Beneficiary designation vs will which controls — Treadstone Law
  5. Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law