Beneficiaries can compel an accounting. If the executor still will not act, the court can order a passing of accounts and ultimately remove and replace them.
The Canadian position
Beneficiaries have a right to information about the estate and to an accounting of receipts, disbursements and compensation. A passing of accounts brings the executor before the court.
Removal is available where an executor is not acting, is in conflict, or has mismanaged assets — though courts are reluctant to remove a testator's chosen trustee without good reason.
The Islamic position
The wasi holds the estate as an amanah and is answerable for it. Withholding heirs' vested shares without cause is a breach of that trust.
All four schools want the same qualities in a wasi — adulthood and legal capacity, Islam, integrity and the ability to do the job. They differ on what failing one of them does. Three schools treat them as conditions of validity, so an appointment that fails one is void. The Hanafi school treats the appointment as valid and puts the remedy in the judge’s hands.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-08-19. Full positions, evidence and sources — Who may be appointed wasi (executor and guardian).
Making an Islamic will in Canada — province by province, and what makes one valid where you live →
What to do about it
- Write to the executor requesting an inventory and a timeline.
- If nothing follows, have a lawyer send a formal demand.
- Apply to compel a passing of accounts if there is still no response.
- Consider mediation before litigation — estate costs come out of the estate.
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
- Administering estates — Government of Ontario
- Apply for probate of an estate — Government of Ontario
- Estate Administration Tax — Government of Ontario
- Estates Act, RSO 1990, c E.21 — Government of Ontario
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- Informal accounting vs formal passing of accounts ontario — Treadstone Law
- Passing of accounts timeline how long ontario — Treadstone Law
- Compelling formal passing of accounts ontario — Treadstone Law
- Informal vs formal passing of accounts ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law