It depends what was intended when it was opened. It may pass to the survivor, or a court may find it was held on a resulting trust for the estate.
The Canadian position
Where a parent adds an adult child for convenience, courts often find a resulting trust rather than a gift — meaning the money forms part of the estate after all.
Documenting the intention at the time is what settles it.
The Islamic position
If the account genuinely belonged to the deceased, it is part of the tarikah and divided by the shares. Convenience arrangements do not change ownership.
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?.
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.
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- What to do when someone has died — Canada Revenue Agency
- Joint bank account resulting trust presumption ontario — Treadstone Law
- Rebutting resulting trust presumption joint account ontario — Treadstone Law
- Common intention resulting trust ontario explained — Treadstone Law
- Adding adult child to title or account risks ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law