It depends on the shareholders agreement more than the will. Many agreements compel the estate to sell shares at a set price.
The Canadian position
A buy-sell provision can override what the will says about the business. The deemed disposition on death can also create a large tax bill on private company shares.
The Islamic position
The value the estate actually receives is what the faraid shares apply to. If a shareholders agreement fixes a below-market price, the heirs bear that.
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 →
What to do about it
- Read the shareholders agreement before drafting the will.
- Model the tax on the deemed disposition.
- Consider whether an estate freeze fits — and take scholarly advice, since it moves growth outside 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.
- T3 Trust Guide — Canada Revenue Agency
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- What to do when someone has died — Canada Revenue Agency
- Income Tax Act, RSC 1985, c 1 (5th Supp) — Justice Laws Canada
- Deemed disposition private company shares death canada — Treadstone Law
- Private company shares valuation estate administration tax ontario — Treadstone Law
- What is deemed disposition on death canada — Treadstone Law
- Deemed disposition death canada — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law