Governed by the law where it sits, which may apply its own compulsory inheritance rules regardless of the Canadian will.
The Canadian position
Governed by the law where it sits, which may apply its own compulsory inheritance rules regardless of the Canadian will.
Whether an asset passes through the estate determines both the probate cost and who ultimately receives it.
The Islamic position
Property in a Muslim-majority country may be distributed by faraid automatically under local law — which can help or conflict depending on drafting.
Under Canadian law this asset can pass outside the estate. Whether it also falls outside the tarikah is a question of Islamic law, and contemporary scholars differ: Singapore's MUIS Fatwa Committee treats a beneficiary nomination as a valid lifetime gift, while AMJA and Qatar's Islamweb hold that wealth the deceased earned remains his heirs' by faraid however it is paid out. Do not assume a designation removes the asset from the shares.
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?.
What to do about it
- Confirm how your foreign real estate is currently held or designated.
- Decide deliberately whether it should follow the shares.
- Take tax advice before changing a designation.
- Re-check whenever the will changes.
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.
- Surah an-Nisa 4:11 — shares of children and parents — Quran.com
- Surah an-Nisa 4:12 — shares of spouses and uterine siblings — Quran.com
- Surah an-Nisa 4:176 — the kalalah verse — Quran.com
- 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
- Where to apply for probate ontario jurisdiction — Treadstone Law
- Shares held in trust ontario corporation — Treadstone Law
- What assets go through probate ontario — Treadstone Law
- Beneficiary designation vs will which controls — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law