A corporate reorganisation locking in today's value for you and directing future growth to the next generation. It moves value outside the estate.
The Canadian position
Standard succession planning for a family business, implemented with tax advice.
The Islamic position
Because future growth accrues to specific people during your life, it functions as a lifetime transfer rather than an inheritance. Whether that is an acceptable arrangement or an avoidance of the shares depends on intention and structure — put it to a scholar.
All four schools treat a gift as an act that has to be completed, not merely intended or announced, and in every school the completing act is qabd — the donee actually taking the thing. What they differ over is what qabd does. For the Hanafis and the Shafi’is nothing at all happens until possession is taken: no ownership passes, and the donor may still change his mind. For the Hanbalis ownership passes on the contract but the gift only becomes binding on delivery. For the Malikis the gift is valid on offer and acceptance and the donee can go to a judge to force delivery, but it is not binding until he has it. The practical consequence is the same in every school and it is the one that matters when someone has died: a gift that was promised but never delivered is not a completed gift, and the asset was still the deceased’s when he died.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — When is a lifetime gift complete and beyond recall?.
Related madhhab issue: A gift made in the final illness — gift or bequest?.
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.
- T3 Trust Guide — Canada Revenue Agency
- What to do when someone has died — Canada Revenue Agency
- Income Tax Act, RSC 1985, c 1 (5th Supp) — Justice Laws Canada
- Trust in business succession planning ontario — Treadstone Law
- Discretionary family trust business succession ontario — Treadstone Law
- Estate freeze beneficiary planning — Treadstone Law
- Estate freeze family trust shares ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law