Take advice before excluding them. Ontario protects testamentary freedom strongly; British Columbia does not.
The Canadian position
Take advice before excluding them. Ontario protects testamentary freedom strongly; British Columbia does not.
Provincial law governs validity, administration and the grounds on which a will can be challenged — so the answer can change if you move.
The Islamic position
Have the faraid shares recalculated whenever the family configuration changes; they are conditional on who survives.
Record the reasoning and the scholar consulted in a memorandum kept with the will.
The four Sunni schools are not recorded as differing materially on this point in the sources reviewed. Where your own case turns on it, put it to a scholar of your school.
What to do about it
- Recalculate the shares for the new circumstances.
- Update the will with a lawyer in your province.
- Review every beneficiary designation.
- Confirm where the original is kept.
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 one of the references below. Legislation and dollar thresholds change — verify against the primary source before relying on any figure.
- Research Papers — Cambridge Muslim College
- Research — Cambridge Muslim College
- Academics — Islamic law and theology curriculum — Zaytuna College
- Encyclopaedia of Islam — Brill
- Grewal v. Litt, 2019 BCSC 1154 — CanLII
- Wills, Estates and Succession Act, SBC 2009, c 13 — BC Laws
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- Spence v. BMO Trust Company, 2016 ONCA 196 — CanLII
- When to hire an estate litigation lawyer ontario — Treadstone Law
- Litigation hold ontario duty to preserve evidence — Treadstone Law
- Caregiver credit ontario infirm dependant — Treadstone Law
- Motions in writing ontario civil litigation — Treadstone Law
- Parenting plan in uncontested divorce ontario — Treadstone Law
- Certificate of pending litigation ontario explained — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law