Make a will now. Marriage changes who your fixed heirs are, and in some provinces it also affects whether an existing will survives.
The Canadian position
Make a will now. Marriage changes who your fixed heirs are, and in some provinces it also affects whether an existing will survives.
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
- Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 — Government of Ontario
- Administering estates — Government of Ontario
- Multiple wills ontario private company shares probate avoidance — Treadstone Law
- Probate ontario bank account no will — Treadstone Law
- Separation effect on will beneficiary designations ontario — Treadstone Law
- Co ownership death no will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Discontinuing a will challenge ontario — Treadstone Law
- Can i write my own will in ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law