Read any shareholders agreement before drafting. A buy-sell clause can override what the will says about the business.
The Canadian position
Read any shareholders agreement before drafting. A buy-sell clause can override what the will says about the business.
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 estate is fixed at death, not at distribution. The heirs become owners of the assets themselves the moment the deceased dies, without having to accept anything, so a later distribution is a partition of property they already own rather than the payment out of a valuation struck on the day it happens. On a debt-free estate the Kuwaiti Mawsu’a records no disagreement at all among the jurists that the estate and everything it has since earned belongs to the heirs, each according to his share — so post-death rent, profit and appreciation follow the faraid fractions. The schools do differ, and the difference is worth knowing, where the estate carries a debt: it decides whether the income earned between the death and the payment of the debt belongs to the heirs or is swept back to the creditors.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — Is the estate valued at the date of death or the date of distribution?.
Related madhhab issue: 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
- 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 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
- Can a will override beneficiary designation ontario — Treadstone Law
- Shareholders agreement vs will conflicts ontario — Treadstone Law
- Life insurance funded buy sell agreement ontario — Treadstone Law
- Buy sell agreement life insurance ontario estate plan — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law