Make or update the will while capacity is clear, and note that gifts made in a final illness are treated as bequests religiously.
The Canadian position
Make or update the will while capacity is clear, and note that gifts made in a final illness are treated as bequests religiously.
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.
General information, not legal or religious advice. Inheritance depends entirely on the exact family circumstances. Confirm the Canadian position with a lawyer in your province and any religious ruling with a qualified scholar.
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.
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 55: Wills and Testaments (Wasaya) — Sunnah.com
- Sahih Muslim, Book of Wills — Sunnah.com
- 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
- Predatory marriage effect on existing will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Revoke personal care poa ontario — Treadstone Law
- Examinations for discovery will challenge ontario — Treadstone Law
- Burden of proof in a will challenge ontario — Treadstone Law
- Capacity to marry vs capacity to make a will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Is a probated will public record ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law