Debts are settled before anything is distributed, so the shares may apply to very little. Life insurance naming individuals passes outside that.
The Canadian position
Debts are settled before anything is distributed, so the shares may apply to very little. Life insurance naming individuals passes outside that.
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.
- Research Papers — Cambridge Muslim College
- Research — Cambridge Muslim College
- Academics — Islamic law and theology curriculum — Zaytuna College
- Encyclopaedia of Islam — Brill
- Apply for probate of an estate — Government of Ontario
- Estate Administration Tax — Government of Ontario
- Estates Act, RSO 1990, c E.21 — Government of Ontario
- Death of an RRSP annuitant — Canada Revenue Agency
- Death of a TFSA holder — Canada Revenue Agency
- What to do when someone has died — Canada Revenue Agency
- Small estate certificate vs full probate ontario — Treadstone Law
- Estate trustee selling property out of province beneficiaries ontario — Treadstone Law
- Succeeding estate trustee certificate ontario — Treadstone Law
- Estate administration tax ontario — Treadstone Law
- Certificate of appointment vs letters probate ontario — Treadstone Law
- Limited grant probate pending litigation ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law