Locate the original will before anything is cleared out, get several copies of the statement of death, and do not distribute anything.
The Canadian position
Locate the original will before anything is cleared out, get several copies of the statement of death, and do not distribute anything.
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
- 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
- What to do when someone dies — Government of Ontario
- Estate trustee selling below market value beneficiary recourse ontario — Treadstone Law
- Selling a house before probate granted ontario — Treadstone Law
- Estate administration tax value vs deemed disposition value ontario — Treadstone Law
- Joint ownership vs beneficiary designation avoid probate ontario — Treadstone Law
- Setting aside probate already granted ontario — Treadstone Law
- Dependants support claim probate avoidance assets ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law