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Who inherits if I die leaving a son, a daughter and both parents?

Under faraid: Each parent one sixth; the son and daughter share the residue at two to one.

This is legal information only. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a lawyer.

Under faraid: Each parent one sixth; the son and daughter share the residue at two to one.

The Canadian position

Ontario divides between the children equally; the parents receive nothing.

Provincial intestacy applies only where there is no valid will. A will can direct the faraid distribution instead, and Canadian testamentary freedom makes that enforceable.

The Islamic position

Each parent one sixth; the son and daughter share the residue at two to one.

Shares are calculated on the net estate after funeral expenses, debts including unpaid mahr, and any bequest capped at one third.

Where the four schools stand

Researched — the four schools agree

Agreed. A parent’s entitlement runs as follows. Where the deceased left a child or a son’s child, each parent takes one sixth; if the surviving children are daughters only, the father takes his sixth and whatever is left over after the fixed shares, because he is also the nearest male residuary. Where there is no child, the mother takes one third and the father takes the remainder. Where two or more brothers or sisters survive — of any kind, and whether they themselves inherit or not — the mother drops from a third to a sixth, and the sixth she loses goes to the father. Ibn Qudama records the mother’s third as a point on which there is no disagreement we know of among the people of knowledge, and the father’s three positions as a matter of consensus. On the number of siblings needed to cut the mother back, the schools hold that two are enough; Ibn Rushd names Malik for that view and the only recorded dissent is Ibn ‘Abbas, who required three — and he is a Companion, not one of the four schools. In Canada the practical point is the contrast: under every provincial intestacy statute a surviving parent normally takes nothing while a spouse or child survives. We checked this point; the schools do not differ on it.

Shared evidence: Surah an-Nisa 4:11 — the sixth for each parent, the mother’s third, and her sixth where there are siblings · Sahih al-Bukhari 6732 — “give the fixed shares to those entitled; what remains goes to the nearest male”, the basis of the father taking the residue.

Not covered by this finding: what happens when a grandfather stands in the father’s place, which is a separate and genuinely disputed question — not yet researched school by school. Treat that as open and ask a scholar of your school.

Researched finding from our madhhab register — issue parents-share, reviewed 2026-08-19.

Full evidence and history: What a father and a mother inherit — the issue page.

Related madhhab issue: The two-to-one ratio between a son and a daughter.

Related madhhab issue: The residuary heirs (asabah) and their order.

Related madhhab issue: The order of payment out of an estate.

What to do about it

  1. Have the shares calculated for your actual family by someone trained in faraid.
  2. Have a lawyer draft them into a provincially valid will.
  3. Review after any birth, death, marriage or divorce.
The mistake people make

Configurations change as family members are born and die. Draft the will in conditional fractions rather than fixed dollar amounts so it stays correct.

Note

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.

Islamic primary sources
  1. Surah an-Nisa 4:11 — shares of children and parents — Quran.com
  2. Surah an-Nisa 4:12 — shares of spouses and uterine siblings — Quran.com
  3. Surah an-Nisa 4:176 — the kalalah verse — Quran.com
  4. Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 85: Laws of Inheritance (Faraid) — Sunnah.com
  5. Sahih Muslim, Book of Inheritance — Sunnah.com
Scholarly & institutional references
  1. Encyclopaedia of Islam — Brill
Canadian legislation & government
  1. Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 — Government of Ontario
  2. Administering estates — Government of Ontario
Further reading — Treadstone Law
  1. Intestacy ontario no will distribution — Treadstone Law
  2. Children born outside marriage intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
  3. What is preferential share ontario intestacy — Treadstone Law
  4. Business held in a family trust not direct shares — Treadstone Law
  5. Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law