The estate. Funeral expenses rank ahead of debts and are reimbursable to whoever advances them.
The Canadian position
Most banks will release funds from the deceased's account for funeral costs on production of the invoice, even before probate.
Keep every receipt — these are estate expenses.
The Islamic position
The classical order places funeral expenses first, before debts, bequest and shares. There is no conflict with Canadian practice here.
Where the four schools stand
Agreed. The estate is worked through in four steps, in this order: (1) the cost of preparing, shrouding and burying the body; (2) the deceased’s debts; (3) any bequest, capped at one third of what is left after (1) and (2); and (4) the fixed shares of the heirs, out of the remainder. The Kuwaiti Encyclopaedia of Islamic Jurisprudence records the sequence itself as a point on which there is no disagreement among the jurists, and records debt-before-bequest as agreed by all of them — even though Surah an-Nisa names the bequest before the debt, the jurists read the order as debt first, because a debt is owed from the outset while a bequest is a voluntary gift. Two rankings inside this sequence are genuinely disputed and are researched separately: whether a debt secured on a particular asset outranks the funeral itself, and whether unpaid religious dues such as zakat or an unperformed hajj come out of the estate at all where the deceased left no instruction. Neither dispute disturbs the four-step order. We checked this point; the schools do not differ on it.
Shared evidence: Surah an-Nisa 4:11 — “after the fulfilment of bequests and debts” · Surah an-Nisa 4:12 — the same clause, twice more · Sahih Muslim 1206a — the pilgrim who died at ‘Arafah was washed and shrouded with no inquiry into his debts.
Researched finding from our madhhab register — issue debt-priority-order, reviewed 2026-08-19.
Full evidence and history: The order of payment out of an estate — the issue page.
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.
- What to do when someone dies — Government of Ontario
- 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
- Bank release funds after probate ontario — Treadstone Law
- Who pays estate debts intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- Can estate deduct funeral costs canada — Treadstone Law
- Are funeral expenses paid first insolvent estate ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law