Someone who will actually raise the children as you intend, is willing, and is realistically able. Ask them first, and name an alternate.
The Canadian position
Someone who will actually raise the children as you intend, is willing, and is realistically able. Ask them first, and name an alternate.
Provincial law governs administration, so confirm the position where the estate will actually be administered.
The Islamic position
The fixed shares apply to the net estate after funeral expenses, debts and any bequest capped at one third.
Where a Canadian mechanism has no classical counterpart, treat it as a contemporary question for a qualified scholar.
They are two different offices, and classically they sit in different hands. Hadanah — day-to-day care — goes first to the mother and down the female line, in an order every school sets out differently. Wilayah — authority over the child and over the child’s property — goes to the father and, after him, to the wasi the father named. The schools differ sharply on the order of care, on the age at which care ends and whether the child then chooses, and on whether the grandfather or the mother holds guardianship of property at all.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — Hadanah and wilayah — who cares for a child, and who has authority over the child.
Making an Islamic will in Canada — province by province, and what makes one valid where you live →
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.
- Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 — Government of Ontario
- Administering estates — Government of Ontario
- Substitute Decisions Act, 1992 — Government of Ontario
- Guardian minor children will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Appointing guardian for minor children ontario — Treadstone Law
- Naming guardian minor children ontario will — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law