The 2:1 ratio between a son and a daughter is set out in Surah an-Nisa 4:11 and is agreed across all four Sunni schools. Classical scholars explain it alongside the maintenance obligations that fall on men.
The Canadian position
Canadian intestacy divides equally among children regardless of sex. A will can depart from that, and testamentary freedom makes the departure enforceable — except where a variation claim succeeds.
In British Columbia, section 60 of WESA gives a child standing to apply to vary a will. In Grewal v. Litt the court varied wills that had left four daughters 6.6% of a $9 million estate, holding that cultural or religious reasoning did not justify the disparity.
The Islamic position
The ratio applies where sons and daughters take together as residuary heirs. Where no son survives, a daughter takes a fixed share — one half alone, or two thirds shared between two or more.
The classical explanation ties the difference to obligation: a brother carries maintenance duties toward family that a sister does not, and a woman's own property and mahr remain hers.
All four schools apply the ratio in Surah an-Nisa 4:11 without variation: where sons and daughters take the residue together, each son takes twice each daughter’s share. No school is recorded as differing on the ratio itself. What the ratio is often taken to mean is wider than what it says.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-08-19. Full positions, evidence and sources — The two-to-one ratio between a son and a daughter.
Related madhhab issue: The residuary heirs (asabah) and their order.
In BC specifically, take advice before signing. The unequal ratio is the precise feature a section 60 application attacks.
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.
- Surah an-Nisa 4:11 — shares of children and parents — Quran.com
- Surah an-Nisa 4:12 — shares of spouses and uterine siblings — Quran.com
- Surah an-Nisa 4:176 — the kalalah verse — Quran.com
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 85: Laws of Inheritance (Faraid) — Sunnah.com
- Sahih Muslim, Book of Inheritance — Sunnah.com
- Renovatio: The Journal of Zaytuna College — Zaytuna College
- Grewal v. Litt, 2019 BCSC 1154 — CanLII
- Wills, Estates and Succession Act, SBC 2009, c 13 — BC Laws
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- What to do if you were left out of a will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Half siblings intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- Can children of deceased child inherit per stirpes ontario — Treadstone Law
- Can i leave out a child from my will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law