Dying without a valid will, so provincial statute decides who inherits.
In Islamic law
Dying intestate in Canada is the single most common way a Muslim estate ends up distributed contrary to faraid. The statutory formula does not resemble the Qur'anic shares, and it gives nothing to parents or siblings while a spouse and children survive.
In Canadian law
In Ontario the Succession Law Reform Act applies. A surviving married spouse takes a preferential share — $350,000 for deaths on or after 1 March 2021 — then splits the residue with children: half each where there is one child, one third to the spouse where there are two or more. Only legally married spouses inherit on intestacy; common-law partners do not.
We have not yet researched whether the four Sunni schools differ on this term, so we are not going to tell you either way. Where a specific case turns on it, ask a qualified scholar rather than relying on a general summary.
Canadian legal detail
Treadstone Law, an Ontario firm with a wills and estates practice, covers the Canadian side of this in more depth:
- Preferential share spouse intestacy ontario
- What is preferential share ontario intestacy
- Intestacy spouse one child ontario
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.
- Preferential share spouse intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- What is preferential share ontario intestacy — Treadstone Law
- Intestacy spouse one child ontario — Treadstone Law
- Dying without a will intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law