Islamic Wills in Alberta

Making an Islamic will that works in Alberta

An Islamic will is not a separate legal instrument. It is an ordinary Alberta will whose distribution clauses set out the faraid shares. Two things have to be right at once: the fractions, and Alberta’s formalities.

Handwritten wills: Valid

Probate: Flat fees by estate value band, capped at $525 — among the lowest in Canada. An estate of $300,000 and an estate of $30 million pay the same $525.

If you die without a will in Alberta

Where all of the intestate’s descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse (or adult interdependent partner), that person takes the entire estate. Where any descendant is not, they take the greater of $150,000 or 50% of the net estate, and the residue passes to the descendants. Alberta’s adult interdependent partners — unlike Ontario common-law partners — inherit on the same footing as a spouse.

That distribution is set by statute and it will not match the faraid shares. How Alberta’s intestacy rules diverge from faraid ›

Can the will be challenged?

Family maintenance and support claims under the Wills and Succession Act.

Challenging a will in Alberta ›

Finding a will in Alberta

No general government will registry. The Government of Alberta states plainly: "There is no will registry in Alberta." The one narrow exception is that an international will may be registered with the Office of the Public Trustee, which records who to contact — not the will itself.

How to search for a will in Alberta ›

Alberta’s cities

What differs between them is not the law — that is the same across Alberta — but the community layer: which mosques can perform a janazah, and where they bury.

• Edmonton — 2 janazah providers of 6 mosques, 13 organisations listed
• Calgary — 1 janazah provider of 9 mosques, 17 organisations listed
• Fort McMurray — 1 janazah provider of 2 mosques, 5 organisations listed
• Lethbridge — 1 janazah provider of 3 mosques, 5 organisations listed
• Red Deer — 1 janazah provider of 2 mosques, 4 organisations listed

The fixed shares

The fractions come from Surah an-Nisa and do not vary by province. Calculate them for your family, or read where the four schools differ.