Dying without a will in British Columbia hands the distribution to a statutory formula. For a Muslim family this is the single most common way an estate ends up divided contrary to faraid.
What British Columbia does
| Item | British Columbia |
|---|---|
| Governing statute | Wills, Estates and Succession Act (WESA) |
| Court | Supreme Court of British Columbia |
| Handwritten (holograph) wills | Not valid as a category — BC requires wills to be signed and witnessed by two people. Section 58 gives the court a curative discretion to give effect to a non-compliant document, but that is a court application, not a right. |
| Probate cost | Roughly 1.4% on larger estates — charged in bands above a $25,000 threshold. [confirm against the statute] |
| Spouse’s share on intestacy | $300,000 where all children are also the spouse’s; $150,000 where they are not. [confirm against the statute] |
| Will registry | A government Wills Registry operated by the Vital Statistics Agency. Filing a wills notice costs about $17. It records where a will is, not the will itself. |
| Claims against the estate | Section 60 of WESA permits a spouse OR a child — including an independent adult child — to apply to vary a will that fails to make adequate provision. This is the broadest such regime in Canada. |
Why it does not match faraid
Provincial intestacy schemes are built around the surviving spouse and descendants. Faraid distributes more widely — parents take a share alongside children, and siblings can inherit in their own right. Three mismatches recur:
- Parents. Under faraid each parent generally takes one sixth where the deceased left children. Provincial intestacy usually gives parents nothing while a spouse and children survive.
- The spouse’s portion. Faraid fixes a wife at one eighth with children; a preferential share can hand a spouse the great majority of a modest estate.
- Sons and daughters. Provincial law divides equally among children; faraid gives a son twice a daughter’s share.
| Position | Hanafi | Maliki | Shafi’i | Hanbali |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of a daughter | Half a son’s share | Half a son’s share | Half a son’s share | Half a son’s share |
| Wife, with children | One eighth | One eighth | One eighth | One eighth |
| Wife, no children | One quarter | One quarter | One quarter | One quarter |
| Husband, with children | One quarter | One quarter | One quarter | One quarter |
| Husband, no children | One half | One half | One half | One half |
| Bequest cap (wasiyyah) | One third | One third | One third | One third |
| Bequest to a fixed heir | Needs heirs’ consent | Needs heirs’ consent | Needs heirs’ consent | Needs heirs’ consent |
| Distant kin (dhawu al-arham) | Inherit | Classically to the treasury | Classically to the treasury | Inherit |
| Surplus returned (radd) | Yes | Classically no | Classically no | Yes |
None of this is fixed by intention. Only a valid will — that can be found — changes the outcome.
A worked example: a $600,000 estate
Take a man who dies leaving a wife, two sons, one daughter and his mother, with a net estate of $600,000 after debts and funeral expenses. Here is what British Columbia does if he left no will, and what faraid does.
Under British Columbia intestacy law
| Heir | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Spouse | Preferential share $300,000 plus one third of the residue | $400,000 |
| Mother | Nothing — parents do not inherit while a spouse and children survive | $0 |
| Each child (three) | Equal shares of the remaining two thirds | $66,666 |
Under faraid
| Heir | Qur’anic share | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Wife | One eighth | $75,000 |
| Mother | One sixth | $100,000 |
| Son (each of two) | Residue, two shares | $170,000 |
| Daughter | Residue, one share | $85,000 |
His mother receives nothing under the provincial formula and $100,000 under faraid. Provincial intestacy schemes are built around the spouse and descendants; they do not recognise a parent’s fixed share at all while a spouse and children survive. No amount of intention changes this — only a valid will does.
Figures are rounded to whole dollars and illustrate the structure only. Real estates involve debts, taxes, designations and jointly held property that change the arithmetic substantially.
Common questions
Do common-law partners inherit?
It depends on the province, and the differences are large. Some provinces treat a qualifying common-law partner as a spouse for intestacy; Ontario does not.
Do my parents inherit if I die without a will?
Generally not, if you leave a spouse or children. This is one of the sharpest departures from faraid, where each parent normally takes one sixth where the deceased left children.
Does an intestate estate get divided equally between sons and daughters?
Yes — provincial law divides equally among children. Faraid gives a son twice a daughter's share.
Citations & sources
Every factual claim on this page traces to one of the references below. Legislation and dollar thresholds change — verify against the primary source before relying on any figure.
- What to do when someone has died — Canada Revenue Agency
- Wills, Estates and Succession Act, SBC 2009, c 13 — BC Laws
- Probate fees by province / territory — TaxTips.ca
- Wills Registry — Province of British Columbia
- Grewal v. Litt, 2019 BCSC 1154 — CanLII
- Surah an-Nisa 4:11–12, 4:176 — Quran.com
- Book of Wills (Wasaya) — Sahih al-Bukhari, Sunnah.com
- Examinations for discovery will challenge ontario — Treadstone Law
- Discontinuing a will challenge ontario — Treadstone Law
- Disinheritance limits ontario will — Treadstone Law
- Title insurance boundary dispute ontario — Treadstone Law
- Pgt involvement will validity dispute ontario — Treadstone Law
- Jury trial will challenge ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law
- Religion by census metropolitan area, 2021 Census — Statistics Canada