Dying without a will in Manitoba 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 Manitoba does
| Item | Manitoba |
|---|---|
| Governing statute | The Wills Act and The Intestate Succession Act |
| Court | Court of King's Bench of Manitoba |
| Handwritten (holograph) wills | Valid |
| Probate cost | None. Manitoba abolished probate fees in November 2020 — the only province charging nothing at all. |
| Spouse’s share on intestacy | Where the intestate leaves a spouse or common-law partner and no issue, that partner takes the whole estate. Where all of the issue are also the partner’s, the partner still takes the whole estate. Only where some issue are not the partner’s does a preferential share arise: the greater of $50,000 or one-half of the estate, plus one-half of what remains after that share. |
| Will registry | No central searchable government will registry, and no way to deposit a will with the court either. Manitoba had one twice and repealed it twice: the statutory depository went in 2000, and the court rule that replaced it was repealed in 2017, in the court’s own words, “as no wills have been deposited with the Registrar for safekeeping for a number of years.” What is left is post-probate only: estates from 1984 onward are free to search online through the Court Registry System, earlier ones through the Archives of Manitoba, with staff searches at $10 to $40. |
| Claims against the estate | Dependants relief claims under The Dependants Relief Act. Only a "dependant" may apply — a spouse or common-law partner, a former spouse under a subsisting support order, a child under 18 or a child unable to withdraw from the deceased’s charge or substantially dependent on the deceased, or a substantially dependent grandchild, parent, grandparent or sibling. |
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 Manitoba does if he left no will, and what faraid does.
Under Manitoba intestacy law
There is no dollar figure here, and that is the finding rather than a gap in it. The Homesteads Act s. 10 gives the survivor a life estate in the homestead in addition to everything the arithmetic produces (Intestate Succession Act s. 10). For most families the home is the estate, so a dollar figure that leaves it out is not an answer to the question — which is why this page gives the sequence and not a total.
- Qualify the survivor. A legally married spouse qualifies, and so does a common-law partner who registered under the Vital Statistics Act, or cohabited in a conjugal relationship for three years, or for one year if they had a child together. Where both a spouse and a common-law partner survive, the more recent relationship takes (s. 3 (3)). Everyone must survive the deceased by fifteen days (s. 6 (1)).
- If every child is also the survivor’s child, the survivor takes everything. The children take nothing on the intestacy (s. 2 (2)). This is the usual case for a first marriage, and it is the sharpest departure from faraid in Manitoba: the Qur’anic shares of the children do not arise at all.
- Otherwise the survivor takes the greater of $50,000 and half the estate, then half of what is left. The remaining half goes to the issue per capita at each generation, however many of them there are (s. 2 (3), s. 5).
Statutory basis: s. 2, s. 3, s. 5, s. 10.
Under faraid
| Heir | Qur’anic share | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Wife | One eighth with children | $75,000 |
| Mother | One sixth — children or two or more siblings survive | $100,000 |
| Sons (2, shared) | Residue as asabah, two shares each | $340,000 |
| Daughter | Residue as asabah, one share each | $85,000 |
Whatever the sequence above produces, it does not produce a share for his mother: no Canadian intestacy scheme gives a parent anything while a spouse and children survive. Under faraid she takes $100,000 of this estate. Only a valid will changes that.
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 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.
- What to do when someone has died — Canada Revenue Agency
- The Intestate Succession Act, CCSM c. I85 — Manitoba Laws
- Surah an-Nisa 4:11–12, 4:176 — Quran.com
- Book of Wills (Wasaya) — Sahih al-Bukhari, Sunnah.com
- Religion by census metropolitan area, 2021 Census — Statistics Canada
- Half siblings intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- Preferential share spouse intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- Holograph handwritten will ontario — Treadstone Law
- What is preferential share ontario intestacy — Treadstone Law
- Can common law partner inherit without a will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law