A faraid distribution gives a daughter half a son’s share. Whether that can be challenged in New Brunswick — and by whom — is the question every Muslim family planning an estate here should ask before signing.
The New Brunswick position
| Item | New Brunswick |
|---|---|
| Governing statute | Wills Act and Devolution of Estates Act |
| Court | Court of King's Bench (Probate Court) |
| Handwritten (holograph) wills | Valid |
| Probate cost | A probate TAX by value band: $200 on estates up to $20,000; $200 plus $5 per $1,000 (or part) on the portion between $20,000 and $100,000; and $600 plus $15 per $1,000 (or part) on everything above $100,000. On a $1,000,000 estate that is $14,100 — New Brunswick is a high-cost probate province, not a cheap one. |
| Spouse’s share on intestacy | There is no preferential dollar share in New Brunswick. The surviving spouse first takes the intestate’s interest in whatever is marital property under the Marital Property Act, and then takes half the residue if there is one child, or a third of the residue if there is more than one. A spouse with no surviving issue takes the whole estate. |
| Will registry | No central government will registry. |
| Claims against the estate | Provision for Dependants Act claims. "Dependant" is defined to include the spouse or child of the deceased outright — with no age limit and no requirement that the deceased was actually supporting them — plus anyone who was a dependant under the Family Law Act. The gate is in the operative section instead: the applicant’s resources, counting everything they take under the will or on intestacy, must be insufficient to provide adequately for them. |
Who can bring a claim
- Dependants who were being supported and were not adequately provided for.
- Spouses, including through family-property entitlements that operate independently of the will.
- Adult children — in British Columbia specifically, even where independent.
New Brunswick does not have BC’s section 60 wills-variation regime, under which an independent adult child can apply to rewrite a will. The exposure here is narrower — but dependant support claims still apply.
Reducing the risk
- Record the religious reasoning in a memorandum kept with the will.
- Provide for genuine dependants adequately, whatever the fixed shares say.
- Consider lifetime gifts and designations, which are harder to disturb — but take tax advice.
- Get provincial advice before signing. This is the clause that gets litigated.
Common questions
Can a will be challenged just because it follows Islamic shares?
Not on that basis alone. Claims succeed on statutory grounds — inadequate provision for a dependant, or in BC for a spouse or child — not because a distribution is religious.
Does writing down my reasons help?
It can. A memorandum explaining the reasoning is evidence a court may weigh, though in BC the Grewal decision shows cultural or religious reasoning is not by itself decisive.
Are lifetime gifts safer than bequests?
They are generally harder to disturb, but they carry immediate tax consequences and can still be examined. Take tax and legal advice before moving assets.
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
- Probate fees by province / territory — TaxTips.ca
- 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
- Adult child dependant support claim ontario — Treadstone Law
- Preferential share spouse intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- Time limit for dependant support claims ontario — Treadstone Law
- Holograph handwritten will ontario — Treadstone Law
- What is preferential share ontario intestacy — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law