Islamic Wills in Newfoundland and Labrador

Making an Islamic will that works in Newfoundland and Labrador

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

Handwritten wills: Valid

Probate: Flat $60 for estates not exceeding $1,000, then $0.60 for every additional $100 of estate value above $1,000 (0.6% at the margin, with no cap). On a $500,000 estate that is $60 + (4,990 × $0.60) ≈ $3,054. The rate rose from $0.50 to $0.60 per $100 for grants made on or after 23 June 2015 — a Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador decision specifically had to clarify which rate applies to estates that straddle that date.

If you die without a will in Newfoundland and Labrador

Like Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador has NO preferential dollar amount at all — it is fractional from the first dollar of the estate. Where an intestate dies leaving a spouse and one child, the spouse takes 1/2 and the child 1/2. Where an intestate dies leaving a spouse and more than one child, the spouse takes 1/3 and the children share the remaining 2/3. Where there is a spouse and no issue, the spouse takes the whole estate. The Intestate Succession Act does not define 'spouse', so on its face this means a legally married spouse — contrast the separate Family Relief Act (next cell), which has expressly included a cohabiting partner as a dependant since a 2024 amendment.

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

Can the will be challenged?

Family Relief Act claims. 'Dependant' is defined broadly: the deceased's spouse, the deceased's cohabiting partner (added by a 2024 amendment — a relationship of at least 2 years, or 1 year if the couple have a child together), and any child of the deceased. 'Child' carries NO age limit and no disability or dependency requirement — an adopted child and a child en ventre sa mere both qualify, and so does an independent, financially secure adult child, exactly as in Nova Scotia and unlike Ontario or PEI. The court's actual test is whether the will (or the intestacy share) makes 'adequate provision... for the maintenance and support' of the dependant — a real independent-adult-child claim can still fail on the merits, but the Act does not shut the door on standing the way Ontario's and PEI's definitions do.

Challenging a will in Newfoundland and Labrador ›

Finding a will in Newfoundland and Labrador

No general public will registry. As in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island, the Wills Act's Part III requires the Minister to establish a registration (or registration-and-safekeeping) system, but only for 'international wills' made in the special UNIDROIT-Convention form — a mechanism almost no one uses, not a general findability tool. An ordinary will becomes searchable only once an estate file or a probate caveat/notice exists at the Supreme Court, which anyone can search for free through the court's e-filing system (a fuller search by court staff costs $20). The Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador's own guidance for 'how do I find a copy of a deceased's will' does not mention any registry — it tells people to contact the drafting lawyer or email the Law Society to canvass its membership.

How to search for a will in Newfoundland and Labrador ›

Newfoundland and Labrador’s cities

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

• St. John's — 1 janazah provider of 1 mosque, 3 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.