Dying without a will in Northwest Territories 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 Northwest Territories does
| Item | Northwest Territories |
|---|---|
| Governing statute | Wills Act and Intestate Succession Act |
| Court | Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories |
| Handwritten (holograph) wills | Valid |
| Probate cost | A capped, flat-band fee schedule with no percentage component at any estate size: $30 for estates of $10,000 or less; $110 for estates over $10,000 up to $25,000; $215 for estates over $25,000 up to $125,000; $325 for estates over $125,000 up to $250,000; and a flat $435 for every estate over $250,000, no matter how large. A $30 million estate and a $300,000 estate pay the same $435. This makes NWT one of the cheapest probate jurisdictions in Canada for a large estate, alongside Alberta's capped $525. |
| Spouse’s share on intestacy | $100,000. The increase from $50,000 was enacted by SNWT 2015 c. 24 but came into force on 31 January 2017, so a death in 2016 is still governed by the old $50,000 figure. Where an intestate leaves a spouse and issue and the net estate does not exceed $100,000, the spouse takes everything. Above that, the spouse takes $100,000 (with a charge for legal interest from the date of death) and then shares the residue with the children — one-half with one child, one-third with more than one child. The surviving spouse may elect to take the family home instead of the $100,000 (if the home is worth more) or as part of it (if worth less). Where there is a spouse and no issue, the spouse takes the whole estate. "Spouse" is defined by cross-reference to the Family Law Act, which includes a common-law partner after 2 years of cohabitation (or sooner if the couple have a child together) — so, unlike Ontario, Nova Scotia or PEI, an unmarried partner can inherit this preferential share. Section 13 cuts the other way: a separated spouse who had started divorce proceedings, applied for a property division, signed a domestic contract or was living with someone else takes nothing at all, automatically. |
| Will registry | No government will registry, and no power to create one. We read the Wills Act in full: registry, register, registration, deposit and safekeeping appear zero times in it, and unlike Yukon there is not even a regulation-making power. The territory’s Legal Registries Division runs land titles, securities and business registries — not wills. The government’s own “Will Search Form” is an affidavit in which the family swears they searched the deceased’s papers and found nothing. |
| Claims against the estate | Dependants Relief Act claims. "Dependant" means: the surviving spouse; a child under 19; a child 19 or over who cannot earn a livelihood because of mental or physical disability; a common-law partner who cohabited with the deceased for at least 1 year before death and was financially dependent on them; a cohabiting partner at the time of death with whom the deceased had a child together (no minimum duration in that case); or a person who was acting as a foster parent of the deceased's children in the household and was financially dependent on the deceased. As in Prince Edward Island and Yukon, an independent, able-bodied adult child has NO claim under this Act. |
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 Northwest Territories does if he left no will, and what faraid does.
Under Northwest Territories intestacy law
| Heir | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse | The $100,000 preferential share, plus one third of the residue | $266,666 |
| 3 children (equally) | The rest of the residue, divided equally — about $111,111 each | $333,334 |
| Mother | Nothing — a parent does not inherit while a spouse and children survive | $0 |
Statutory basis: s. 2 (4), s. 2 (6), s. 3.
- The $100,000 preferential share carries interest from the date of death (s. 2 (4)); the Act does not set the rate, so it is not in these figures.
- A spouse here includes a person who cohabited conjugally with the deceased for two years, or who was in a relationship of some permanence with them and had a child together (Family Law Act s. 1 (1)) — and a polygamous marriage counts if it was valid where it was celebrated (s. 1 (2)).
- There is no rule here about whose children the issue are: the spouse’s share is the same whether or not the children are also the spouse’s.
- A child who died before the deceased, leaving children of their own alive at the death, still counts when deciding whether there is one child or more than one (s. 2 (7)). Two children, one of whom predeceased leaving grandchildren, is more than one child — so the spouse takes a third of the residue and not a half. Reading the fraction without this rule overpays the spouse.
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 |
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 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
- Intestate Succession Act, RSNWT 1988, c. I-10 — Department of Justice, Northwest Territories
- 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
- 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
- Ontario land titles vs registry system — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law