Dying without a will in Nova Scotia 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 Nova Scotia does
| Item | Nova Scotia |
|---|---|
| Governing statute | Probate Act and Intestate Succession Act |
| Court | Supreme Court of Nova Scotia (Probate Court) |
| Handwritten (holograph) wills | Valid. A will is valid if it is wholly in the testator's own handwriting and signed by the testator, with no witnesses required. Nova Scotia also has a curative provision (s. 8A) letting a court validate a will or writing that does not meet the formal requirements if it embodies genuine testamentary intent. |
| Probate cost | Among the highest in Canada. A $2 million estate attracts roughly $33,000 in probate fees — more than Ontario on the same estate. |
| Spouse’s share on intestacy | $50,000 flat, and NOT conditioned on whether the children are the spouse's own — that Alberta/BC-style distinction does not exist in Nova Scotia's Act. Where the intestate leaves a spouse and issue, the estate goes entirely to the spouse if its net value is $50,000 or less; above that, the spouse takes the first $50,000 (plus interest on it) and then shares the residue with the issue — one-half to the spouse with one child, one-third with more than one child, the rest divided per stirpes among the issue. Where there is a spouse and no issue, the spouse takes the whole estate. 'Spouse' includes a registered domestic partner under the Vital Statistics Act but not an unregistered common-law partner. |
| Will registry | No government will registry, and no way to lodge a will with a court for safekeeping — we read the Wills Act and the Probate Act in full and neither contains a registration or deposit provision. Nova Scotia came close once: a 2014 bill would have created a wills registry, and it died at First Reading. In practice, families searching for a missing will ask the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society to circulate a Missing Will Notice to its members each month. Probate records are held county by county, and only for estates that went through the court. |
| Claims against the estate | Testators' Family Maintenance Act claims. "Dependant" is defined as the testator's widow, widower, or child — and "child" includes an adopted child and a child not yet born at the testator's death, with no age limit and no requirement that the child was actually being supported. A 2019 trial-level decision (Lawen Estate) held it unconstitutional to let an independent adult child claim, but the Court of Appeal reversed that in 2021 and the Supreme Court of Canada denied leave to appeal in 2022 — so the Act stands as written, and an independent adult child can bring a claim exactly like a minor or dependent child. |
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 Nova Scotia does if he left no will, and what faraid does.
Under Nova Scotia intestacy law
| Heir | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse | The $50,000 preferential share, plus one third of the residue | $233,333 |
| 3 children (equally) | The rest of the residue, divided equally — about $122,222 each | $366,667 |
| Mother | Nothing — a parent does not inherit while a spouse and children survive | $0 |
Statutory basis: s. 4 (2), s. 4 (5)(b).
- The $50,000 preferential share carries interest from the date of death (s. 4 (2)); the Act does not set the rate, so it is not in these figures.
- The spouse may elect to take the matrimonial home in place of, or as part of, the preferential share (s. 4 (4)). The election is of no effect without two appraisals in the prescribed form (N.S. Reg. 75/77), and whether it is made cannot be predicted here.
- A claim for an equal division of matrimonial assets under the Matrimonial Property Act s. 12 may be brought within six months of the grant, and anything recovered is in addition to the figures below.
- 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. 4 (6)). 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, RSNS 1989, c. 236 — Nova Scotia Legislature
- 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
- Per stirpes distribution intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- Holograph handwritten will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Intestacy spouse one child ontario — Treadstone Law
- Is ontario will valid if signed by one witness — Treadstone Law
- Dying without a will intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law