Dying without a will in Nunavut 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 Nunavut does
| Item | Nunavut |
|---|---|
| Governing statute | Wills Act and Intestate Succession Act |
| Court | Nunavut Court of Justice |
| Handwritten (holograph) wills | Valid, and materially more generous than the plain 'wholly handwritten' rule most provinces use. Nunavut's own 2005 amendment defines a will's 'own writing' to include "handwriting, footwriting, mouthwriting or writing of a similar kind" (an explicit disability accommodation not found in Northwest Territories law or, so far, in any other jurisdiction checked in this pass). It also validates a will that is only PARTLY in the testator's own writing and partly printed/typewritten/other written form — without witnesses — as long as it appears the testator intended to incorporate the printed words and the testator signed it. This is broader than a strict wholly-handwritten holograph rule. |
| Probate cost | A capped, flat-band fee schedule, structurally identical to the Northwest Territories' but with its own (slightly lower) top figure: $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 $425 for every estate over $250,000, regardless of size. |
| Spouse’s share on intestacy | $50,000, per the last primary text this pass could verify — NOT $100,000 (the Northwest Territories' current figure). Nunavut's Intestate Succession Act was carried forward from the pre-1999 NWT statute at $50,000 and, unlike the NWT, was NOT part of the 2015 NWT amendment that raised the NWT figure to $100,000 (that amendment was made after the two territories separated and has no application in Nunavut). Mechanically it otherwise mirrors NWT's older structure: below $50,000 the spouse takes everything; above it, the spouse takes $50,000 (with interest) plus a home-election right, then shares the residue with issue (1/2 with one child, 1/3 with more than one). Since 31 October 2011 a common-law partner of two years inherits in Nunavut. But unlike the Northwest Territories, Nunavut has no good-faith void-marriage provision — it was repealed in 2011 — so a couple married only by nikah must clear those two years, or have a child together, to take anything. [confirm against the statute] |
| Will registry | No government will registry. Nunavut carried over the Northwest Territories’ Wills Act at division and we read that consolidation in full: registry, registration, deposit and safekeeping appear zero times. The Legal Registries Division runs corporate, personal property, land titles and securities registries — not wills. |
| Claims against the estate | Dependants Relief Act claims — Nunavut's own consolidation of the Act (distinct from the Northwest Territories', though built on the same base), current to 31 May 2024. "Dependant" means: the surviving spouse (defined in the Act itself as married, OR cohabiting for 2+ years, OR cohabiting in a relationship of some permanence with a child together — no cross-reference to a separate Family Law Act, unlike NWT); a child under 19; a child 19 or over unable to earn a livelihood because of disability; a person who cohabited with the deceased for at least 1 year immediately before death and was financially dependent on them; or a person acting as a foster parent of the deceased's children in the household who was financially dependent on the deceased. As in the Northwest Territories, Yukon and PEI, 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 Nunavut does if he left no will, and what faraid does.
Under Nunavut 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. 2 (4), s. 2 (6), s. 3.
- The $50,000 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 (Nu) 1988, c. I-10, carried over on division — Nunavut Consolidated Statutes
- 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
- 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
- Matrimonial home one spouse never lived there — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law