Dying without a will in Yukon 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 Yukon does
| Item | Yukon |
|---|---|
| Governing statute | Wills Act and Estate Administration Act |
| Court | Supreme Court of Yukon |
| Handwritten (holograph) wills | Valid |
| Probate cost | A low flat fee structure. |
| Spouse’s share on intestacy | $75,000, set by section 82(3)-(4) of the Estate Administration Act and carrying no interest (unlike the Northwest Territories and Nunavut). Where an intestate leaves a spouse and issue and the estate does not exceed $75,000, the whole estate goes to the spouse; above that, the spouse takes the first $75,000 and then shares the residue with the issue (reported as one-half with one child, one-third with more than one child — the same residue split used in Ontario and several other provinces). Where there is a spouse and no issue, the spouse takes the whole estate. Section 92 matters more than the figure for most Yukon estates: on top of the $75,000 and the fraction, the spouse takes the household furnishings outright and a life estate in the family home. Section 94 bars a spouse separated for a year. The preferential share is payable only to a legally married spouse — a religious-only marriage is not a spouse here at all, and a common-law partner of twelve months has only a discretionary court application under s. 74, which must be brought within six months of the grant and bars a Dependants Relief Act claim. |
| Will registry | No general public will registry currently operates. The 2020 Wills Act amendment (in force 1 May 2021) gave the government a standalone power to “implement a registry that facilitates the availability of information respecting a will executed in Yukon” — but only “if the regulations permit”, and no such regulation has ever been made: “Wills” does not appear in Yukon’s consolidated index of regulations, and Yukon’s own wills-and-estates guidance does not mention a registry. The same amendment separately brought the international-wills Convention into force on 6 January 2022 — but that creates no register, only a will form. |
| Claims against the estate | Dependants Relief Act claims. 'Dependant' means: the surviving spouse (defined to include a common-law spouse — 12 months' cohabitation, or a marriage not legally valid but entered in good faith); a child under 16; a child 16 or over who cannot earn a livelihood because of mental or physical disability; and a grandparent, parent, or descendant who was actually financially dependent on the deceased for the 3 years before death. Like Prince Edward Island (and unlike Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador), 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 Yukon does if he left no will, and what faraid does.
Under Yukon intestacy law
There is no dollar figure here, and that is the finding rather than a gap in it. The Act does not say how to value the family home for the s. 82 arithmetic once a life estate has been carved out of it. For an estate whose main asset is the home — which is most estates — no defensible total can be produced, so this page sets out the sequence instead.
- A common-law spouse is not a spouse here. The Estate Administration Act does not define "spouse", so it means a legally married one. A common-law partner has only a discretionary court allowance under s. 74, applied for within six months of the grant — and applying for it bars a Dependants Relief Act claim (s. 74 (6)).
- The spouse takes $75,000 off the top, then a fraction of the residue. One half where one child survives, one third where more than one does (s. 82 (3)–(5)), and a child who predeceased leaving children of their own still counts in that number (s. 82 (6)). No interest attaches to the $75,000, which is unusual — most of the other Acts charge it. There is no rule about whose children the issue are.
- Then s. 92 rides on top of all of it. The spouse takes the household furnishings outright and a life estate in the family home, in addition to everything in Part 10.
Statutory basis: s. 80, s. 82, s. 92.
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 |
Whatever the sequence above produces, it does not produce a share for his mother: no Canadian intestacy scheme gives a parent anything while a spouse and children survive. Under faraid she takes $100,000 of this estate. Only a valid will changes that.
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
- Estate Administration Act, RSY 2002, c. 77, ss. 82 and 92 — Yukon Legislation
- 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
- Intestacy spouse one child ontario — Treadstone Law
- Dying without a will intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law