Islamic Wills in British Columbia

Making an Islamic will that works in British Columbia

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

Handwritten wills: Not valid as a category — BC requires wills to be signed and witnessed by two people. Section 58 gives the court a curative discretion to give effect to a non-compliant document, but that is a court application, not a right.

Probate: Roughly 1.4% on larger estates — charged in bands above a $25,000 threshold.

If you die without a will in British Columbia

The spouse first takes the household furnishings outright, then a preferential share of $300,000 where all of the intestate’s descendants are also the spouse’s, or $150,000 where they are not. The residue after the preferential share is then split one half to the spouse and one half to the descendants.

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

Can the will be challenged?

Section 60 of WESA permits a spouse OR a child — including an independent adult child — to apply to vary a will that fails to make adequate provision. This is the broadest such regime in Canada.

Challenging a will in British Columbia ›

Finding a will in British Columbia

A government Wills Registry run by the Vital Statistics Agency. Filing a wills notice costs $17; it records only where a will is kept, never the will itself. Searching costs $20 per name (plus $5 an alias, $33 for courier), and after a death anyone may apply with a death certificate — results in 20 business days by mail, or next business day by courier. If you are looking for a will in BC, search this first: it is cheaper than any private service, ours included.

How to search for a will in British Columbia ›

British Columbia’s cities

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

• Surrey — 2 janazah providers of 7 mosques, 12 organisations listed
• Richmond — 2 janazah providers of 3 mosques, 5 organisations listed
• Victoria — 2 janazah providers of 2 mosques, 3 organisations listed
• Vancouver — 1 janazah provider of 10 mosques, 11 organisations listed
• Burnaby — 1 janazah provider of 4 mosques, 6 organisations listed
• Abbotsford — 1 janazah provider of 1 mosque, 1 organisation listed
• Port Coquitlam — 1 janazah provider of 1 mosque, 1 organisation listed
• Chilliwack — 0 janazah providers of 0 mosques, 1 organisation listed
• Langley — 0 janazah providers of 0 mosques, 1 organisation 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.