Islamic Wills in Manitoba

Making an Islamic will that works in Manitoba

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

Handwritten wills: Valid

Probate: None. Manitoba abolished probate fees in November 2020 — the only province charging nothing at all.

If you die without a will in Manitoba

Where the intestate leaves a spouse or common-law partner and no issue, that partner takes the whole estate. Where all of the issue are also the partner’s, the partner still takes the whole estate. Only where some issue are not the partner’s does a preferential share arise: the greater of $50,000 or one-half of the estate, plus one-half of what remains after that share.

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

Can the will be challenged?

Dependants relief claims under The Dependants Relief Act. Only a "dependant" may apply — a spouse or common-law partner, a former spouse under a subsisting support order, a child under 18 or a child unable to withdraw from the deceased’s charge or substantially dependent on the deceased, or a substantially dependent grandchild, parent, grandparent or sibling.

Challenging a will in Manitoba ›

Finding a will in Manitoba

No central searchable government will registry. Manitoba wills reach a public record only when an estate is probated, and the probate application itself asks whether a will has been deposited with the Court of King’s Bench.

How to search for a will in Manitoba ›

Manitoba’s cities

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

• Winnipeg — 2 janazah providers of 11 mosques, 19 organisations 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.