If a beneficiary who is also a dependant gets a support award, is it added to or deducted from their inheritance?

It depends — an Ontario court has discretion over how a dependant support award interacts with what that same person would already receive as a beneficiary, and there's no single fixed rule that always applies. In some cases, a court structures the award so it tops up an inheritance that's judged insufficient to meet the dependant's needs. In others, the court treats the existing gift under the will as already partly or fully satisfying the support obligation, and credits it against the award rather than adding to it.

Which approach a court takes depends on the size of the existing gift compared to what the dependant actually needs, the language and intent behind the will, and the overall size of the estate and competing claims. A dependant who is also a named beneficiary shouldn't assume a support award simply stacks on top of their existing inheritance — it may instead just reshape or replace part of it. Because this outcome is genuinely case-by-case, anyone in this position should get legal advice on how their specific gift is likely to be treated before assuming what the final result will look like.