Your will can distribute your estate by fara’id — the fixed shares of Islamic inheritance law — and Ontario courts will enforce it. But two statutory claims can override the shares, and some property never passes under a will at all. This ten-part guide from our Ontario lawyers covers the whole picture, in plain language.
Ontario has no forced heirship. A court gives effect to fara’id shares because you directed them — the Court of Appeal confirmed how far that freedom reaches in Spence v BMO Trust Co, 2016 ONCA 196.
A married spouse can elect for an equalization of net family property under the Family Law Act, and a dependant can claim support under the Succession Law Reform Act. Both outrank the will.
RRSPs, TFSAs and life insurance pass by beneficiary designation, outside the will entirely. Unless the designations are aligned with the shares, the distribution you intended never happens.
Each part answers one question and stands on its own — start at the beginning, or go straight to the part you need.
Ontario has no forced heirship — that is exactly why a fara’id distribution is enforceable here. What the Succession Law Reform Act requires, and the three things that defeat a will anyway.
8 min read → Part2How to express the fixed shares so an estate trustee can apply them without a scholar at the table — and the drafting patterns that fail.
7 min read → Part3The discretionary third: gifts to charity and to people outside the fixed heirs, and how to draft the cap so it holds in probate.
6 min read →A married spouse can refuse the will and take an equalization of net family property instead — a claim that outranks every gift in it.
8 min read → Part5A court can rewrite a distribution that leaves a dependant short. Who counts as a dependant, and what adequate provision means.
8 min read →Registered accounts and insurance pass outside the will by beneficiary designation. If the designations don’t line up with the shares, the shares don’t happen.
6 min read → Part7Choosing an estate trustee who will actually carry out the scheme, and naming guardians for your minor children.
6 min read → Part8Ghusl, janazah and prompt burial: what instructions in a will can secure, and what must be arranged outside it.
5 min read →Where the schools’ calculations diverge, and how the will itself settles which method your estate trustee follows.
6 min read → Part10Die without a will and Ontario’s intestacy formula applies — not fara’id. What the gap looks like in real numbers.
7 min read →A licensed Ontario lawyer drafts your will to carry the distribution you choose — fara’id shares, the wasiyya, executor, guardians and burial wishes — and confirms everything with you before you sign. Flat fee, taxes included.
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Start My File →Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm everything with you by tomorrow.