Words you will meet, explained

A sworn statement by one witness that the will was signed properly. It is not needed for the will to be valid, but it makes probate quicker.

Also written or called: affidavit of witness

WitnessProbateCommissioner of oaths

The age when a person is legally an adult: 18 in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, PEI, Quebec and Saskatchewan, and 19 elsewhere.

Guardian

Heirs who take whatever is left after the fixed shares, usually male relatives through the father's line. A son is the closest; a daughter inherits with a son at half his share.

Also written or called: Asaba, residuary heirs, agnates

Fard shareHajb

When the fixed shares add up to more than the whole estate, every share is reduced in proportion so they fit.

Also written or called: Awl, proportional reduction

Fard shareRadd

Anyone who receives something under a will, a trust or a beneficiary designation. In most provinces a witness to your will, or their spouse, should not be a beneficiary.

Also written or called: heir, legatee

WitnessBeneficiary designation

A person named directly on a registered plan or insurance policy. Outside Quebec those assets usually go straight to that person and skip the will, so they are not divided by Faraid unless you plan for it.

Also written or called: RRSP beneficiary, TFSA beneficiary, life insurance beneficiary

Joint tenancyResidue

A separate document that changes part of a will, signed with the same formalities. Making a fresh will is usually clearer, which is what mWill does when you make changes.

RevocationFinalized version

A person authorised to take sworn statements, such as lawyers, notaries and some public officials.

Also written or called: commissioner for taking affidavits, notary public

Affidavit of execution

Debts owed by the deceased. They are paid before any bequest or inheritance, and include unpaid mahr, loans, and zakat or kaffarah that was due.

Also written or called: debt, debts

TarikahMahr

The process that shares your finalized will with your executor after a trusted reporter tells mWill of your death and the waiting period passes.

Trusted reporterExecutor

A court application by a spouse or child who says the will does not provide for them properly. It can change how the estate is divided, including Faraid shares.

Also written or called: dependants relief, wills variation

Faraid

Relatives who are neither sharers nor residuary heirs, such as a daughter's children. Many scholars let them inherit when no sharer or residuary heir remains.

Also written or called: distant kindred, uterine relatives

Fard shareAsabah

The person you choose to gather your assets, pay debts and hand out the estate as your will says. Ontario calls this role an estate trustee, and Quebec calls it a liquidator.

Also written or called: estate trustee, personal representative, administrator

LiquidatorProbateExecutor letter

A printable letter for the person you chose as executor. It tells them they were chosen, where to find the original will and what to do first.

Executor

The fixed shares of an estate that the Quran assigns to close family, set out mainly in Surah an-Nisa, verses 11, 12 and 176. mWill works out these shares from the family you enter.

Also written or called: Fara'id, ilm al-faraid, Islamic inheritance law

Fard shareAsabahWasiyyahInheritance in Islam →

A fixed fraction named in the Quran: one half, one quarter, one eighth, two thirds, one third or one sixth. Heirs who receive these are called ashab al-furud.

Also written or called: Ashab al-furud, fixed share, sharers

AsabahʿAwlRadd

A locked copy of your will that you can download and sign. Making changes later starts a new draft and keeps every earlier version.

Codicil

The ritual washing of the body and wrapping it in simple white cloth before the funeral prayer. The costs come first from the estate.

Also written or called: washing, shroud, kafan

JanazahTarikah

The person you would like to raise your children under the age of majority. You can also name a separate person to manage money left to them.

Also written or called: guardian of minor children

WaliAge of majority

When a closer relative reduces or removes another relative's share. For example, a son excludes brothers and sisters, and a father excludes the grandfather.

Also written or called: exclusion, blocking, mahjub

Asabah

Agreement given by adult heirs, after the death, to let a bequest go beyond one third or go to an heir. It only binds the heirs who give it.

Also written or called: Ijazah, ijaza

WasiyyahOne-third limit

A will written entirely in your own handwriting and signed by you. Many provinces accept it without witnesses, but it is easy to get wrong. A printed mWill document is not a holograph will.

Also written or called: handwritten will

Witness

Dying without a valid will. Provincial law then decides who inherits, and it follows no Islamic rules, which is the main reason Muslims in Canada need a will.

Also written or called: intestate, dying without a will

Faraid

The Islamic funeral: washing (ghusl), shrouding (kafan), the funeral prayer and prompt burial. Your will can record your wishes so your family is not left to guess.

Also written or called: Janaza, funeral prayer

Ghusl and kafan

Owning property together so that the survivor automatically owns all of it. Such property does not pass through the will. Quebec has no joint tenancy.

Also written or called: right of survivorship, joint account

Beneficiary designation

A person who dies leaving neither parent nor child. Their brothers and sisters then inherit, as described in Surah an-Nisa, verses 12 and 176.

Faraid

The Quebec name for an executor under the Civil Code of Quebec.

Also written or called: liquidateur, Quebec executor

ExecutorNotarial will

The marriage gift a husband owes his wife. Any part still unpaid at his death is a debt on his estate, paid before inheritance.

Also written or called: dowry, sadaq

Dayn

A will made before a notary in Quebec. The notary keeps the original and registers it, and it does not need probate.

Also written or called: authentic will, testament notarié

LiquidatorProbate

The most you may leave by wasiyyah. The Prophet ﷺ told Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas that a third is a lot, and that leaving heirs well off is better than leaving them in need (Sahih al-Bukhari 2742).

Also written or called: Thuluth, one third

Wasiyyah

Your permission for the mosque or organization you signed up through to see your will. You can withdraw it at any time from the dashboard.

A document naming who makes health and personal care decisions for you, and recording your wishes, if you cannot decide yourself.

Also written or called: health care directive, power of attorney for personal care, living will

Power of attorney

A document naming someone to manage your money or property while you are alive but unable to. It ends at death, when the will takes over.

Also written or called: enduring power of attorney, POA, mandate

Personal directive

Court confirmation that a will is valid and that the executor may act. Banks and land registries often ask for it. Quebec notarial wills do not need it.

Also written or called: letters probate, grant of probate, certificate of appointment, homologation

ExecutorAffidavit of executionProbate fees

A provincial fee charged when a will is probated, usually based on the value of the estate. The amount and the name differ in each province.

Also written or called: estate administration tax, probate tax

Probate

When fixed shares add up to less than the whole and there is no residuary heir, the surplus goes back to the sharers in proportion. Most scholars exclude the spouse from radd.

Also written or called: return, surplus

ʿAwlAsabah

What is left after debts, expenses and specific gifts. In an Islamic will the residue is divided by Faraid.

Also written or called: residuary estate

Specific bequestFaraid

Cancelling an earlier will, usually by a clause in a new will or by destroying the original on purpose. In some provinces marriage or divorce also affects an existing will.

Also written or called: revoke, cancel a will

Codicil

Charity whose benefit continues after death. The Prophet ﷺ named it, with beneficial knowledge and a righteous child who prays for the parent, as deeds that do not end (Sahih Muslim 1631).

Also written or called: ongoing charity, continuous charity

Waqf

A named item or sum left to a named person or charity, for example a car to a nephew or $5,000 to a mosque.

Also written or called: legacy, specific gift

ResidueWasiyyah

Everything the deceased owned at death. It is settled in order: funeral costs, then debts, then the wasiyyah, and only then the Faraid shares.

Also written or called: Tarika, estate

DaynWasiyyahFaraid

The person whose will it is. The word is used for anyone of any gender in modern Canadian law.

Also written or called: testatrix, will-maker

Witness

Someone you allow to tell mWill of your death. Their report starts a waiting period before your executor can see the will.

Death release

The person responsible for a child or their property. In Canada the guardian you name in your will is a request the court usually respects, not an automatic appointment.

Also written or called: guardian, wilayah

Guardian

Property set aside permanently for a charitable purpose, such as a mosque or school, with only its income spent. A bequest to create a waqf counts within the one-third limit.

Also written or called: endowment, awqaf

Sadaqah jariyahWasiyyah

A bequest you choose to make, up to one third of what remains after funeral costs and debts. It cannot go to someone who already inherits a Faraid share unless the other heirs agree after your death.

Also written or called: Wasiyya, bequest, Islamic will

One-third limitHeirs' consentFaraid

An adult who watches you sign and then signs too. Most provinces need two witnesses present together with you, and neither should benefit from the will.

Also written or called: attesting witness

TestatorAffidavit of executionSigning guides →