Settling the deceased's estate
28-12-2004 | IslamWeb
Question:
We are a Sunni-Muslim family (current surviving members are - one widowed mother, five married daughters and two married sons) based in Hyderabad-India, myself I am the eldest son (married/four children) living with family at Jeddah-KSA due to job. Since my arrival abroad, I had greatly helped my parents financially and in fact my four sisters got married entirely on my financial assistance and also my late father's house (new portion) was built with my financial assistance only (70 to 75% share of the total) which is currently yielding a rent of around four thousand rupees total per month, which is being regularly received by my mother herself, for the routine daily life expenses. My father died recently at Madina after Hajj-1424 Hijri and he had left an immovable property of currently valued at around 70 to 80 lakhs rupees, one single old house based at Hyderabad-India (half of which is under the name of my late father's name and the other half on my widowed mother's name). The said property was his own, which he had solely acquired by his own hard earned money and efforts. Since my late father had not left any written will for the property, for unknown reasons, but prior to his death, he had verbally told us clearly (at my home in Jeddah) in front of my wife and mother that, his whole property will pass on to his two sons, after the passing away of both the parents, but he had specifically advised me to be sincere and collectively pay by cash the financial benefit to all the five sisters after considering the current market value of it (in accordance with the principles of the Shariah laws) and make a final settlement of inheritance matter and afterwards get their written certification for the Property Release/No-Objection Certificate in favour of two brothers, before finalizing the property transfer process in our names (sons of the deceased). So, kindly advise me with your legal opinion (according to the true Islamic Shariah laws of inheritance), for the following queries:
1) What is the current Shariah position of the said property?
2) When and how to decide the final inheritance settlement of the said property?
3) Who should be the best person to take an initiative and finalize the inheritance settlement in an amicable way?
4) What is the Shariah law value of my late father's verbal wish, regarding his property, (which I believe is fully fair, as he had clearly instructed me that, his two sons should be just and fair to his all daughters in the property inheritance matter and do not deprive them of their due shares as per Shariah laws) which he clearly said for his two sons only and how to establish the same in a Shariah or Indian court of law?
5) Are myself and my younger brother the only two persons, who will be equally entitled in or all of us (including my married sisters) will be entitled for some or equal share in our late father's property?
6) What is the best method for distribution of the said property? And on what basis without partly or fully selling?
7) Is it permissible by Shariah laws for my widowed mother to give some extra share of the said property to my married sisters by depriving our due shares and also without seeking our (two brothers) written consent? (When the said property was solely acquired by my late father on his own, but he kept half of it under the name of my mother, just to keep her secured only).
8) Is it fair and permissible by Shariah for myself to ask for a lion's share in my father's whole property, since I had already spent a lot of money (estimated to a current value of over 15 to 18 lakhs rupees) previously on my father's own responsibilities like his daughter's marriages + building the new portion of the house for rental purposes and in return I had not received any financial benefit in so far? (Note: If I had not financially helped my parents for their own responsibilities at that time, then they would have sold-off the said property partially, because they were not having any other suitable option, which they both had accepted it, many times publicly as a matter of undeniable fact).
9) If my mother during her life-time, actually distributes on her own the said property in an unfair, unjustified and unacceptable manner i.e. by giving more to her daughters (more than what they deserve) on the ground that they are financially not sound, compared to her two sons or if she makes a written will to this effect (without our knowledge and consent) then how we can (two sons) respond to tackle this sensitive matter! And under what suitable way! Is it permissible by Shariah for us, (two sons) to oppose the said injustice of our mother?
10) Is it fair and acceptable for me to humbly request my married sisters to fully/partly relinquish their respective shares in my favour, because they got married only due to my financial assistance? (Which is a known fact, no one (including my mother, younger brother and sisters) can dispute or deny.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
You have to know that what your father left is a right to all his heirs after paying whatever debts he owes and after fulfilling his will, if any. The will expressing your father's desire to give the properties and the like to the sons without the daughters should not be carried out without their consent, as that is not just. Inheritance is a matter that Allaah has specified, so it is not permissible for anybody, be it your mother or any one else, to interfere by changing or amending it. Every heir has a share and it is not permissible to take his/her share from him/her except with his/her consent in order for the division of inheritance to be just, so that everybody is pleased. It is more appropriate to take the initiative to divide this inheritance and to refer to an Islamic court if any, or to one of the Islamic foundations and organizations, or to refer to a scholar whom everybody accepts. However, it is not permissible to deal with this matter by man-made laws.
The correct way of dividing the inheritance, which includes immovable property is that one of the heirs should take it, then assess it (according to the market price) and then give the other heirs their share in cash, if they are pleased with this method.
Nonetheless, we draw your attention to the following:
1) It is not permissible for you to ask for more than your share in the inheritance. The money that you had given to your father is a gift in principle and it is not permissible for you to take it back while he was still alive, let alone taking it from the heirs.
2) It is not permissible for you to oblige one of your sisters to renounce her share in inheritance in return for the money that you had given to your father for her sake. However, if she renounces willingly and not because of being ashamed of you, then there is no harm for you to take it. But it is more appropriate for you not to do so especially if you are solvent.
3) If your mother had divided the inheritance unjustly among yourselves, it is permissible for you to demand your right (even by going to court).
4) You should remember that the benefit of friendliness, love and keeping relations with kin is more important than the pleasures of this temporary world.
Allaah knows best.