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Fatwa CenterInheritance and debt
Question
Assalaamu ‘Alaykum; Please calculate the inheritance according to the following information -Does the deceased have male relatives who are entitled to inherit: (A son) Number 2 (grandson (from the son)) Number 1 (A half brother (from his father)) Number 1 (A nephew from a half brother (from his father)) Number 2 (A Husband) -Does the deceased have female relatives who are entitled to inherit : (A daughter) Number 3 (A full sister) Number 4 - Information about the deceased’s debts : (Debts to people) - Additional information : Assalaamu alaykum,we had some property in my mothers name,which was bought out of my fathers and my earnings,after my mother passing away7 yrs ago,my second sisters husband suggested that he will build a house on one of the site and we all can stay together, he wanted to repent for the excesses done on my mother by himself and his wife, later he changed,I was supposed to occupy the ground floor and others in portions, me and my father contributed towards it with little money, he forced me to occupy in a different floor, some portions were rented out,as they had invested on the bldg we did not object to they taking the rent on their name and, we called for a meeting with all and tried to discuss this matter, but they now proclaimed they are the absolute owners,kept lot of options in front of them to resolve the issue, no solution was acceptable to them, I suggested that we approach an Islamic Court, but that too was rejected, meanwhile my sister and her husband transferred all the properties to their name by showing GPA (presenting the authorities that my mother was alive), later after few days they cancelled the transaction and executed GIFT Deeds claiming that my mother had given HIBA to my sister, in both the instance the property was transferred to the name of husband by wife, we again approached them to settle the matter amicably, and they simply were not in favor of any d
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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The solution lies in taking your case to an Islamic court that is able to solve such a dispute. Nonetheless, what we can say at the moment is that presenting a document stating that your mother is alive while in reality she is dead is a lie and it is forging documents and this is something which the law penalizes. Similarly, the gift that was given to your sister by the will is of no value Islamically, because a will for an heir is forbidden and it does not take effect unless all other heirs agree to it. Thus, it is better to take the case to an Islamic court, as Allaah The Almighty may deter by the ruler (i.e. by him enforcing penal laws) what He does not deter by the Quran.
As for the method of dividing the inheritance, then firstly, before dividing the inheritance on its rightful heirs, the debts of the deceased must be paid because the debt comes in priority over the right of the heirs in the inheritance. After paying the debts, the inheritance should be divided amongst them each according to his legal share.
If the deceased did not leave any heirs other than those mentioned in the question, then her husband gets one-fourth as his legal share due to the existence of direct heirs (children) as Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {But if they have a child, for you is one fourth of what they leave, after any bequest they [may have] made or debt.}[Quran, 4:12] The remainder should be divided amongst the two sons and the three daughters by Ta’seeb (by virtue of having a paternal relation with the deceased and not having an allotted share, so they get what is left after the allotted shares have been distributed); the male twice the share of the female as Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Allaah instructs you concerning your children [i.e. their portions of inheritance]: for the male, what is equal to the share of two females.}[Quran 4:11]
However, the grandson [the son of the son] and other mentioned heirs do not get anything from the inheritance because they are prevented from it by the existence of direct sons. Therefore, the inheritance should be divided into 28 shares, the husband gets one-fourth, which is 7 shares, each son gets 6 shares and each daughter gets 3 shares.
Allaah Knows best.
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