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The deceased registered the family house in the name of his two sons

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 -Does the deceased have female relatives who are entitled to inherit : (A mother) (A daughter) Number 4 - Additional information : My father wrote the family house for the two sons' name. Knowing that we all lived in it for more than 20 years, and my mom and sister still live in it, and the boys live elsewhere with their wives. As a family do we have the right to inherit this house or it's only the boys right? Please help us do the right thing.

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 ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

You have mentioned in the question that your mother lives in the house and this means that your deceased father left a wife and you did not mention this in the list of the female heirs, but you mentioned that he had "a mother". The mother that is mentioned in the list of heirs is meant to be the mother of the deceased and not his wife, the mother of his children.

Therefore, if you had chosen from the list "mother" while you mean your mother, then this is wrong, because the list refers to the relatives of the deceased and not the relatives of the questioner.

We will base our answer on the understanding that the deceased left a wife, 2 sons, 4 daughters and he did not leave a mother.

Hence, if the deceased did not leave any other heirs except those mentioned, then his wife gets one-eighth as her legal share due to the existence of the children of the deceased; Allaah says (what means): {But if you leave a child, then for them [i.e. the wives] is an eighth of what you leave, after any bequest you [may have] made or debt.} [Quran 4:12]

The remainder should be divided among the two sons and the four 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 gets twice the share of the female as Allaah 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]

Therefore, the inheritance should be divided into 64 shares; the wife of the deceased gets one-eighth, which is 8 shares; each son gets 14 shares; and each daughter gets 7 shares.

However, if the deceased left a mother and not a wife, then the inheritance should be divided into 48 shares; his mother gets one-sixth, which is 8 shares; each son gets 10 shares and each daughter gets 5 shares.

As regards the house, the fact that it is written in the name of his two sons is either one of the following cases:

1- If he wrote it in their name so that they would take it after his death, then this is considered a bequest to an heir, and the bequest to an heir is forbidden in Islam because the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Allaah has given each heir his legitimate right, so there is no will for an heir.” [Ahmad, An-Nasaa'i, At-Tirmithi, Ibn Maajah and Abu Daawood]

Al-Mardaawi  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him from the Hanbali School of jurisprudence said: “It is not permissible for a person who has heirs to make a bequest of more than a third (of his estate) to a non-heir, and he should not make a bequest to an heir of anything except if all his heirs approve of it. He is forbidden from doing so according to the correct opinion of the School.” [Al-Insaaf]

Hence, it is not an obligation to execute such a bequest; rather, the execution of such a bequest requires the approval of all the heirs. If all of them approve of it, it becomes effective; otherwise, the house should be divided according to the Islamic law. However, for the validity of the consent of an heir, he must be an adult and of sound mind, so if he is underage or he is adult but not mature-minded, then his renouncing his share of the house is not valid from him, and his share in it will be preserved until he becomes adult or he becomes mature-minded.

2- If he wrote the house in their name as a gift for them during his life while he was not in his sickness of death, and they possessed it during his life and they disposed of it as its owners, then this is considered as a valid gift and the house becomes their property. However, if he had gifted the house to them during his sickness of death, or if they did not take full possession of the house until he died, then the gift is not effective [as it is not completed]; in which case, the house should be divided amongst all heirs according to the Islamic law.

Finally, it should be noted that it is not permissible for the father to provide gifts to some of his children whether his sons or daughters without providing them to others, as the father is required to be fair in his giving of gifts to his children, males or females alike; An-Nu‘maan ibn Basheer  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him said, “My father gave me a gift but ‘Amrah bint Rawaahah (my mother) said that she would not agree to it unless he made the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, attest to it. So, my father went to the Messenger of Allaah  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) and said, 'I have given a gift to my son from ‘Amrah bint Rawaahah, but she asked me to make you as a witness to it, O Messenger of Allaah.' The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, asked: 'Have you given (the like of it) to everyone of your children?' He replied in the negative. The Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: 'Fear Allaah, and be just with your children.' My father then returned and took back his gift." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Allaah Knows best.

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