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Fatwa CenterA gift that the deceased received and possessed becomes part of his estate
Question
Me and my brother live in a joint family with father and mother alive and have no sister.I have 4 sons and my brother have 2 sons .My brother is a teacher and i am a business man. I spend 6 times more than that my brother spend for the joint family. I have purchased 2 vehicles registered in my fathers name and have earned Rs 20 lacs lying in my bank account .After death of my father we two brothers seperate and divide fathers property. My brother demand equal share from the vehicles which i have purchased and registerd in fathers name and demand equal share in Rs 20 lacs lying in my account. Kindly suggest me what should i do.
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.
If you registered the two cars under your father's name on the basis of transferring ownership to him, then this is considered a gift that has been finalized and it becomes the property of your father, and so when he passed away, they were to be included in the estate and distributed among his heirs, and you, like the other heirs, are only entitled to your share to them and nothing more. In this case, your brother is entitled to claim his right to these two vehicles and his share is equal to yours.
However, if you gave the two cars to your father as a loan, not a transfer of ownership to him, then the two vehicles belong to you and none of the heirs has any right to them because they are not to be included in the deceased father’s estate in the first place.
On the other hand, your brother has no right to claim any share of the money in your bank account as long as it is not his father’s money; if he claims that this money is his father’s and you have taken it from him, he is required to provide valid evidence to substantiate his claim.
Allaah Knows best.
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