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Fatwa CenterNone of the heirs has the right to delay division of inheritance
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. We are four brothers and three sisters in Pakistan. After the death of our parents, we need to sell the house, but one of my sisters refused to sell the house without any reasonable reason. She said that she is not interested in selling the house. It seems like she does not want anyone else getting their part of their inheritance from the house. Is there a way that we can still sell the house and keep her part of inheritance and give it to her immediately after selling the house.
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 ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The sister has no right to refuse or delay the division of the inheritance without the consent of the rest of the heirs. Hence, if the inherited house is divisible, then she is not obliged to sell her share of the house; her share of the house can be simply preserved for her. However, if the house is indivisible and cannot be divided among the eligible heirs without incurring harm, then she is obliged to comply with their wish to sell it and divide the price among them, giving each heir his due share. Shaykhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah 
wrote:
“If the co-property is indivisible and any of the co-owners requests selling it and dividing its price among the co-owners as due, then it should be sold and its price should be divided among the joint owners as requested. This is the official view of the Hanbali School as narrated by Al-Maymooni (from Imaam Ahmad) and as narrated by many of the Hanbali scholars.”
For further information, please refer to fataawa 123882 and 130136. The judge of the sharee'ah court or whoever is acting in his capacity should handle the sale process in this case.
Allaah knows best.
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