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Fatwa CenterNo heir entitled to dispose of estate independently
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. Please advise. My father passed on and left his property. My dad requested that my mom stays in the house until her death and that we give my brother and sisters a 2-year period in which they must find a place and then the house be sold and divided according to Sharia law. However it is going to cost us, the heirs, R43,000.00 to transfer the house onto Mom's name, which is money none of us has, and now Mom wants to sell the house to my brother at a lesser price than what the Market value is. Mom is not the legal owner of the house as of yet. One sister also suggested that my brother rents to own. My question is: if he rents to own, then the money that he pays will go into a trust until it be divided amongst us sisters. Is it fair to ask everyone to wait for a set period of 5 or 10 years before the inheritance gets paid out? At the moment, we have a sister going through a tough time, is it fair to make her wait while she could benefit from it now? May Allaah guide us.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The request that your father made, that your mother stays in his house after his death is considered a will in favor of an heir, which is forbidden in Islamic law and cannot be effective except with the consent of all heirs. Your mother has no right to sell the house or any other property of your father's estate and favor your brother with it. What your father left has become the property of all the heirs, and none of them has the right to dispose of it independently. If all the heirs agreed to delay the division of the estate, then there is no religious impediment to it as long as all of the heirs are sane mature adults and are willing to delay it wholeheartedly. However, if some of the heirs disagree about the delay, then it is impermissible to delay the division of the estate. Rather, it is incumbent to divide the estate among the heirs according to the Islamic inheritance laws. Please refer to fatwas 96556and 106981.
As for the rent to own contract, please refer to fatwa 2884.
Allah knows best.
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