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Fatwa CenterMother wants to give her inheritance from her husband to her daughters only
Question
Do granddaughters have any right to assets/property owned by paternal grandfather? My husband's father passed away a few years back. He has left behind 3 sons, 2 daughters and a wife alongwith 4 grandsons - (from sons), 2 grand daughters (from son), 3 grandsons (from daughters), 3 granddaughters (from daughters). broadly, how should his house worth 2 crore be divided. As I understand, my mother-in-law gets 1/8 of the property value. I also understand that she is at liberty to spend this amount as she pleases. But is it really islamic to declare that she will give away all this share amount to her daughters and not to her sons? While the entire moral responsibility of medical expenses, respect to one's mom and clothes for festival is borne by her eldest son. I would really like to know whether the daughters of the first son are entitled to any property at all. Doesn't a son have any share in his mother's assets at all?. But I would like to clarify these doubts.
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 is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
The daughters of the son are among the heirs, but they might be prevented from inheriting in some cases and will not have any share in the inheritance because of the existence of someone who is more deserving of the inheritance than them. This is what is called in inheritance science by "Prevention due to the existence of someone worthier to inherit".
If a man dies and leaves a son and daughters from his son, then the daughters of the son have no right in the inheritance and the inheritance is the right of the son as he comes in priority in inheriting his father. However, if the father of the girls was alive when his father died "grandfather of the girls", in this case, they [granddaughters] have the right in what their father inherits (i.e. after his death). This is in regard to the inheritance of the granddaughters from the son's side.
As regards the granddaughters from the daughter's side, they are not among the heirs and they have no share in the inheritance as they are only considered as relatives.
If the situation is that the man died leaving a wife, three sons and two daughters, then the wife will get an eighth part of the inheritance, and the reminder of inheritance will be divided among the sons and daughters, the male twice the share of the female. Therefore, the inheritance will be divided on 64 shares, the wife will get 8 shares, each son will get 14 shares, and each daughter will get 7 shares.
As regards the wife giving her share to the daughters and not giving anything to the sons, then the parents are religiously required to be just in gifting their children, as the Prophet 
said: "Fear Allaah and be just in gifting your children." [Al-Bukhari] for more details, please refer to Fataawa 87422 and 89054. Therefore, the wife [i.e. your mother in-law] should be just in gifting her children while she is alive, as regards after her death, then she is not permitted to make a will for her daughters without doing so for her sons, because the Prophet said: "Allaah has given each one his right and there is no will for an heir." [Ahmad]
Finally, we advise you to take the issue of inheritance to an Islamic court in your country or present it orally to the scholars because inheritance is a very complex an issue, therefore you should not rely on a Fatwa issued according to the question which contains many probabilities.
Hence, it is an obligation to take the issue to an Islamic court (if any) or present it orally to the scholars so that they will study it, as there might be an heir who would not be known except after investigation, and there might be a will, debts, or other dues that are not known to the heirs, and it is known that these rights come in priority over the right of the heirs. Therefore, the inheritance should not be divided without resorting to an Islamic court in order to fulfil the interests of the dead and live people.
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