Brothers forcing their married sisters to renounce their shares in inheritance
20-3-2007 | IslamWeb
Question:
We are seven brothers and sisters (4 sisters and 3 brothers). A family feud between brothers and sisters is going on about the distribution of assets. Please guide us in this regard and we will appreciate a Fatwa for the problem. Our father died in 1982. After that, all the matters were handled by our Mother and the eldest brother. At the time of our father’s death, only our elder sister was married. Mother arranged the marriage of two other sisters before her untimely death in 1988. At the time of her death our youngest sister was only 15. The eldest brother at that time decided to divide the assets left over by our parents even though no one else asked for it. The elder brother said since the money has been spent on the three elder sisters’ marriages, they should leave most of the rest for other siblings. The eldest sister agreed on the idea willingly. The second sister disliked the idea but was later convinced by the eldest brother. The third sister refused to do it initially but finally agreed under pressure after threats from elder brother. The youngest sister was never asked. A legal procedure was used for her consent without her consent. The division of the property was not fair and sisters got less then half of their rightful share. The brothers are refusing to show the legal papers of division to the sisters even though it’s their legal and moral right. Now 18 years later, Sisters want their fair share from the property according to Islamic inheritance laws. The questions are: 1. Can the elder sister still ask for her share in inheritance even though she did it willingly? 2. Can the second elder sister ask for her inheritance it even though she did not agree in the beginning but was convinced by her elder brother? 3. Can the third sister ask for her share as she was coerced into it? 4. Can the youngest sister ask for her share as she was never asked? The sisters only want fair share from their father property and do not want a penny from
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.
First of all, it should be noted that each one of you must fear Allaah and not open the door for the devil to disunite you and lead you to sever your ties of kinship. Moreover, you should rule by the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of the Prophet acting in compliance with the Saying of Allaah (which means): {And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allaah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allaah and the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result.}[Quran 4:59]. If the matter is as you mentioned in the question that your father died and left a wife, three sons and four daughters and did not leave any other heir, then the wife is entitled for an eighth-portion of the inheritance, and the remaining should be divided amongst the children, the male twice the portion of the female.
Therefore, the inheritance should be divided into 80 shares, the wife will get 10 shares, each son will get 14 shares, and each daughter will get 7 shares. Then, the children will divide amongst them the inheritance of their mother (i.e. the 10 shares); the male twice the portion of the female. This means that each son will get 2 shares from the inheritance of his mother and each daughter will get 1 share. This is of course if she did not leave any other heir. This is the principle in dividing the inheritance of the father and the mother 
.
As regards the issue of marrying off some of the daughters, then it is not permissible for you to deduct anything from the share of the daughter who was married off by her father while he was alive just because she was married off. However, the one who was married off by her mother is different, if the mother married her off with her own money [mother's money], then the brothers have no right to deduct her share in the inheritance and they have no right to force her to renounce her share in the inheritance. The daughters who renounced their right due to being forced to do so (or were never consulted), are permitted to ask for their rights later, but whoever renounced her right with her own will and consent, then she has no right to ask for her share if those to whom she renounced her share had possessed what she renounced to them, as it is not permissible to take back a gift. However, if she renounced her right and then asked for it before they had possessed it, in this case it is permissible for her to take back her gift because the gift can only be taken back if the recipient never possessed it.
Nonetheless, if the mother had spent from the inheritance in marrying off her daughters, then the sons have the right to deduct this amount from their share of inheritance without being unjust to them.
With regard to the eldest sister who got married while her father was alive, then the expenses of her marriage should not be deducted from her share in the inheritance of her father as already mentioned, and she has the right in her full share of inheritance unless she renounces her right with her full consent without her being cheated or deceived.