Inheritance query
Question
Please tell me the distribution for the heirs in following cases:
(a) If a man dies and is survived by a wife, three daughters, two sons of his sister, but sister is not alive.
(b) If a woman dies and is survived by husband, three daughters, two sisters and two brothers.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
•The Shari’ah ruling herein given is based specifically on the question posed and should be read in conjunction with the question.
•Darul Iftaa bears no responsibility to any party who may or may not act on this answer and is being hereby exempted from loss or damage howsoever caused.
•This answer may not be used as evidence in any Court of Law without prior written consent of the Darul Iftaa
In the first situation, if there are no other heirs, the deceased’s estate will be divided into 144 shares as follows:
Beneficiaries
Shares
Percentage
Wife
18
12.5%
Daughter
16
11.11%
Daughter
16
11.11%
Daughter
16
11.11%
Son of sister
39
27.08%
Son of sister
39
27.08%
Total
144
99.99%
In the second situation, if there are no other heirs, the deceased’s estate will be divided into 72 shares as follows:
Beneficiaries
Shares
Percentage
Husband
18
25%
Daughter
8
11.11%
Daughter
8
11.11%
Daughter
8
11.11%
Brother
10
13.88%
Brother
10
13.88%
Sister
5
6.94%
Sister
5
6.94%
Total
72
99.97%
Note: As you can see, there is a remainder of 0.1% in the total percentage box of the first table and a remainder of 0.3% in the total percentage box of the second table. This is due to the intricacies of rounding off each beneficiary’s percentage share to the nearest decimal point. This could result in a minute amount of the estate being left over after distribution. Hence, in the event of any surplus left after distribution, the surplus can either be given in charity on behalf of the deceased with the consent of all the heirs or it can be given to any of the heirs with the permission of the others. Otherwise, it can be redistributed according to the above percentages as far as possible.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mizanur Rahman
Student, Darul Iftaa
UK
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
- Answered by
- Mizanur Rahman
- Checked & approved by
- Mufti Ebrahim Desai
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