Distribution of an estate
Question:-
My Father past away on the 23rd of December 2020. The deceased leaves behind 3 sons, his mother and his wife. He leaves behind 3 properties with different values. There is a running business and my mother claims to be a 50% shareholder in the business. I require guidance as to how the estate should be dissolved.
The other problem which I am facing is:
My mother wants my younger brother to get one property for himself, and the remaining 2 brothers will get the remaining 2 properties. The 2 older brothers have there own properties whilst the youngest brother doesn’t, thus she wants him to own this property as well. I have refused this request and as a result, I am feeling very guilty. What should I do? I have advised that everything should be shared in accordance to the Shari’ee law of succession. Please advise!
Answer:-
1. In the queried scenario, after paying the burial expenses, settling all outstanding debts, fulfilling bequests of the deceased up to 1/3 of the estate, if any, then the remainder of the estate will be distributed as follows: the Marhoom’s wife will receive 12.5%, the mother will receive 16.66% and the 3 sons will each receive 23.61%. This gives us a total of 99.99%. The remainder of 0.01% can be given out in charity with the consent of all the heirs, or divided amongst the heirs according to the above percentages.
2. If all the heirs agree and acknowledge that 50% of the business belongs to your mother whilst the remaining 50% belonged to your father (and there is no dispute in the matter), then the 50% that belonged to your late father will form part of the deceased’s estate and be distributed in accordance to the Shari’ee law of succession. The 50% belonging to your mother will not form part of the estate in this instance.
3. It is necessary for every Muslim to abide by the laws of succession that have been stipulated in the Quraan Sharif and Hadith Sharif. It is therefore, incorrect for your mother to decide as to how the properties should be shared or distributed, even though her intentions may be good. We strongly advise that all the properties are divided in accordance to the above-mentioned percentages (which is in accordance to the Shari’ee law of succession), so that complications do not arise at a later stage. It is recorded in a narration of Rasulullah Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam, “The wealth of a Muslim person is not Halaal except with a good heart.” Hence, every heir desires to receive his/her share in full, and it is, therefore, incorrect to coerce and force any heir to gift his/her share of inheritance to another heir.
However, if all the heirs were willing to share the properties as per your mother’s suggestion, then it would have been acceptable to do so. However, seeing that there is some degree of uncertainty and unhappiness already, we strongly advise that all properties are distributed in accordance to the Shari’ee law of succession.
ALLAH TA’ALA KNOWS BEST!
ANSWERED BY:
Mufti Mohammed Desai
Date: 17 Safar 1444 / 14 September 2022