Also the fact that in Islam if there is no connection between parent and child for whatever reason that the parent can give his inheritance to other part of family members and not necessarily have to be his children, he can give it to his brother, mother, etc, someone even more deserving is something
For Muslims, distribution of the property is not based on what an individual wants or does not want. It is always based on Islamic rules clearly established in Quran and Sunnah and these rules vary depending on different conditions. Let me give some examples based on different conditions so you can see how shares may change with different conditions.
Example 1:
Deceased left a property of $100,000. The deceased left a wife, a daughter, an adopted son, a father, 3 real (full) brothers and 2 real (full) sisters. The deceased also left a will than $50,000 to be given to his adopted son. Total cost of the funeral was $1,000. The deceased also owe $4,000 to one of his brother.
Now based on Islamic law, we will first pay off the cost of funeral and the loan money out of the total property left by deceased. So the total property left after that is 95,000. Now the max, a deceased can give away as a gift to someone who is not his heir is 1/3 of this property. In our case that equal $31,667. So we can't give away $50,000 to his adopted son. Instead, we will give $31,667. That leaves total property value to be distributed among heirs to $63,333.
Now for distribution:
- Wife will get 1/8 because deceased left children behind ( otherwise she could get 1/4 as I illustrated in example # 3 below).
- An adopted son is not the heir. So he only got what deceased left as part of his will ( max 1/3 of the property).
- Brothers and sisters of the deceased will get nothing because deceased left children ( a daughter) behind and father of the deceased is involved in this calculation.
- Daughter gets 1/2 of the property, because single daughter gets half of the property provided there are no sons. In case of 2 or more daughters with no son, daughter share 2/3 of the property.
- Father gets 1/6 + the remainder because there is no son or closest male heir ( Normally father gets 1/6 but in this case he happened to be the closest male relative so he also gets the remaining)
- LCM for fractions ( 1/8, 1/2 & 1/6) is 24. That means wife gets 3 parts out of 24, daughter gets 12 parts out of 24 & father gets 4 parts + remainder. In this example, the remainder is 24-(3+12+4)=5. So father's share is 9 parts out of 12.
- Wife's share is $7,916, Daughter's share is $31,666 & father's share is $23,750.
Example 2:
Deceased left a property of $100,000. The deceased left a wife, a son, a daughter, a father, a mother, 3 real (full) brothers and 3 real (full) sisters. The deceased did not leave any will behind. Total cost of the funeral was $1,000. The deceased also gave a loan of $21,000 to his friend.
Total property in this case is $ 121,000. After deducting the cost of funeral, total value of assets for distribution between heirs is $120,000.
- Deceased brothers and sister don't get any share because deceased left behind children.
- Wife will get 1/8.
- Father gets 1/6.
- Mother gets 1/6.
- Because there is a son and a daughter, we will have to work our 2:1 ratio between them for distribution of remaining property.
- LCM in this example is 24. Wife gets 3/24, father gets 4/24, mother gets 4/24 & remaining 13/24 to be divided between daughter and son with a ratio of 2:1. Since 13 can't be divided by 3, perhaps it is best to multiple and divide all factions with 3 to get a number which can easily be divided by 3.
- Doing simple math, new fractions turn out to be 9/72 for wife, 12/72 for father, 12/72 for mother, son gets 26/72, and daughter gets 13/72.
- Wife's share is $15,000, father and mother's share is $20,000 each, son gets $43,333 and daughter gets $21,667
Example 3:
Deceased left a property of $300,000. The deceased left two wives, a father and a mother. The deceased left a will to give away 1/3 of his property to an organization who takes care of orphans. Total cost of the funeral was $1,000.
After deducting the cost of funeral, total value of assets is $299,000. $99,667 is given to the organization per the will of the deceased and remaining $199,333 will be divided between heirs.
- Two wives will share 1/4 of the property because no children are involved in the calculation.
- Father gets 2/3 of the remaining.
- Mother gets 1/3 of the remaining.
- Two wives get $49,833 ($24,916.50 each). $100,165 goes to father & $49,335 goes to mother.
The fixed portion used in these examples in directly mentioned in Quran. I am quoting related verse and hadith below:
Allah commands you as regards your children's (inheritance); to the male, a portion equal to that of two females; if (there are) only daughters, two or more, their share is two thirds of the inheritance; if only one, her share is half. For parents, a sixth share of inheritance to each if the deceased left children; if no children, and the parents are the (only) heirs, the mother has a third; if the deceased left brothers or (sisters), the mother has a sixth. (The distribution in all cases is) after the payment of legacies he may have bequeathed or debts. You know not which of them, whether your parents or your children, are nearest to you in benefit, (these fixed shares) are ordained by Allah. And Allah is Ever All-Knower, All-Wise. [Quran 4:11]
Malik said, "The generally agreed on way of doing things among us about which there is no dispute and what I have seen the people of knowledge in our city doing is that when a father inherits from a son or a daughter and the deceased leaves children, or grandchildren through a son, the father has a fixed share of one sixth. If the deceased does leave any children or male grandchildren through a son, the apportioning begins with those with whom the father shares in the fixed shares. They are given their fixed shares. If a sixth or more is left over, the sixth and what is above it is given to the father, and if there is less than a sixth left, the father is given his sixth as a fixed share, (i.e. the other shares are adjusted.)
"The inheritance of a mother from her child, if her son or daughter dies and leaves children or male or female grandchildren through a son, or leaves two or more full or half siblings is a sixth. If the deceased does not leave any children or grandchildren through a son, or two or more siblings, the mother has a whole third except in two cases. One of them is if a man dies and leaves a wife and both parents. The wife has a fourth, the mother a third of what remains, (which is a fourth of the capital). The other is if a wife dies and leaves a husband and both parents. The husband gets half, and the mother a third of what remains, (which is a sixth of the capital). That is because Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, says in His Book, 'His two parents each have a sixth of what he leaves if he has children. If he does not have children, and his parents inherit from him, his mother has a third. If he has siblings, the mother has a sixth.' (Sura 4 ayat 11). The sunna is that the siblings be two or more."
As you can see that this is a very interesting topic and one may have variety of situations to calculate the share of his/her heirs. Perhaps, if I get some free time I may start a thread to explain all the details and conditions related to Islamic law regarding Inheritance.
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