Inheritance

Q: At the time of the distribution (2004) of the assets of the deceased, the wife of the deceased wished to "take" a diamond belonging to the deceased by offering to pay the other heirs the market value of the diamond. The other heirs agreed, however the value was not known to the heirs. A few years later (2014) the widow wishes to pay the the heirs for that diamond.

a) Was the "taking" of the diamond by the widow at the date of distribution (2004) considered a valid sale to the heirs, considering the value was not known to the widow or the rest of the heirs at that stage ?

b)Which market value should she now pay the heirs on i.e. 2004 or 2014 if applicable?

Q: My father had taken a house on rent in 1970. In 1978, my father entered into agreement with the builder for flat to be allocated to him. He also agreed to buy 100 sq feet more by paying Rs. 10000/-. During this time someone had suggested him to avoid some legal issue he transferred his right to my uncle just for the sake of law. Till now we were staying as joint family. In 2011 my uncle was diagnosed with cancer, so we verbally made his will stating that the house will be divided in 2 shares 50% to his wife and other 50% to me, that time my father didn’t objected to his decision as my uncle was suffering from cancer. My uncle died in 2012 September, and now his wife want to sell the property and take her 50% share for which my father is objecting. I want to know in the light of Sharia rules. 1. Can my uncle make verbally will for the property which was actually of my father but due to some legal issue the property was registered in my uncle name. 2. Who is the rightful owner of the property?

Q:

1. A person wants to draw up a sharia will. He has a wife, 2 sons and a living mother. I have not mentioned his siblings as I understand that they do not inherit while he has a mother, wife and children. What is the islamic split in this scenario?

2. He wants to give one vehicle to the one son. The second son is owing him alot of money. He wants to write-off that debt. He wants to give some shares which he has with a muslim run property scheme to his wife. The scheme pays dividends quarterly.

3. Initially, he wanted to stipulate in his will his intentions for giving over these assets to his heirs as noted above. I pointed out that I doubt that you can make such stipulations as the distribution on death should be as per Islamic splits and if he wishes to give anything, he needs to do it while he is living (i.e. handing over ownership).

4. If he hands over ownership while living, he would like to use the car till his passing and if his son passes away first, he understands that he needs to then hand the car over to the sons estate. Similarly, if he hands ownership of the shares to his wife, he would like to ask his wife to allow him to benefit from the dividends while he is living.

5. For the writing-off debt for the other son, from a fatherly concern point of view, he was wondering if a) He needs to tell the concerned son (son a) that he is writing it off or if it will suffice to tell the son who is not owing him the money (son b) that it was given over to son a. The reason is he is concerned that if son a knows that the debt is not repayable, he may carelessly incur more debt. Also, he would like to not tell his wife about the debt incurred by son a as it may affect her health.

Mufti Saheb, please can you advise on the sharia rulings for the above and your advice and suggestions for the above scenarios.

Q: After my father passed away there was a dispute over his share. My two brothers Took their share without consulting my mum. She was very upset about this. To help calm the situation down I gave all my share of money and company share in writing to my mum which I faxed to my brother. When I called her she was not happy and said the following "what have you got to give when its not yours in the first place". I kept quite assuming she refused. She died last year and during this period nothing was said and the letter was still in her possesion. My elder brother was told the same. Now that she has passed away my eldest brother and two other siblings are claiming that I have lost my right to my share. Can you please let me have your learnerd opinion?

Q: If a person has three wives, can the last wife ask her inheritance be given back to the other two wives as she does not want to be part of the the distribution although she is entitled to it by Islamic law. So the question is can she sign a document to the effect that she does not want her share and is this practise acceptable from an Islamic perspective?

Q: There is a mother wanting to transfer her home under one of her son's name, but there is an issue. Here in the UK this is possible through a UK inheritance tax law, known as the 7 year rule. The idea is that when the transfer of ownership is made, the person who gifts the property has to live for 7 years for there to be no inheritance tax enforced on the one who was gifted it. Apart from this condition, there is one more. The one who made the gift is unable to benefit from it for 7 years. This means they are not allowed to live under that roof, nor are they allowed to receive profit from it if rented, because the idea is that it is not theirs to benefit from until the 7 years come to pass. After which, they are able to benefit from it i.e. they can live under the roof if the one who now owns it permits this. The problem here is that the mother doesn't want to relinquish power over her property, and says she'll only transfer the house under her son's name if she is able to stay in the house and benefit from it. In other words, she would only be doing this to avoid inheritance tax while she has no interest in allowing her son to benefit from the property while she is alive. The only legal way the mother is able to stay in the house and use it as a permanent place of residence, will be as a tenant by which she is subject to paying a rent to the new owner (the son) at a market value. At the moment, the mother receives income from the state, and is letting two rooms in the house and plans to let a third. She has no other residence in the UK, and if she decides to transfer her home under the 7 year rule, she will be obliged to pay rent to her son, which she doesn't like the idea of, unless her son gives her back the money. The question is, would it be permissible for the mother to stay in the house while they pay a rental market value to the son and then the son give back this money to his mother?

Q: My parents married out of community of property, but jointly owned a house. My mother passed away before my father. Mother left no will. My father made an Islamic will. He also typed on a separate letter that half of his share of the house goes to his divorced daughter after he passes away. He passed away leaving 5 children i.e 1 married son, 3 married daughters and 1 divorced daughter. Some are complaining that the separate letter defeats the Islamic object of the will. Please advise.

Q: We are 6 children of our parents. 5 sisters and only one brother. Father passed away long time ago. We all are married. Recently my Mother sold her house which was made by my Father its cost is 2400000 lacs. My question is how will it be divided by our family?

Q: A Muslim father passed away and left his house to two daughters, [from previous marriage... mother is also deceased] and new step mom. What is the share holding according inheritance between the step mom and the two daughters?

Q: Humble request for advice regarding inheritance.

A woman passes away leaving behind:

-3 daughters

-1 sister

-4 brothers

-Her parents and husband have passed on.

How will the estate be distributed?