Q: I've got a question and situation pertaining to inheritance and estate.
My mother in-law has passed on and wasn't married ANC contract but rather in COP. Half the property goes to my father in-law. To make the winding up of the estate easy, the 3 brother's decided to legally put the entire property on my father in-laws name. Now that my father in-law wants the property to be sorted out, the issue is that the youngest brother and his wife live with my father in-law. The property is valued around R1.1 million. The youngest brother who isn't very stable wishes to buy the elder and middle brother's shares at 150k each as that's all he can afford and wishes to pay monthly whatever little he can afford.
What's the correct shariah process to follow since it's on my father in-laws name legally? My husband wishes to just give the shares and say that don't pay monthly but whenever he has means later in life then he can give it to him. My husband himself doesn't own a property or anything so should he not accept his shares so that he can put it aside for hajj or as a deposit for our own house? Tomorrow if anything happens, my husband says I should go with my 3 kids to my parent's as he has nothing.
What should be done to please Allah and what process should be followed ? The father in-law does live with the youngest son that wants to buy the house but he is ever complaining about him and my sister in-law to us which isn't right at all.
A: Marrying in COP does not legalise the estate. The estate of the deceased mother has to be rewound according to the shar`ee requirements. The children and father both inherit from their late mother's estate. Thereafter, they may decide what to do.
And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
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