Giving one's inheritance to one's adopted child

Q: If a man has no children, can he allot all his inheritance to his one adopted child?

If a man has no children but has nieces and nephews, so he adopts a baby. Now, he has some inheritance on his name also. Their child, being a female got married. And now the man is willing to transfer the inheritance to his child completely as his brothers didn’t help him even a little in building the inheritance nor did the nephews and nieces. But the man had heard that inheritance could not be transferred to the adopted child. So, is there any possibility that the man can inherit all his property to his only adopted child legally by Islam, or if not then is it possible for the man to sell all the property to the child’s husband and the child’s husband then shifts the property to the man’s child name? Please help me in this regard. 

A: Since she is not an heir, it is permissible for him to make a bequest for her from only one-third of his estate. Wishing to give her the entire estate after his demise is not permissible as he will be depriving the heirs of their shar'ee right of the estate which Allah Ta'ala made them entitled to receive after his demise.

If he wants to give her all his wealth, then he may give it to her as a gift in his lifetime and give her complete control over it.

And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

 

Answered by:

Mufti Zakaria Makada

Checked & Approved:

Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)