Inheritance

Q: Is it mandatory for every Muslim to make a will before death?

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.

Q: My husband passed away three weeks ago. How soon should his children tend to his will? I have no idea where he drew up his will. According to what I know his two daughters from his late wife were gifted all the properties except one as they were conceived out of wedlock. The other property I was told, I inherit an eighth. Is it not a quarter as his daughters are haraam? Also the said property has debt and so has the properties that he gifted to his children. Does the property I inherit from have to cover the debt of the properties his daughters were gifted and only after those debts are paid do I get my share?

Q: My father had died about 20 years ago. My sister has died recently. I am her only blood brother. Me and my sister shared same parents. My mother is still alive (Masha Allah). My mother re-married after my father's death and she has a son. I wanted to ask how my sisters wealth is to be distributed as I am incharge of it. In short, my sister died and has left behind:

1. A full brother.

2. A mother who has done second marriage.

3. A step brother (same mother different father).

Is my mother and step brother entitled to any of the property that my sister got from our father?

Q: A person passes away with three sons who inherit 33.33% each. Does this mean that they get ownership of 33.33% of each item? Or does it mean that they get full ownership of 1/3 of the items? If so, how is it decided which son gets which item?

Q: I need clarity on a few issues pertaining to inheritence and the shar'i ruling. As I write this email I am currently handling the affairs of my father. He is currently sitting in debt over 1.2 million rands.

1. Firstly, there is a family business which is about 30 - 35 years old. This business was given to my marhooma mother by the previous owners on the strength and relationship the owners had with her marhoom father. No where up until today has anyone come forward to say mummy has or had handed over the business to my father. Years ago my father left his job and joined mummy in the business where he incurred large amounts of debt.My mother used to take out money quietly to pay of these debts and pay for our schooling and maktab costs. This had to be done because my dad would get angry when mummy gave us anything. I have suppliers and people that will attest that since daddy was there he will take stock and not pay for it. In all this time my mother never received any payment up until she passed away 2 years ago. Instead mummy was accused of stealing money by my dad. We have a few Aadil witnesses some of whom are ulama to attest to the business being owned by mummy. My father would give large amounts of stock for free to various organisations without any consent. He purchased 2 vehicles which again was on the strength of the business account. Everything he has bought was from the business. What is the shar'i ruling?

2. I decided to help in the business since 2012/2011. During this time i did not receive a salary or payment for work done, which included banking, collecting stock, packing stock, managing the business and even working over weekends while my dad was absent. My monthly income was made from me buying and selling items from home & school tutoring as well as my wife baking and selling from home. What is the shar'i rulling here?

3. The property on which the shop is, was offered to my parents on the strength of them been good tenants for a very long time. I must say this was only done on the strength of the old owner knowing the business. However for what ever reason the property now is on my dad's name which he is still paying off. The renovations made to the property was with money taken from the above business. There are tenants as well. My mother has passed on for 2 years now. What is the shar'i rulling to all of the above?

4. My dad was given a loan around 2010 by a friend of his who is an Aalim. There was no written agreement between them. The only verbal agreement which the Aalim gave my dad was "take the money and pay me back when you can and have the money". This Aalim is now bad mouthing my father which he has a right to as my dad owes him. The bad part is this Aalim is adding on zakaat to the original amount every year. Is this permissible and if my dad passes on are we as children liable for this debt?

5. My father has since remarried before ramadhaan this year. We as his children advised him to first settle his debts before remarrying. Does this effect any of the above in any way? There are still items in the house which belong to my mother which we have left behind to make daddy's life a little easy. It was not given to him. Do we have a right to claim this? As this marriage took place fast so we did not have time to clarify this. We kept quiet in order to avoid conflict with daddy.

Q: My grandfather married my grandmother after the death of his first two wives. He had 2 sons and 2 daughters from his first wife and no children from his second wife who died during her first delivery. My grandfather and my grandmother (third wife) also have died and they had three sons and three daughters. Now there is a property in the name of my grandmother (third wife) and we wanted to know.

1. Who all will inherit from my grandmothers property?

2. What will be the share of each inheritor?

Q: My father past away in 2008 he was married in c.o.p. I have 4 sisters and me as the only son. What happens to the house as they want to put the house on to my mother's name and they say she owns half the house. What does shariah say about this and how do I go about in sorting this out. The house was bonded with my late father and mothers name, now she is the executor so how does this work? 

Q: We are in the process of winding up my father's estate, who passed away a couple of years ago, and are unclear on a specific scenario we have picked up.

My father had a number of investment policies which were registered under his name but, as required with most investments, had listed certain individuals as beneficiaries in the event of his death. The beneficiaries he listed were his wife and some of his children (so the people that naturally would qualify to inherit from his estate in any case).

The question I have around this is, according to Islamic law, should the person listed on the investment as beneficiary inherit the payout or should the investment be included in the estate and the total from the estate be distributed according to the Islamic law of succession and inheritance?

I hope I have provided sufficient detail to enable you to make an informed decision.

Q: My father owed my grandfather R40 000. Its been few years since my grandfather passed away. My father is now able to pay of the debts which will go to the heirs (none of whom have passed away) as inheritance, who are: my grandmother, my father's 3 sisters and my father himself. I would like this R40000 to be divided amongst the heirs when my father wishes to pay back the debt?