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Fatwa CenterDivision of estate among husband, two sons and five daughters
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. Please calculate the inheritance according to the following information: - Does the deceased have male relatives who are entitled to inherit: (A son) Number 2 (A grandson [from the son]) Number 3 (A half brother [from his mother]) Number 2 (A husband) - Does the deceased have female relatives who are entitled to inherit: (A daughter) Number 5 (A granddaughter [from the son]) Number 2 - The Information about the missing relatives of the deceased are: Relatives from the parents' side live in a separate country and have not seen them since her early childhood.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
If the deceased left no heirs other than those mentioned in the question, then the husband is entitled to one-fourth of the estate as a fixed share because the deceased had children; Allaah, The Exalted, says (what means): {But if they have a child, for you is one fourth of what they leave, after any bequest they (may have) made or debt.} [Quran 4:12]
The remainder of the estate should be divided among the two sons and five daughters by virtue of taʻseeb (i.e. by virtue of having a paternal relation with the deceased and not having a prescribed share, so they get what is left after the prescribed shares have been distributed); and the male gets twice the share of the female.
Hence, the estate should be divided into twelve shares; the husband gets one-fourth (three shares), each son gets two shares, and each daughter gets one share.
As for the grandsons and granddaughters as well as the half-brothers (from the mother's side), they are all excluded by the presence of the deceased's children.
The other relatives who live in a different country are not entitled to inherit as long as none of them is an immediate son or daughter of the deceased.
Lastly, it should be noted that the division of inheritance is a serious and complex issue. You should not distribute the estate without referring the case to an Islamic court, if any is available, in order to secure the interests of the living and the dead alike.
Allaah knows best.
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