Died leaving two sons and two daughters
19-5-2009 | IslamWeb
Question:
my father no more inthis world he left 2 houseses one house he transfer in our two brothers names in his life one house still on his name i want to ask u we r two brothers n 2 sisters how we distribute hese property
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 
is His slave and Messenger.
If your father had registered the house on the names of some of his children as a gift and he did not gift his other children the same thing by which justice is achieved between the children in gifting them, then that gift is void. Therefore, the house is included in the inheritance and all the heirs are entitled to inherit it according to their legal share. In case he wanted to gift it to them and registered it on their name but he did not hand it over to them until he died, then this gift is not binding and the house is also for the heirs. So, if your father died and left two sons and two daughters and he did not leave any other heir like a wife, a mother, a father, a grandfather or a grandmother, then the inheritance should be divided on his two sons and two daughters, the male twice the share of the female as Allaah Says (what means): {Allaah instructs you concerning your children [i.e. their portions of inheritance]: for the male, what is equal to the share of two females.}[Quran 4:11]
Therefore, the house and the whole inheritance should be divided into six shares, each son gets two shares and each girl gets one share.
Finally, it should be noted that the matter of inheritance is very complex an issue, so a mere Fatwa which is an answer issued according to the question is not enough. Rather, the matter should be taken to an Islamic court to look into the case, or it should be presented orally (in person) to the scholars in case there are no Islamic courts. It might be that there is an heir who would not be known except after investigation, and there might also be a will, debts, or other dues that are not known to the heirs. It is known that these rights come in priority over the right of the heirs. Therefore, the inheritance should not be divided without resorting to an Islamic court, if any, in order to fulfil the interests of the dead and the live people.
Allaah Knows best.