Inheritance of a wife, three sons and one daughter

29-11-2009 | IslamWeb

Question:

my husband's father died before 5 years. at thar time his third no. son was alive and after one year he also expired and he had one wife and daughter and three sons. noe his widow claims for the share of inheritence of her and their children because husband's father left a house in inheritence. so what will be the share of this said daughter, a grand daughter and three grandsons.

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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 ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

 

The above-mentioned grandchildren and their widowed mother do not inherit from the estate of their grandfather, but they inherit the share of their father from the estate of his father, i.e. the grandfather. If the deceased son left a wife, three sons and one daughter, and there is no heir other than them, like the mother for example, in this case, the wife gets one-eighth of the share of the deceased son, and the remaining amount should be distributed among the sons and the daughter on the basis that the male gets what is equal to the share of two females.

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.