Inheritance of two wives and four children

18-5-2011 | IslamWeb

Question:

I am considering to marry the widow of my younger brother who has left behind him a son and a daughter. I alreay have my wife and four adult children. I have purchased a flat in my wife's name and another flat in my own name. My father has left a big house and some land in our village. After my death, how the property shall be distributed among my two wives and their children, in case of dispute. Please advise for clariy of my thought process. Do I need to write a "will"?

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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 is His slave and Messenger.

Your inheritance should be divided amongst your heirs after your death according to the Sharee’ah. So, if you die and you have two wives and children (sons and daughters) and you do not have any other heir, then your wives will get together one eighth of the inheritance and divide it equally between them. The remainder will be divided amongst your sons and daughters by Ta’seeb (by virtue of having a paternal relation with the deceased and not having an allotted share, so they get what is left after the allotted shares have been distributed); the male twice the share of the female.

In case of dispute, the case should be taken to an Islamic court and you do not have to write a will to explain how the inheritance will be divided and you should not preoccupy yourself with a matter that has not yet taken place, because it may happen contrarily to what you expect and the Salaf (righteous predecessors) disliked the act of asking about things that have not yet taken place.

For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 81469 and 88518.

Allaah Knows best.