Q. Sometime during her life, my mother told me that she would like her property to be divided into three shares, one to each of her two daughters and the other to the poor and needy. My mother died 3 years ago, leaving behind 2 daughters, a husband, 3 brothers and 3 sisters. Her property consisted of a flat and some cash.
In line with her wishes, I sold the flat and divided the proceeds and the cash between my sister and myself. Since our father is an alcoholic and was likely to drink up any money that came his way, I gave him nothing.
However, soon afterward, he fell ill and I took care of him, paying for an emergency operation and in the process spending most of what I received as my share. Recently I heard that my uncles and aunts should have received one sixth each of my mother’s inheritance. I do not know what to do, having spent all the money, which was by no means large. Please advise.
S. Hussain
A. If people would only consult a scholar when they have some inheritance to divide, they would save themselves a great deal of trouble and gain what is lawful to them. Had this reader done so, she would have known what share to give to whom and would have spared herself many complications. What we should realize is that whatever we own is not our property; it belongs to God who has placed us in charge of it. It is He who determines how it should be divided after we die. It is not up to anyone to decide who inherits and who does not.
According to the Islamic law of inheritance, your mother’s property should have been divided in the following manner: one-quarter (25%) to your father, one-third (33.3%) to each of her two daughters, and the remainder (8.3%) to be divided into 9 shares with each of your maternal aunts taking one share, i.e. a fraction less than 1%, and each of your 3 maternal uncles taking two shares, i.e. a little less than 2%. Had your mother’s wish to give one-third of her property to the poor and needy been serious enough to consider it as a will, you should have acted on that will and given one-third of her property to the poor and needy.
Everyone is entitled to give up to one-third of his/her property by will. It seems to me, however, that this was not a serious proposition, but rather a wish expressed at a particular moment and no action taken on it.
It was right that you did not give your father any money, but you should have allocated him his share of one-quarter and ensured that it was spent properly. Since you have paid for his operation and treatment, you should make an approximate calculation of what this amounted to in order to determine whether he is owed any money still. You should tell your sister of this and claim back from her the difference between what she got and her actual share.
As for your uncles and aunts, what you should do is to raise from your sister and yourself an amount equal to 8.3% of the total property of your mother and speak to them saying that this is their share, giving them whatever is due to each of them. If you cannot raise the money, you should speak to them and request them to forgo their shares. If any of them is unwilling to forgo it, you and your sister have to pay it to them.
