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He died and left behind a son and six daughters

04-09-2012

Question 177833

I just wanted to know regarding the disrtibution of property of My grandfather.He passed away many years ago leaving behind an agricultural land and the house in which he used to live. He had 1 son & 6 daughters,i.e all together 7 childrens. He didnt made any will nor he divided the property among his childrens though he had given some piece of land when he was alive to some of his daughters because they were in need of the money at that time. Now my father (i.e only son of my grandfather) is planning to sell the agricutural land & he want to distribute the amount obtained from the sale of that land among her sisters as well.so can you please tell me the share of each six daughters & the only son (as per the quran and authetic hadith),supposing the amount obtained from the sale of that land be rupees 1000.
Also my father lives in the house which belongs to my grandfather & he is taking care of it with all the repair and maintainence required.He says whenever he will sell it,he will distribute the money among her sisters as per their sharai haqq & none of her sister had any objection with that because they all know that the valve of property is increasing with the time & they all will to be benefitted with the increase in the valve of the house.Is it permissable to do this or should he sell the house as soon as possible & distribute the money among all her sisters?

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

If the grandfather gave wealth to some of his daughters because they were in need of it, either because of poverty, sickness or some other reason that dictated that they be singled out for that, there is no blame on him for that and he does not have to give to the rest of his children except in the case of need.

See the answer to question no. 36872

Secondly:

If a father dies and leaves behind a son and six daughters, and there is no heir apart from them, then the son gets double the share of each daughter, because Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

“to the male, a portion equal to that of two females”

[an-Nisa’ 4:11].

If the price of the land is 1000 rupees, then your father gets 250 rupees and each of his sisters gets 125 rupees.

This is how everything that was left behind by the grandfather after he died should be divided: the house in which he used to live, and in which your father is living and taking care of its maintenance, and everything else he left behind of money, property and land.

The basic principle is that the estate should be divided immediately after the death of the owner of the wealth, because delaying it may come under the heading of neglecting some people’s rights or lead to rights being withheld from some.

But if your father had made an agreement with his sisters to sell the house in the future, with their willing consent, there is nothing wrong with that.

See the answer to question no. 4089 and 97842

And Allah knows best.

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