He died and left behind a wife, three sons and five daughters
Question My father died and left us 25 million riyals. He has a wife, three sons and five daughters. How should the estate be divided?. Praise be to Allah. If a man dies and leaves behind a wife, three sons and five daughters, and the heirs are limited to these people, then his estate is…
Question
Praise be to Allah.
If a man dies and
leaves behind a wife, three sons and five daughters, and the heirs are
limited to these people, then his estate is to be divided as follows:
The wife gets one
eighth, because there are descendants of the deceased. Allah, may He be
exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“but if you
leave a child, they [wives] get an eighth of that which you leave after
payment of legacies that you may have bequeathed or debts”
[an-Nisa’ 4:12].
The male and
female children get the rest, with each male getting the share of two
females, because Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the
meaning):
“Allah commands
you as regards your children’s (inheritance); to the male, a portion equal
to that of two females”
[an-Nisa’ 4:11].
So the common
denominator in this issue is eight. So the wife gets one eighth, which is
one share. The remaining seven shares cannot to be divided according to the
number of children. The correct way is to divide it into 88 shares, of which
the wife gets 11, each male gets 14 and each female gets 7.
The wife’s share =
the estate × 11 ÷ 88
= 25,000,000 × 11
÷ 88 = 3,125,000
The share of each
male = the estate × 14 ÷ 88
= 25,000,000 × 14
÷ 88 = 3,977,272.70
The share of each
female = the estate × 7 ÷ 88
= 25,000,000 × 7 ÷
88 = 1,988,636.30
And Allah knows best.
