they had only been married for about five months. This was her first
marriage but hehad another wife and sons and daughters, and when he
died (the first wife) was still married tohim.
My question is: who inherits from my relativewho was the second wife?
And what is to be included in her estate? Who is entitled to the gold
that her deceased husband gave to her at her wedding? Does it go to
her heirs or the heirs of the husband, or to both? How should it be
divided? Please note that he has sons and daughters, and a father and
siblings, and she hasa mother, two sisters and a brother.
With regard to the delayed portion of the mahr that was agreed upon in
the marriage contract, should the husband's family give it to her
heirs or is her andtheir right to it waived?
She had a separate house that the husband rented to be a marital home,
and he furnished it and equipped it; to whom should the furniture and
equipmentgo?
He also owned a house in which he and his first wife and children
lived; can my relative inherit any part of it and of what her husband
left behind, or not?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
When a person dies he may be inherited from by his living heirs, so it
isessential to establish whether the heir was still alive after the
person died. In the case asked about here, if it becomes clear to us
that one of the spouses died after the other, even by a short moment,
then the one who died later inherits from the first one, then the
inheritance passes to his or her heirs after that.
But if we do not know which of the two spouses died first, then the
majority of scholars are of the view that it cannot be proven that
they inherit from one another, so neither of them inherits from the
other, because one of the conditions of inheritance is that we should
establish that the heir was still alive after the death of the
deceased, and this condition is not met in this case.
So the husband's estate should be divided among his heirs, and his
wife does not inherit anything from him.
And the wife's estate should be divided among her heirs, and her
husband does not inherit anything from her.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
concerningthe ruling on a situation where a group of peoplewho would
inherit from one another died in an accident. He said: When that
happens, one of thefollowing five scenarios apply:
1. We know exactly who died last, so he inherits from those who
died first, and not the other way round.
2. We know that they all died at the same time,so there is no
inheritance among them, because one of the conditions of inheritance
is that the heir should still be alive after the death of the
deceased, de facto or de jure, but that is not the case here.
3. We do not know how they died; was it one after another or all
at the same time?
4. We know that they died one after another, but we do not know
exactly who died after whom.
5. We know who died after whom but then we forgot.
In the last three cases, they do not inherit from one another
according to the three imams [Abu Haneefah, Maalik and ash-Shaafa'i];
this is also the view favoured by al-Muwaffaq Ibn Qudaamah, al-Majd,
Shaykh Taqiy ad-Deen Ibn Taymiyah and our shaykhs 'Abd ar-Rahmaan
as-Sa'di and'Abd al-'Azeez ibn Baaz. This is the correct opinion,
because one of the conditions of inheritance is that the heir should
still be alive after the death of the deceased, de facto or de jure,
but this condition isnot met when it is not known. However the
Shaafa'is said that in the last scenario these decisions should be
delayed until they remember or agree, because remembering is not
something impossible.
End quote from Tasheel al-Faraa'id, p. 142, 143
Based on that, when dividing the wife's estate:
If the husband died afterthe wife, then he inherits from her, and her
estate is to be divided as follows:
The husband gets one half, the mother gets one sixth, and the
remainder goes to the brother and two sisters, with the male getting
the share of two females.
If we do not know whether the husband died after she did, then her
estate is to be divided among the mother and siblings as follows:
The mother gets one sixth, and the remaindergoes to the brother and
two sisters, with the male getting the share of two females.
With regard to this division of the husband'sestate:
If the wife died after he did, then she inherits from him and his
estate is to be divided as follows:
The two wives together get one eighth, the father gets one sixth, and
the children get the rest, with each male getting the share of two
females. The siblings do not get anything.
If we do not know whether the wife died after him, then she does not
inherit from him andhis estate is to be divided as mentioned above. So
the father getsone sixth, the first wife gets one eighth to herself,
and the children get the rest, with each male getting the share of two
females.
Secondly:
Your relative's estate is everything that she left behind of wealth
that she owned. That includes her mahr that was given to her, whether
it was gold or cash, as well as gifts that were given to her, because
they became her property.
With regard to the delayed portion of her mahr, this is a debt owed by
the husband, soit must be taken from hisestate and added to hers, then
divided among her heirs.
Also included in her estate is the diyah if the accident was caused by
an individual, whether itwas her husband or anyone else and her heirs
asked for the diyahor it was paid by the insurance.
With regard to the furniture and equipmentin the house, they belong to
the husband unless that was part of her mahr, as is customary in some
countries, or any part of it was given as a gift by the husband to his
wife.
Thirdly:
The husband's estate is whatever he left behind of wealth that
belonged to him. That includes thehouse that he owned. This estate is
to be divided among all his heirs.
With regard to this issue of inheritance, referenceshould be made to
the sharee'ah court so as to find out and list all thosewho are
entitled to inheritance and the estate, and to find out the
circumstances of death and which of the spouses died first. Because
there is a difference of scholarly opinion concerning inheritance
between thespouses in such cases, the one who should handle any cases
of disagreement among the heirs is the qaadi (judge).
And Allah knows best.
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