Do the ten thousand pounds—which were paid to the children of the maternal aunt and her husband to secure an alternative dwelling for them, and which were not documented in the official sales contract amounting to thirty-five thousand pounds, of which five thousand pounds were allocated to the maternal aunt—fall within the legal inheritance of the deceased maternal aunt’s husband, or is the inheritance limited to the five thousand pounds only?

What the buyer paid outside the contract could be a gift, though this is a remote possibility, or it could be part of the house price that was agreed not to be written in the contract so that it would go specifically to the aunt's children, which is the more probable scenario. This latter case is considered an unlawful circumvention (tahayyul muharram) because the money is a right for all heirs, unless the rest of the heirs agree to allocate it specifically to the aunt's children. They might be persuaded to do so, considering the aunt's expenses and providing housing for her children. If the heirs do not agree, the ten thousand should be divided among all heirs to determine the share of the aunt and her husband. It is advisable to present the matter to trustworthy scholars (Ahl al-Ilm) to explain the details of the situation.