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Is it permissible to marry off a brother from the estate of the deceased father, while this estate is insufficient to cover the deceased father's large debts?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If debt consumes the deceased's estate, it must be used to pay off the debt, and the heirs have no right to the estate, nor can they dispose of anything from it, because debt takes precedence over the heirs' right, as Allah Almighty says: "from after any will you may have made or any debt." Some jurists have held that the estate does not transfer to the ownership of the heirs, but rather remains in the ownership of the deceased to settle his debt. There are two narrations regarding whether debt prevents the transfer of the estate to the heirs: one states that it does not prevent it, provided the heirs are obligated to pay the debt, and the second states that it does prevent its transfer to them, based on the verse, so they cannot dispose of the estate except with the creditors' permission. If the debt exceeds the estate, the creditors cannot demand payment from the heirs, because they are not the debtors, and it is more proper to hasten to clear the deceased's liability, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "The soul of a believer remains suspended by his debt until it is paid off on his behalf."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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