What is the method for distributing the estate of a man who died, has no children, and both his parents are deceased, and he has a wife and three sisters, and he has no brothers or male cousins, and he bequeathed one-third of his estate to charitable causes and stipulated that his wife should not be wronged, and he claimed in his will that he had given his sisters their rights, even though this did not happen, and his wife holds fast to this claim?
If a man dies kalalah (i.e., without a father or a child) and leaves behind a wife and sisters, the wife receives one-fourth, and the sisters receive two-thirds as a fixed share, with the remainder returned to them. This applies whether the sisters are full sisters or paternal half-sisters. However, if they are maternal half-sisters, they receive one-third as a fixed share, with the remainder returned to them. A man's will to disinherit his sisters is not valid, whether he gave them something during his lifetime or not, because their right to inheritance is established upon his death. If he bequeathed one-third of his estate for charitable deeds, his will is executed, and then the remainder is distributed: the wife receives one-fourth, and the sisters receive the rest equally. It is warned against oppressing an heir, for Allah the Almighty is the one who divided the inheritance and threatened those who transgress His boundaries.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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