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How is the estate of a deceased husband who has no children, but has a married brother with children, divided? Does the brother have a share in the apartment and the car? If the wife's share is one-quarter and the brother's is one-third, where does the remaining money go?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a man dies leaving a wife but no children, and his brother is the only heir besides the wife, then his wife receives one-quarter of the inheritance, as per the Almighty’s saying: “But if you have no child, then for them [the wives] is one fourth of what you leave.” The remainder goes to the brother by way of asabah (agnatic relationship) if he is a full brother or a paternal half-brother. If the brother is a maternal half-brother, he receives one-sixth, as per the Almighty’s saying: “And if a man or a woman leaves neither parents nor children but has a brother or a sister [from the mother's side], then for each one of them is a sixth.” What remains after the wife's share and the one-sixth is returned to the brother. Inheritance matters must be referred to the Sharia courts to verify all heirs, wills, debts, and rights, as these take precedence over the heirs' right.

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

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