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MISCELLANEOUS RULES OF INHERITANCE → ← INHERITANCE OF THE THIRD GROUP

INHERITANCE OF HUSBAND AND WIFE

Ruling 2781. If a woman dies without any offspring, half of her estate is inherited by her husband and the remainder by her other heirs. If she has offspring from that husband or another husband, her husband inherits one-quarter of the estate and the remainder is inherited by her other heirs.

Ruling 2782.* If a man dies without any offspring, a quarter of his estate is inherited by his wife and the remainder by his other heirs. If he has offspring from that wife or from another wife, his wife inherits one-eighth of the estate and the remainder is inherited by his other heirs. A wife does not inherit anything from the land of a house, garden, plantation, or any other land, neither from the land itself nor from the value of it. Furthermore, she does not inherit from what stands on the land, such as buildings and trees. She does, however, inherit from their value, and the heirs can give her their value from other wealth. The same applies to the trees, crops, and buildings on the land of a garden, plantation, or any other land. However, she does inherit from the actual fruit that was present on the trees at the time of her husband’s death.

Ruling 2783.* If the wife wishes to have right of usage over things that she does not inherit, such as the land of a residential house, she must obtain permission from the other heirs. It is not permitted (jāʾiz) for the other heirs – as long as they have not given the wife her share – to have disposal over those things of which she inherits the value, such as buildings and trees, which would cause their price to decrease, nor can they sell such things, without the wife’s permission.

Ruling 2784. If the heirs wish to undertake the valuation of the buildings, trees, and similar things, they must do so in the way experts usually undertake valuations. That is, they must disregard the particulars of the land it is situated on and not base their valuation on how much it would be worth if it were [per impossibile] uprooted from the land or it remained unrented on the land.

Ruling 2785. The watercourses for subterranean canals and suchlike have the same rule as land, and the bricks and other things used for their construction have the same rule as buildings. As for the water itself, the actual water is inherited.

Ruling 2786. If the deceased has more than one wife and no offspring, one-quarter of the estate must be divided equally among his wives. If he has offspring, one-eighth of the estate as per the explanation given previously must be divided equally among his wives. This rule applies even if the husband did not have sexual intercourse with all or some of them. However, if he married a woman during his terminal illness and did not have sexual intercourse with her, that woman does not inherit from him, nor is she entitled to a dowry.

Ruling 2787. If a woman marries a man while she is ill and subsequently dies from that illness, her husband inherits from her even if he did not have sexual intercourse with her.

Ruling 2788. If a woman is given a revocable divorce (al‑ṭalāq al‑rijʿī) in the manner explained in the rulings on divorce, and she dies during the prescribed waiting period (ʿiddah), her husband inherits from her. Furthermore, if her husband dies during that ʿiddah period, his wife inherits from him. However, if one of them dies after the expiry of the ʿiddah period or during the ʿiddah period of an irrevocable divorce (al‑ṭalāq al‑bāʾin), then the other does not inherit from him/her.

Ruling 2789. If a husband divorces his wife while he is ill and dies before the expiry of twelve lunar months, his wife inherits from him on fulfilment of three conditions [as below], irrespective of whether the divorce was revocable or irrevocable.

1.
During this time, she has not married another man. If she has married another man, she does not inherit. However, the recommended precaution (al‑iḥtiyāṭ al‑mustaḥabb) is that they [the ex-wife and the heirs] arrive at a settlement.

2.
The divorce has not taken place at the request of the wife; otherwise, she does not inherit, irrespective of whether she paid her husband something to divorce her or not.

3.
The husband died with the same illness he had when he divorced her, and he died due to that illness or some other cause. Therefore, if the husband recovers from that illness and dies later due to another cause, the divorced wife does not inherit from him unless his death happened during the ʿiddah period of a revocable divorce.

Ruling 2790. The clothes that a husband buys for his wife to wear are treated as part of his estate after his death even though she may have worn them, unless he gave her ownership. A wife is entitled to seek ownership of clothes from her husband as part of his obligations to provide maintenance (nafaqah) for her.
MISCELLANEOUS RULES OF INHERITANCE → ← INHERITANCE OF THE THIRD GROUP
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