there are three pillars of islamic inheritance that are required:
- Legal heir
- deceased
- The property to be inherited
Islamic sharia outlines three conditions of inheritance which include:
- The death of the deceased must be ascertained, whether due to actual death or presumed death (in cases of missing).
- The legal heir or successor must be alive at the time of inheritance.
- The legal heir or successor should has a valid affinity and relationship with the deceased and is not an apostate or a murderer.
If there are multiple sources of the property, filing a lawsuit to calculate the diverse elements of the property will become a necessity to prove the right to inheritance. Moreover, the court will assign an expert to examine all aspects of the property. The expert will address banks, joint adventures, limited share companies, land registers, and commercial registers, then the expert will make a report to prove all elements of the inheritance and what the deceased has possessed during his life. afterward, the court will allow the distribution of inheritance to the heirs based on their legal shares. It is important to note that a skilled family law attorney will give you a competent opinion enabling you to understand your case better. It is worth mentioning that an experienced Kuwait family law attorney will counsel you on your legal rights and obligations regarding inheritance matters.
Islamic sharia is framed for the protection of everyone’s rights. There is an important Islamic rule to regulate the claiming of legal share in inheritance, which states: " No person shall be compelled to stay in a joint ownership", to avoid disputes among heirs. If one of the heirs wanted to sell his/her share of an inherited joint-owned property, he could seek the assistance of an experienced family law lawyer in Kuwait to file an action for partition, then a court order will require the sale of the property and division of the profits, or division of the property between the co-owners.
One of the most important Islamic rules related to inheritance is the right of preemption. which means the right to repurchase the real property, land or real estate after the completion of its sale, the owner of a sold common-owned property is entitled to get the priority in repurchasing the sold shares. For a more informed understanding of the right of pre-emption, you can seek the legal advice of a competent family law attorney in Kuwait.
During the process of distributing inheritance, any loan related to the property should be paid back first. then there is a strict process of Islamic wealth distribution that will occur. The steps are as follows:
- Before you distribute any part of the inheritance, any current debt should be paid out first, the current debt could take many forms such as mortgages, and deferred zakat. However, paying the current debt must be fulfilled before covering the cost of the funeral.
- The deceased’s estate must cover the funeral expenses. These funerals are not to be extravagant, but rather modest services. It is acceptable for the survivors to pay this out of pocket, but if no such concession is made, the funds must come from the estate.
- Covering the cost of a modest funeral, the estate must pay off any debts or loans still owed by the deceased.
- After that, a person may designate up to one-third of their wealth. One of the primary limitations is that this wasiyyah cannot be given to someone who is already receiving a share under the Islamic inheritance laws.
In conclusion of this article presented on the Integrated Legal Group (ILG) website, we touched upon the Procedure for distributing multi-sources property, explaining the right of pre‐emption under Kuwaiti law, and the importance of this right to avoid disputes among heirs. Eventually, it becomes clear the necessity of hiring an expert Kuwaiti family lawyer or inheritance law firm in Kuwait to represent the affected persons before the Personal Status Court, as well as to obtain the best inheritance judgment at the discretion of the judge.
