Dispute over father's inheritance

Question

My father had given one Kanal plot to my sister as inheritance. My father told me that he had confirmed the value of the plot to be 70 Lakhs in market. After a year he gave me 30 Lakhs and told me to use it in some business. A year later, our ancestral house (the house of grandfather of the questioner) was sold (in amount approximately 1 Crore 9 Lakh) and my father said to his siblings that he will take all the amount as a debt. The procedure to pay this debt shall be as follows: We had another plot in Qasur city which belonged to my grandmother, and we had already received the advance payment of it, the rest amount was about to be received a month later. Therefore, my father told them that they should take his share and if, after the expenses of courts etc, the debt is not paid then he or his son will pay the rest amount.

The amount which was received from my grandfather’s house was given to me by my father and he told me to purchase a plot from it to construct a house for myself.

My father would often tell me, “The share I have given to your sister, I could not give you the double of it, so forgive me for that.” My father was ill for one and a half year. He was admitted to hospital and died after two months. The amount of the plot of Qasur (the property of the grandmother) was received after his death which my uncles and aunts distributed among themselves with mutual agreement. They said that my father’s share from it is 56 Lakh approximately, so remaining debt, which is about 25 Lakh, I should pay to them. Therefore, I paid it AlhamduLillah. Now I received 1 crore 12 lakhs from my father’s side. My sister is saying that since the amount is received after father’s death therefore she must also get her share from it. Kindly guide us whether she will have her share in it or not?

When my father died he had 12 lakh rupee in his account along with some shares. My father would tell me that I should take all of it since I am paying the expenses of Hospital. However, I could not take it during my father’s life but later I took all the cash and gave the share of my sister from it.

I have disagreement with my sister on two issues; She is saying that I must give her from the inheritance, and second issue is that the plot father granted her was, as per my father, of 70 Lakh. But my sister side were first saying that it was sold for 50 lakh and now they are saying that they sold it for 46 lakh. Which of them is correct?

Answer

All complete praise is due to Allāh the one and only. May the Ṣalāh and Salām be upon the (last and final) Prophet (Ṣallallāhū ʾAlayhī Wa Sallam), who has no Prophet coming after him.

First of all, it should be kept in mind that the inheritance is only distributed after the person’s death. No one, for any excuse or reason, can distribute his inheritance during his lifetime. Whatever given by the person during his lifetime can either be gift or the expenses given for maintenance. Therefore, whatever the father has tried to distribute, during his lifetime as inheritance, is wrong.

Now, the solution to this problem is that all the property that has been already distributed by the father as inheritance should be considered only as inheritance instead of the property of anyone. All the wealth of the father should be accumulated and its amount should be evaluated. Expenses should be paid from it and whatever remains after it from money or property should be distributed to the heirs as per the law of Shari’ah. In this way, after evaluating the property price again the dispute regarding the differences in it price shall be resolved.

All the daughters and sons have right in inheritance as Allah says in Qur’an:

{يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الْأُنْثَيَيْنِ}

“Allah commands you concerning your children; to the male a portion equals to that of two females”. [Surah Nisa, Verse 11]

Therefore, son or daughter both have full rights over the inheritance of their father and it is not appropriate to exclude any of them from any portion of it. Allāh knows best.