Improper disposition of an estate
Question
My mother passed away. My father distributed her gold jewelry among my sisters with the pretext that males do not customarily inherit gold jewelry. After my father passed away, I discovered that my sisters had taken my father's expensive watches and gave them to their husbands. What is the ruling for this?
Answer
If the case is as mentioned in the question, the mother's gold and the father's watches are included in their estates which must be divided among all the heirs. No one from among the heirs is to take exclusive possession of anything in excess of his rightful share except with the consent of rest of the heirs.
The son is entitled to his proportionate share in the gold jewelry and watches provided:
- The mother did not, during her life when she was in full mental capacity, bequeath the gold exclusively to her daughters with a valid and acknowledged bequest that does not exceed one third of her estate;
- The father did not bequeath the watches to his daughters or to their husbands with a valid and acknowledged bequest that does not exceed one third of his estate;
- The inquirer did not receive a recompense for the gold jewelry and watches which his sisters took.
Allah the Almighty knows best.