We are 8 sisters 2 are married after father’s death – will the inheritance differ in 2 daughters’ case?
Assalamualaikum. .
We are 8 sisters to our parents Alhamdulillah. .. bought up well with education and islamic values. My father passed away 3 years ago.. I got married after his death.. my brother in laws managed to fund in my marriage... and now are planning to get my younger sis married by selling the house property . My eldest bro in law says that the property will be divided equally in sisters after giving the 1/8th property to my mother... and he further says that I have to return the money spent in my marriage from my portion of the inheritance to my brother in laws.. and my younger sister's marriage expenses in her portion.. how far is it true?. when my elder sisters marriage expenses was taken care of my father's money why cant our marriages be.. why can't the ditribution be done after all the expenses of me and my sister's marriage is done...
mrsimran
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I would like to state beforehand, that I am no islamic Jurist. As far as I have researched, there are 2 things to be paid for before distributing inheritance:
1. funeral costs
2. debts
Then a maximum 1/3 of the inheritance for the purpose stated in the inheritors will (if he has a will).
The rest is then distributed among the heirs.
The distribution key mentioned by your brother-in-laws above seems correct.
As the expenses of your marriage are not exactly debts of your father, it cannot be deducted from the inheritance unless he made some kind of contract before his death with an organizer of weddings, caterer, etc. for this purpose, or specified in his will that part of the inheritance (max. 1/3) be used for this purpose. If he failed to do so, then not. Regarding this point your brother-in-laws are right.
However, I have never heard of any islamic rule which sets who is to pay for wedding costs. There is no rule I know of which states that it is you who have to pay for your wedding. If your brother-in-laws funded in your wedding with both sides understanding that this money has merely been lent to you (preferably with a contract), than it is your debt you have to repay. If not, than it can be seen as a voluntary contribution of theirs to the wedding costs, and there is no islamic obligation on you to repay. After all, you could argue that you would not have accepted the money or would have tried to keep the wedding costs low if it meant you going into debt. However, the unwritten law of solidarity within the family asks for your contribution to your sisters wedding costs, just as your brother-in-laws contributed to your husbands, especially if the lack of contribution would have made your wedding or the wedding of your younger sister impossible. You may agree for example with them to give some of the money directly to your younger sisters when their weddings are due without giving it to your brothers-in-law, and ask your elder sisters for similar pledges of contribution thus effectively distributing the burden equally.
Your younger sister likewise has no obligation to repay from her portion of the inheritance to your brothers-in-law unless they agree that she borrows money from them for this purpose. But of course, she can decide to spend all of her share on the wedding.
Salam,
I can answer this question:
"why can't the ditribution be done after all the expenses of me and my sister's marriage is done..."
It's because the distribution is due when your father died and it isn't based on all the kids getting married first. As soon as your father died, the distribution should've occurred. Now there are people that grieve and delay the distribution but when finally doing the distribution it's the money that was available after the father's death unless your father wrote in his will that the marriages of all his children were to be paid first. Salam, I hope this makes sense.