Wasiyyat for masjid, wife and nephew in the presence of living brother and sisters.

Question ID: 
846
ano*** asks:

Question

A person made the following wasiyyah regarding his wealth before passing away: 10% of the whole for masjid, 25% for his wife and the rest for his nephew (Brother's son). He passed away leaving behind his wife, a brother and 2 sisters. The family members want to distribute his inheritance according to Sharia.

Answer

First of all one should know that the obligation of fulfilling the wasiyyat of the deceased person is incumbent only up to one third of the total assets in the estate. So 10% of the whole estate will be allocated to the masjid, and the remaining 23.3% of the one third will be given to the nephew. The wife will inherit 25% of the remaining two thirds as a normal heir (N.B wasiyyat is not valid in favour of an heir, so she will not inherit therefrom) and finally the remainder of the two thirds will be equally divided into four shares, two shares for the brother ( representing 37.5% of the remaining 2/3 of the estate) and one share (representing 18.75% of the remaining 2/3 of the estate) for each sister.