Questions on estates, inheritance & co-owned property

1. 01Does a wife deemed disobedient (nāshiz) inherit from her husband?

   Yes. Disobedience (nushūz) is not one of the bars to inheritance that the law lists. If the husband dies while the marriage subsists, the wife takes her lawful share even if they had an earlier dispute over maintenance or nushūz. What generally bars inheritance between spouses is a separation that took place while both were alive.

   SourcePersonal Status Law, Arts. 199 to 203 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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2. 02Does a divorced wife inherit if her husband dies during her waiting period (ʿidda)?

   It depends on the type of divorce. After a revocable divorce the spouses inherit from each other as long as she is still in her ʿidda. An irrevocable divorce generally bars inheritance. The exception is a wife divorced by her husband during his final illness without her asking for it: she inherits from him unless she remarries before he dies.

   SourcePersonal Status Law, Art. 201 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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3. 03Can an estate be distributed before the deceased's debts are paid?

   Not as a rule. The law ranks the claims on an estate: first a proper funeral, then the debts, with those secured on a specific estate asset paid first, then the will, and only then division of what remains among the heirs. If the estate is divided and a debt then comes to light, each heir answers for his share of it out of what he received from the estate.

   SourcePersonal Status Law, Art. 198 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Civil Transactions Law, Art. 630 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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4. 04Do debts owed to the deceased form part of his estate?

   Yes. The estate is everything a person leaves at death in property and financial rights, so money that others owed him is part of it and is collected for the estate through the proper legal channels. Any heir may also ask the bodies that register assets to tell him what rights and property the deceased held.

   SourcePersonal Status Law, Art. 197 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Personal Status Law Regulation, Art. 40 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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5. 05Is an heirs inventory deed enough to distribute the deceased's assets?

   No. The heirs inventory records the deceased, the heirs and their shares. The deceased's money and assets are recorded in a separate estate inventory. The Ministry of Justice's agreed estate-division service on the Estates platform requires both documents, assets that can be divided, and an applicant who is one of the heirs.

   SourceAgreed Estate Division e-service (Ministry of Justice)Heirs Inventory e-service (Ministry of Justice)Estate Inventory e-service (Ministry of Justice)

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6. 06Can one heir ask for a property to be divided even if the other heirs refuse?

   Yes. Any co-owner who wants to end the co-ownership may apply to the court for a partition. Only an agreement, a statutory provision, or a purpose for the property that requires it to remain jointly owned for good can stand in the way.

   SourceCivil Transactions Law, Art. 627 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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7. 07Will the judge order a jointly owned property sold at auction just because one co-owner asks?

   Not necessarily. If the property can be divided in kind without disrupting its use or substantially reducing its value, the court divides it. If division would do either, the court orders a sale at auction. The other co-owners cannot be forced into an auction if the applicant can sell his share for no less than it would fetch in a sale of the whole property, and they can avoid the auction by paying him whatever his share loses by being sold on its own.

   SourceCivil Transactions Law, Art. 628 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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8. 08Can an heir sell his share in a jointly owned property without the other heirs' consent?

   Yes. A co-owner may dispose of his undivided share without the others' permission, provided he does not harm their rights. That does not let him sell the whole property. The other co-owners have a right of pre-emption (shufʿa): they can take over the share at the price it was sold for plus the costs of the sale, subject to the conditions and deadlines the law sets. Ownership passes only once any procedure the law requires for the transfer has been completed.

   SourceCivil Transactions Law, Arts. 620, 657, 658 and 665 to 667 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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9. 09If most of the heirs agree on how to manage the property, are the rest bound?

   Yes, for ordinary management. The majority's view binds all the co-owners, and the majority is counted by the value of the shares, not by heads. Fundamental changes, or changing what the property is used for, need the owners of at least three quarters of it, who must notify the rest; any dissenter may object in court within 30 days of being notified. Selling the whole property is not management, so a majority cannot do it on the others' behalf.

   SourceCivil Transactions Law, Arts. 610, 620, 622 and 623 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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10. 10Can a manager be appointed for a jointly owned property when the heirs disagree?

    Yes. A majority by value of shares may choose a manager, either one of the co-owners or an outsider. If no such majority can be formed, the court may appoint a manager at the request of any co-owner. A co-owner who runs the property without objection from the others is treated as their agent.

    SourceCivil Transactions Law, Arts. 621 and 622 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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11. 11Who pays to maintain a property owned by several heirs?

    All the co-owners, each in proportion to his share, unless they agree otherwise. This covers the costs of managing and preserving the property and any other charges that arise from the co-ownership or are levied on the property. An occupant's personal expenses are a separate matter from the cost of preserving the property itself.

    SourceCivil Transactions Law, Art. 625 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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12. 12Can one heir act to protect the property without everyone's agreement?

    Yes. Every co-owner may take whatever steps are needed to preserve the jointly owned property, even without the others' consent. That does not extend to selling it or to changes that go beyond preservation.

    SourceCivil Transactions Law, Art. 624 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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13. 13Can a creditor object to the partition of a jointly owned property?

    Yes. A creditor of any co-owner may object to the property being divided or auctioned without him. He intervenes in court if the partition is judicial, or notifies all the co-owners of his objection if it is by agreement; they must then bring him in, or the partition will not bind him. A creditor whose right is registered must in every case be brought in before a partition claim is filed or an agreed partition is signed. Once a partition is complete, a creditor who did not intervene can challenge it only for fraud.

    SourceCivil Transactions Law, Art. 629 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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14. 14Can an agreed partition be challenged afterwards for unfairness (ghabn)?

    Yes, within a year. A party who proves that an agreed partition left him unfairly short (ghabn) may have it set aside, but the claim must be filed within the year following the partition. The other side can prevent this by making up the shortfall in cash or in kind.

    SourceCivil Transactions Law, Art. 631 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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15. 15Can the heirs agree to buy out one heir's share for a sum of money?

    Yes. This is called takhāruj, and the consideration may come from the estate or from outside it. It must be documented before the competent authority. It is valid if the estate is known to all the parties, or if it is unknown and could not ordinarily be ascertained within a short time. If it could have been ascertained soon and the agreement was made before that, any party who did not know the true position may ask for it to be annulled.

    SourcePersonal Status Law, Arts. 243 and 244 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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16. 16Can the heirs share the use of a property without selling or dividing it?

    Yes. This is called muhāyaʾa: the co-owners split the use of the property by time or by space in proportion to their shares. If one co-owner asks for it and the others refuse without asking for a partition, they can be compelled to accept it. But if any co-owner asks for a partition, that request prevails.

    SourceCivil Transactions Law, Arts. 634 and 638 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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These answers are brief general information. They are no substitute for a review of the facts and documents of a particular matter.