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Fatwa CenterDividing retirement pension among wife, 3 sons and 1 daughter
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. Please calculate the inheritance according to the following information:
- Does the deceased have male relatives who are entitled to inherit: (A son) Number 3
- Does the deceased have female relatives who are entitled to inherit: (A daughter) Number 1 (A wife) Number 1
- Additional information: Assalamu alaykum, praise be to Allaah, I am still in this life, but as I prepare for my retirement, I am required to name a beneficiary for my pension, 401(k), and social security. I have two boys aged 23 and 26 from a previous marriage and one boy and one girl aged 3 and 8 from the second marriage and my current wife. If I put my wife as a beneficiary, then my older kids from my first marriage will not be entitled to any of my pension, 401(k) or, social security when I am no longer around. Should I put one of my older sons as a beneficiary with a Wassiyah (will) to distribute any pensions according to the Sharia? Or should I just write a will to protect everyone's share, including my wife's. May Allaah reward you.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
If the retirement pension, 401(k), and social security are among your rights as an employee and not a gift from the company, then it should be divided among all your heirs with no exception. Each heir should receive his share in the retirement pension according to the Islamic inheritance laws (after your death). If the concerned entity (company) requests specifying the beneficiaries of the retirement pension in advance, then allocate for each of them a share equivalent to his share from inheritance. However, if the pension is a gift offered by the company and not your due right, then the company is required to specify the beneficiary of the gift, and not you. If the company authorizes you to specify the beneficiaries of the pension, then justice entails that you make all your children from the first and second marriages beneficiaries because it is a gift yielding benefit and accordingly is held in the same status as the gift offered directly by you. You are legislatively obliged to observe justice and equality among your children in this regard.
Please, refer to fatwa 294382 about the ruling of taking part in the 401(k) retirement plan.
Lastly, if a person died while leaving behind a wife, one daughter and three sons as heirs, then the estate should be divided among them as follows:
The wife gets one eighth of the estate as a fixed share. The remainder of the estate should be divided among the children by virtue of Ta‘seeb (i.e. by virtue of having a paternal relation with the deceased and not having an allotted share, so they get what is left after the allotted shares have been distributed); the son gets twice the share of the female. Hence, the estate should be divided into eight shares; the wife gets one eighth (one share), each son gets two shares, and the daughter gets one share.
Allaah knows best.
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