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Fatwa CenterExecuting a will in light of the balance of probabilities
Question
Lady “a” entrusted lady “b” with some money and asked her not to give the money to her daughter, i.e. the daughter of lady “a”. Then lady “a” died leaving behind her only daughter as her inheritor. What should lady “b” do? Is she required to implement the will of lady “a” or should she give the money to the inheriting daughter? Thanks.
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 'alyhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The lady who is entrusted with the money should reconsider the indication of what the other lady said to her. If she has a strong suspicion that she intended by her will not to give her daughter any of that money during her life and after her death, then this takes the ruling of a will. Consequently, if this amount of money constitutes one third or less than one third of her estate, then her daughter does not have the right to anything. In this case, the money should be given out in charity. If the money constitutes more than one third of the estate, then the extra amount must be added to the estate and divided as inheritance in the way prescribed by Allaah.
However, if lady “b” has a strong suspicion that lady “a” wanted to deprive her daughter of that money during her life only, then the money that she kept with lady “b” must be returned to the estate and divided in the shares of inheritance.
If the situation is undecided, and thus neither absolute forbiddance nor restricting the forbiddance during the mother’s life is ascertained, then the second option should be adopted if there is no indication that would warrant interpreting it otherwise.
Allaah Knows best.
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