Question
What is status (inheritence point of view) of a house purchased equally by deceased father and elder son (50% each share), being maintained by elder son through out, while rest of brothers and sister did nothing for upkeeping the house? Though this fact is known by all brothers and sister and family members yet not written anywhere. Now if elder son after death of father, claims that he has half share in the house while rest half should be distributed according to law of inheritence. Is he right or not?
Answer
If the father did not leave a will, then the only recourse is the directive in the Qur’an regarding inheritance. However, the only part of the inheritance that can be distributed is the 50% that the father owned. Additionally, the son that owns the other 50% of the inheritance is entitled to his share of the father’s legacy. This is the case if the father and son established the ownership as being 50%-50%. In other words, it was clear that the son was making an investment in the property with a 50% stake in it.
If the son paid for half of the property because it was a gift or just to help his father own it, then he does not own any of the property. In this case, the entire inheritance will be split among all the brothers. It should be emphasized that the oldest brother that financed half of the property but had no vested interest has no right over any part of the property and therefore can only share in the inheritance as dictated by the Qur’an.
I hope this helps.
God knows best.