The couple and their daughter died one after another in an accident; how should their estate and diyah be divided?

Question: 126997

In a car accident an entire family died, consisting of three members, a father, a mother and a girl. They died in the following order: first the mother, then the father, then the daughter.

The mother has a father, mother, brothers and sisters.

The father has a mother and sisters and a brother.

My question is: who should take the prescribed diyah (blood money), and how should the diyah and the rest of the estate and wealth be divided?.

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

If the person
at fault in this accident is someone other than these people, such as the
driver of another car, and what is meant by the father and mother is the
husband and wife, and they died in the order mentioned, then the one who
died later inherits from the one who died earlier, and the diyah of each one
who died is to be added to his estate and divided among his heirs.

Shaykh Ibn
Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: If two or more people who would
inherit from one another die in a building collapse, by drowning, in a fire
or in a plague and the like, then there are five scenarios, one of which is
where one of those who would inherit from one another dies after the others,
even if it is only a moment later; the one who dies later inherits from the
one who dies earlier, according to consensus. End quote from al-Fawaa’id
al-Jaliyyah fi’l-Mabaahith al-Faradiyyah.

Based on that,
the diyah of the wife and the rest of her estate is to be divided as
follows:

Her husband
gets one-quarter, because of the presence of a descendant who inherits.

Her daughter
(the girl) gets half.

Her father
gets one-sixth.

Her mother
gets one-sixth.

Her brothers
and sisters do not get anything, because the father’s presence prevents
that.

It may be
noted in this case that the shares of the heirs add up to more than one
(whole number) This is what the scholars call al-‘awl, and in this case,
something has to be deducted from the share of each heir, so as to be just
and fair. So when the estate is divided, it is divided into thirteen equal
parts:

The husband
gets three parts; originally he gets one-quarter, which is 3 out of 12
parts.

The daughter
gets 6.

The mother
gets 2.

The father
gets 2.

The diyah of
the husband and the rest of his estate – including the quarter of his wife’s
estate to which he is entitled – is to be divided as follows:

His daughter
gets half.

His mother
gets one-sixth.

His brother
and sisters get the rest, with the male getting the share of two females.

In addition to
the diyah for the child, there is what she inherited from her parents, and
her share of the diyah for her father and mother, and it is to be divided
among her living heirs. There are no heirs in this case except her two
grandmothers and her paternal uncle (her father’s brother).

As for her
paternal aunts and maternal aunts, they do not inherit because of the
presence of al-‘asbah (male relative(s) on the father’s side).

Similarly, the
maternal grandfather does not get anything.

The two
grandmothers (father’s mother and mother’s mother) get one-sixth, to be
divided equally between them.

The rest goes
to the paternal uncle as a male relative on the father’s side.

The matter
should be referred to the shar’i court, to make sure that the people you mentioned are the only heirs.

And Allaah knows best.

Source:

Islam Q&A

Was this answer helpful?