Inheritance and Trust

Question: My brother passed away leaving with me a sum of eighty thousand riyals that he had deposited as a trust. He left behind one son and one daughter. His son came to me and asked for the money, but I denied it, claiming that my brother had given it to me as a gift and that he knew of the matter. Later the daughter came and said, “What my father left with you is a trust.” After some time I feared that Allah might punish me for the trust I was carrying, so I distributed the entire amount equally between them, giving each of them forty thousand riyals. I then asked one of the scholars, and he said, “You are sinful for this division and it is forbidden for you.” Is what this scholar said correct, and what must I do now?

Answer:

1. Your delaying the heirs’ right is impermissible; it is obligatory for you to return the trust to those entitled to it.

2. Your equal division of the money between the male and the female is invalid, for they are not equal in Allah’s ruling. The Exalted says: “Allah instructs you concerning your children: for the male, a share equivalent to that of two females” (Qur’an 4:11). When the heirs include both sons and daughters, the male receives the share of two females, and it is not lawful to make them equal. You must now rectify this matter. If you can, take back from the daughter the amount that exceeds her lawful share and give it to her brother; that is obligatory. If the brother voluntarily waives his right to her, there is no harm in that.

If he does not waive his right and you are unable to recover the excess from the daughter, then you must pay the son—out of your own wealth—the amount needed to complete his rightful share. Allah knows best.

Question: Should she have treated them as three shares, giving the son what amounts to two shares of the eighty thousand and the remainder to the daughter?