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Salamun Alaykum

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A person is allowed to make a will(Wasiyyah) for one third of his property in his lifetime or you can gift it to someone in your lifetime which will not be included in inheritance after you.

If there remains a debt such as dowry to be paid, the debts will be cleared first before division of the inheritance.

Some of the rulings regarding will (Wasiyyah) according to Ayatullah al-Udhma Sayyid Ali Sistany:

Ruling 2716. If a person makes a will that something from his property is to be owned by someone, and if the latter accepts the will – irrespective of whether he accepts it during the lifetime of the testator or after his death – then, as long as the item is not more than a third of the testator’s estate, he becomes the owner of the item upon the testator’s death.

Ruling 2723. If a person retracts his will – for example, he states that the one-third of his estate(4) is to be given to someone but then states that it must not be given to him – such a will becomes void (bāṭil). And if he changes his will – for example, he appoints a custodian for his children but then appoints someone else in his place – his first will becomes void and his second will must be acted upon.

Ruling 2726. If a person gifts part of his wealth to someone during the period of his terminal illness and makes a will that after his death some of his estate is to be given to someone else, then, in the event that one-third of his estate is insufficient to cover both [i.e. the gift and what was bequeathed in the will] and the heirs are not prepared to give permission for more than one-third to be given from the estate, first the property that was gifted must be taken out of the one-third, and then the remaining property must be dealt with in accordance with the will.

Ruling 2727. If a person makes a will that the one-third of his estate must be sold and the proceeds from it must be spent in a particular way, his words must be acted upon.

Ruling 2736. Hajj that had become obligatory on a deceased person on account of him being able (mustaṭīʿ)(6) to perform it, and the debts and religious dues that are obligatory to pay – such as khums, zakat, and mazālim – must be paid from his entire estate even if he has not made provision for these in his will. As for dues pertaining to recompense (kaffārah) and vow (nadhr), including hajj that had become obligatory on account of a vow, these are paid from the one-third of his estate if they have been mentioned in a will.

www.sistani.org/english/book/48/2367/

May Allah(swt) grant you success and a happy life

Wassalam,

Syed Haider