Ask an Alim

Wa Alaykumussalam

Thank you for your query.

You mentioned that the son after marrying took his share of the inheritance which was 1 room. This isn’t very clear as you mentioned later that there were 2 apartments so I am assuming that he took 1 apartment and after your grandfather’s demise, your grandmother lived in the apartments with her 4 daughters?

Whether it was one room or the whole apartment, he(your uncle) took depends on when he has taken and on what basis?!
If one room or the whole apartment was gifted to him(your uncle) by your grandfather in his lifetime, then that belongs to him. But if after your grandfather’s demise, he (your uncle) took it without distributing the wealth etc. according to the Islamic Shariah then it won’t belong to him.

The share your mother received from the inheritance if she hadn’t gifted her share to her mother(your grandmother), then you will receive it from your mother’s inheritance but if your mother had gifted her share to your grandmother then you will not receive anything from it.

All the below rulings are according to Ayatullah al-Udhma Sayyid Ali Sistany:

Ruling 2751. If the only heirs of the deceased are his father, mother, and one son, the estate is divided into six parts: his father and mother inherit one part each and his son inherits four parts. If the deceased has a number of sons or daughters, then the four parts must be divided equally among them. And if he has a son and a daughter, then the four parts must be divided among them in a way that each son receives twice the share of each daughter.

Ruling 2753. If the only heirs of the deceased are his father or his mother and a number of his sons and daughters, the estate is divided into six parts: one part is inherited by his father or mother and the remainder is divided among his sons and daughters in a way that each son receives twice the share of each daughter.

www.sistani.org/english/book/48/2369/

The wife receives one eight from her husband’s inheritance:

Ruling 2782. If a man dies without any offspring, a quarter of his estate is inherited by his wife and the remainder by his other heirs. But if he has offspring from that wife or from another wife, then his wife inherits one-eighth of the estate and the remainder is inherited by his other heirs. A wife does not inherit anything from the land of a house, garden, plantation, or from any other land, neither from the land itself nor from the value of it. Furthermore, she does not inherit from what stands on the land, such as buildings and trees; she does, however, inherit from their value. The same applies to the trees, crops, and buildings that are on the land of a garden, plantation, or on any other land. However, she does inherit from the actual fruit that was present on the trees at the time of her husband’s death.

www.sistani.org/english/book/48/2372/

According to the scenario mentioned above, if you are liable to receive the inheritance, the inheritance should be distributed in the proper way. That is, if your father was alive at the time of your mother’s demise, he would also inherit from his wife and usually one-fourth is received and the remaining is divided amongst the children in a way that son’s share is double the share of the daughters.

You can visit the site given above to read more about the division of the inheritance.

May Allah(swt) grant you success

Wassalam,

Syed Haider