Our firm provides estate division services in accordance with the provisions of Islamic Sharia and the applicable laws governing the distribution of a deceased person’s estate among the heirs. Our lawyers handle inheritance matters with care and work to have the division carried out fairly and in an orderly manner. Our services include applying for the legal heirship certificate through the Ministry of Justice’s Estates platform, identifying estate assets and liabilities, calculating the heirs’ shares, preparing division agreements and following up on their documentation, and representing heirs in judicial division where there is a dispute.
Frequently Asked Questions
Article 1 of the Regulations on the Division of Jointly Owned Property defines consensual division as division that is permissible only with the consent of the co-owners, because it involves harm or the payment of compensation by one of them to another, and compulsory division as division that involves no harm to the co-owners or any of them and no payment of compensation.
Article 171 of the Personal Status Law provides that a will is executed from the testator’s estate after deducting the funeral expenses of the deceased and paying the deceased’s debts. Where jointly owned property is liquidated, the liquidator divides it among the co-owners after settling debts, bequests and the like, under Article 44 of the Regulations on the Division of Jointly Owned Property.
A will is executed if it does not exceed one third of the estate; any excess depends on the approval of the heirs and is executed to the extent of the shares of those who approve it (Article 190 of the Personal Status Law). There is no will in favor of an heir unless the other heirs approve it after the death; if only some approve, it is executed from their shares (Article 179).
The Ministry of Justice offers an electronic service for issuing the legal heirship certificate through the Estates platform, accessed through the National Single Sign-On. The application includes the details of the applicant, the deceased, the heirs and the witnesses, and the certificate sets out the details of the deceased, the heirs and their shares. Paper heirship deeds issued by the courts may be digitized through the Ministry’s electronic services after verification by the competent court.
Co-owners with full capacity may divide jointly owned property in the manner they agree, provided it does not contradict Sharia and the laws, and the agreement is then submitted to the competent authority for documentation (Article 3 of the Regulations on the Division of Jointly Owned Property). The Ministry of Justice also offers an agreed estate division service through the Estates platform. If, after division, a claim is made for a debt against or a bequest in the jointly owned property, it is heard under the general rules of subject-matter and territorial jurisdiction (Article 46 of the Regulations).
Article 12 of the Notarization Law, as amended by Royal Decree No. M/21 dated 26/1/1447H, provides that a notary public is not competent to notarize any acknowledgment or contract where one of the parties lacks or has limited capacity, is absent, or is a waqf administrator or executor, except in specific cases that do not include division. Under Article 2 of the Regulations on the Division of Jointly Owned Property, the special statutory provisions must be observed when dividing jointly owned property that includes the share of a minor, an absent or missing person, a waqf or a will.
The court orders the sale of property that cannot be divided by compulsory division and the delivery to each co-owner of his or her share of the price, unless the co-owners agree otherwise, and the sale judgment, once final, is submitted to the competent enforcement circuit for execution, under Article 18 of the Regulations on the Division of Jointly Owned Property.
Guardianship over a minor’s property belongs to the father, then the father’s appointed guardian, then a guardian appointed by the court (Article 139 of the Personal Status Law). If the minor has no appointed guardian, or the guardian is removed, the court appoints a guardian for the minor’s property after consulting the mother (Article 152). The guardian must deposit the minor’s property in bank accounts in the minor’s name (Article 156), without prejudice to the powers of the General Authority for the Guardianship of Minors’ Property (Article 144).