What kind of property distribution law does pakistan follow?

Is the sharia law followed or the old laws from british raj are being implemented?
What happens to the property of a parent when the child dies while the parent is still alive? Are the grand children (children of the deceased child) entitled to grandparents’ property or not?
If there are many brothers or sisters and all are fighting on the distribution. Can a brother or sister buy out the share by paying off a brother of sister so they can use the money while the dispute is pending? It has been pending for 20 years. Those who have the qabza are living there like the owners. The rest can go fly a kite?
Where can i get a number of an attorney that can give advice on the phone and of course charges for his time? I possibly cannot travel back to pakistan just to get advice.

Thanks

Dear khalid,

In pakistan, inheritance of the estate of a deceased muslim takes place under muslims family laws ordinance 1961 and succession act 1925. Even at the time of the british rule, in matters of personal laws such as inheritance and family matters, muslims were subject to principles of sharia. This continues to be the case.

The muslim family laws ordinance at article 4 provides as follows:

"in the event of death of any son or daughter of the propositus before the opening of succession, the children of such son or daughter, if any, living at the time the succession opens, shall per stripes, receive a share equivalent to the share which such son or daughter, as the case may be, would have received if alive"

Therefore, grandchildren will together receive the share of their dead parent.

As for your second question, it is possible through a contractual arrangements for one sibling to purchase the claim of another sibling while the dispute is pending. This will, of course, be subject to the mutual consent of the parties concerned.

My suggestion to you is to contact an appropriate law firm in pakistan through phone and email.

In your email to the law firm first give them some broad facts of the matter and the names of the parties. Then ask them if they are in a position to advise you (i.E. They are not conflicted by representing any other parties to the dispute). If they say they are not conflicted, then ask them what would be their fees for a legal opinion on issues 1,2,3,4 etc. (give them the questions including questions on your chances, the time it will take to resolve, what can you expect to win in litigation, lawyer's proposal for settlement).

They should give you a fee quote based on the number of hours they will reasonable spend (at their billing rate) on the assignment. In my view, this should be no more than 5-6 hours job but the rate will depend on whether the law firm is a famous one or an obscure one. You must negotiate by telling them you will give them more work later. You will need to give them a copy of the case file after you have signed an engagement contract with the law firm. They may also ask for some advance. In my view it is better to go for a reasonable law firm - not too expensive and not too cheap. You can search on chambers and partners, pakistan chapter.

Once they have given you their opinion, you can, depending on the contents of their advice, ask them to represent you in the dispute negotiation.

Best of luck!

Dear pk1

Many thanks for taking time to post such a superb response!

You explanation of what laws are followed is completely understood and i need not pursue that anymore. I hope that the others will benefit from your post just as much.

Best regards Khalid

Dear shahid/pk1,

Soon after posting, i started reading inheritance according to islamic sharia law on the internet and according to that, the children of the deceased son only qualify not the children of the deceased daughter. I hope that i am reading it right. Please see #4 below.

Level i - primary (immediate) heirs The primary (or immediate) heirs classified as level i are:- 1. The spouse (husband or a maximum of four wives) 2. The children (sons and daughters) 3. The parents (father & mother) 4. The grandchildren (sons’s son or son’s daughter only) (applicable only when the son is already deceased only and has offspring)
Level ii - secondary heirs The secondary heirs classified as level ii are:- 1. The grandparents (paternal and maternal) 2. The brothers and/or sisters (in the absence of father and son only) 3. The uncles and/or aunts (in the absence of grandparents only) 4. The nephews and/or nieces (in the absence of brothers and sisters only)

Regards Khalid

Salam, mr. Mehmood, how are you?

I live in pakistan, never been to usa or any other english spoken country. I would try to answer the questions according to the knowledge that i possess.

  1. So far as an individual muslim's personal matters (like marriage, competency to marry, inheritance, divorce, etc) are concerned, they are regulated and governed according to muslim personal laws promulgated from time to time. British rule are not at all followed in personal matters in pakistan.

  2. In given circumstances, yes children as well as their mother are fully entitled to inherit the property (in share as described by islam) in case their father/husband dies and the property is, for example, in the name of children's grandfather. Any property owned by any muslim becomes inheritable only after his death, there is no question of inheritance when the owner is alive.............. The rule is that inheritance is devolved to lineal descendants, if any lineal descendant is missing in the line, it goes to next lineal descendant(s).

  3. It needs to be known where the dispute is pending? One brother/sister can buy share of another, get it documented. Factor of trust is important in this deal, one who had taken a share from another during pendency of dispute could again claim his/her share again at any forum or in the same proceedings that are pending.

There is a method to deal with such a situation. If proceedings are pending in a court, make an application to the court that till final determination of share or entitlement of each legal heir, inspection of property(ies) be conducted, account be maintained, value of property be accessed, rent if any received from property may be deposited in a joint account and then payment in share according to tentative assessment, be made out of the entire money received from that property. Its an interim setup. Best option is to sit together and finalize if possible.

  1. Please check your email for the suggestion.

Plz let me know if you need any other help.

Imran khan