2833. If a wife passes away, and does not leave behind any children, then her husband will inherit half of her estate, and the other half will be inherited by the other heirs. However, if she leaves behind children that she conceived with that husband or another husband, then her husband will inherit a quarter of her estate, and the other heirs will inherit the rest of it.
2834. If a man passes away and does not leave behind any children, then his wife will inherit a quarter of her wealth, and the other heirs will inherit the rest of it. However, if he leaves behind children whom he conceived with that wife or another wife, then his wife will inherit one-eighth of his wealth, whilst the other heirs will inherit the rest.
The wife will not inherit from the land of a house, nor from a garden, a farm or any other lands. She will not inherit the land itself, nor its value. However, she will inherit from the things situated in the space occupied by the land, such as buildings and trees. If the rest of the heirs wish to give her the value of the building or the trees, she will have to accept it. The same ruling applies to trees, cultivation and buildings that are situated on a garden, a farm or any other piece of land.
2835. If a woman wishes to exercise discretion over things which she does not inherit, such as the land of a house, she must seek permission from the rest of the heirs. Similarly, the other heirs cannot exercise discretion over the wife’s portion—without her permission—of the things situated over the land, such as buildings and trees, if they have not given it or its value to her.
2836. If they wish to appraise the value of the buildings, trees and similar structures, with the purpose of giving the portion of the wife from that value, then they should appraise it by assuming how much it would be worth if it were to remain on the land until it perished without being leased. They should then give the wife her share on the basis of such an appraisal.
2837. The path wherein the water of a canal flows and any similar thing is subject to the rules of lands. The brick work and other material that has been used to construct it will be subject to the rules of buildings.
2838. If the deceased leaves behind more than one wife, and, if he does not leave behind any children, one-fourth of the estate will be distributed equally between his wives. If he is survived by his children, then one-eighth of the estate will be shared equally between his wives. It will not matter if he had consummated his marriage with some of them and not with others. However, if he marries a woman in the period of illness which was the cause of his demise, and does not consummate the marriage with her, then that woman will not inherit from him, nor will she reserve the right to demand her mahr.
2839. If a woman marries a man during the period of her illness which results in her demise, then her husband will inherit from her even if he has not consummated his marriage with her.
2840. If a woman is divorced by a revocable divorce, in the manner that was elaborated in the section on divorce, and she passes away during the period of her ‘iddah, her husband will inherit from her. Similarly, if the husband passes away during that period, his wife will inherit from him. However, if one of them passes away after the completion of the ‘iddah, or after an irrevocable divorce, the other partner will not inherit from him/her.
2841. If a husband divorces his wife while he is ill, but passes away prior to the passage of twelve lunar months, then his wife will inherit from him given the following three conditions:
a. If she has not married another husband during this period, and in the event that she has married another husband, the obligatory precaution is that they should reach a compromise.
b. She should not have paid a sum to her husband to divorce her, because she did not feel inclined to him. In fact, even if she does not give anything to her husband, but the divorce is granted upon the request of the wife, then it is problematic to claim that she can inherit from him.
c. The husband should die in the period of illness during which he divorced his wife, either owing to that illness or another cause. Hence, if he recovers from that illness and passes away owing to another reason, his wife will not inherit from him.
2842. The clothes that a man buys to clothe his wife will be counted as part of his estate after he dies, even if his wife had worn those clothes.
