Question

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah
A sister looked after her maa’zoor sister for many years of her life. The  maa’zoor sister asked her younger sister to keep her money for her as she didnt have full mental capacity. While she was alive the maa’zoor sister said to her sister she could use her money because she looked after it all. She use to say use it for you and your family as you need it.
Now the Maa’zoor sister passed away.
Is it considered as her sisters wealth because the maa’zoor sister had given her ownership or do they need to distribute it as inheritance to all the siblings.

(Only this one sister looked after her and cared for her, none of the other siblings would visit her or take care of her).

Answer

There are a couple of points to take into consideration.

It seems based on the question that even though the deceased sister had some mental health issues, she had enough mental capacity to make decisions which were in her best interest such as appointing another person to look after her wealth for her. If this was the case then any transactions that she engages in will be valid.

In this scenario, the next issue to determine is whether she had gifted the money to her sister or just gave her permission to use the wealth during her life as and when needed. The question states that she said, “Use it for you and your family as needed”, which seems to indicate that permission was granted to use the wealth, but it was not gifted to her. If this was the case then the wealth which remains at the time of death will belong to the deceased sister and will be distributed amongst her heirs.

If on the other hand, it was clear from her state that she did not possess enough mental capacity to make rational decisions and differentiate between what was beneficial or harmful for her then any transactions she makes will be invalid. Hence, in such a scenario even if she had gifted those amounts to her sister the gift would not be valid and she would retain ownership over the wealth. Hence after her demise this money will be distributed to her heirs.

الدر المختار وحاشية ابن عابدين (رد المحتار) (5/ 687)
وشرائط صحتها في الواهب العقل والبلوغ والملك) فلا تصح هبة صغير ورقيق، ولو مكاتبا

Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel