Before the shares: funeral costs, debts and bequests

The order of payment

Before any heir receives a share, three claims are met from the estate, in this order: the costs of washing, shrouding and burial, at a reasonable level; the deceased's debts; and any bequest, within a third of what is left.

Only what remains after these three is divided among the heirs. The schools also place a right attached to a particular asset, such as a debt secured on a pledged item, ahead of the funeral costs for that asset.

Debts come first

The Qurʾān sets the shares "after any bequest he made or any debt" (al-Nisāʾ 4:11–12). ʿAlī reported that the Prophet ﷺ settled the debt before the bequest, and that is how all the schools apply it: debts owed to people are paid in full before any bequest.

Debts owed to God, such as unpaid zakat, are treated differently. The Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī schools pay them from the estate like any other debt. In the Ḥanafī school they are paid only if the deceased asked for it in a bequest, and then from the third; the Mālikī school is close to this, with some details of its own.

The one-third limit on bequests

A bequest may not exceed a third of what remains after debts. The basis is the ḥadīth of Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, whom the Prophet ﷺ told: a third, and a third is a lot. Anything beyond a third takes effect only if the heirs consent after the death.

There is also no bequest to someone who already inherits, unless the other heirs consent. The calculator takes the debts and the bequest you enter, caps the bequest at a third, and divides the rest.

Worked examples

Every share below is computed by the calculator's engine when this page loads. Open any example to change the family and see what moves.