Is inheritance in a divorce settlement permissible?
In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful
Answer
One of the conditions of inheritance is that the person from whom you are inheriting has died.
Ibn-Abedeen Shami (RA) in Raddul-Muhtar has written, “(inheritance) has three conditions. One of them is that the benefactor has passed away. (p.491 v.10)
Therefore, in the above scenario, the property one will receive “as inheritance” via a divorce settlement, is not be permissible.
So long as the husband is still alive, his property cannot be distributed amongst his legal heirs i.e. wife, father, mother etc…
However if the couple have “joint ownership” of assets they own (i.e. the house they reside in), then the wife will continue to retain her ownership of half of the “joint” assets.
If the husband willingly wants to give a certain percentage of his property to his wife at the time of divorce, then this will be regarded as a gift (and not inheritance), and therefore it will be permissible for one to accept such a gift.
Allah Knows Best.
Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham.
