An agent dividing an inheritance without the other heirs' knowledge

A question about an agent dividing an inheritance without the other heirs' knowledge, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that the estate belongs to all the heirs according to their shares, and that the agent may not hide the estate's size, divide it other than by the legal shares, or deprive anyone of his share. ¹

The questioner asked whether an agent appointed to distribute inherited wealth may act on its distribution without the knowledge of any of the other heirs. ¹

The Department answered that everything the deceased leaves, whether money, land, property or anything else, belongs to all the legal heirs, male and female, according to their fixed shares; no heir or anyone else may take anything from the estate without the explicit permission of all of them, nor deal with another's share without his permission. ¹ It said the heirs may appoint one of themselves as agent for the distribution, but the agent may not conceal any information about the estate's size, divide it other than by the legal division, or withhold any heir's share, because he is bound to carry out the rules of the law in distributing the inheritance. ¹ It quoted al-Imrani in al-Bayan that there is no agency in inheritance except in dividing and receiving it. ¹ It concluded that no heir may withhold anyone's legal share, and whoever does so is sinning. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3964, dated 21 April 2025. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.