Fees on a deceased lawyer's cases

A question about a lawyer who died after some of his cases were transferred, with the clients' permission, to a female lawyer under a new power of attorney and agreement, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that the deceased lawyer is entitled to the share of fees matching the work he completed, as estimated by experts, and the rest belongs to the new lawyer under the new agency. ¹

The questioner said his brother was a lawyer handling some cases and then died; some cases already under hearing were transferred, with the clients' permission, to a female lawyer under a new power of attorney and a new agreement. He asked whether the fees received count as part of the estate or belong to the lawyer who took over the cases. ¹

The Department answered that lawyers' fees are a wage for agency, and that the majority of jurists hold that a hired worker whose contract is dissolved is entitled in proportion to his work, quoting al-Shirazi in al-Muhadhdhab that on dissolution the agreed price is divided between what was performed and what remains, with valuation referred to experts. ¹ It said the contract is dissolved by the death of either party if the heir does not complete it, so the worker is entitled to the share of the agreed fee that experts estimate for the work he did: nothing if he did nothing, half if he completed half, and so on; it quoted al-Khatib al-Shirbini in Mughni al-Muhtaj, including his report from al-Mawardi, on entitlement to the proportionate share after death. ¹ It concluded that the lawyer's fees are assessed by what experts in the legal profession estimate for the work he completed before his death, that the agency ended with his death, and that the remaining fees belong to the new lawyer under the new agency. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3991, dated 30 July 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 ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.