Inheritance Under Pakistani Law (2026): How Faraid Applies by Default

Muslims in the United States or Canada must write careful legal documents to make sure their estates distribute Islamically, because the default law there says something else. Pakistan is the mirror image. When a Muslim dies in Pakistan, Islamic inheritance shares apply automatically, by operation of law, whether or not any will exists. Understanding this single fact reorganizes everything else about estate planning here. The task is not choosing faraid. It is documenting your assets and helping your heirs actually receive what the law already gives them.

The legal foundation

Muslim Personal Law governs inheritance for Muslims in Pakistan under the Shariat application framework: the property of a deceased Muslim devolves on his or her legal heirs according to the shares fixed by Islamic law. Courts apply the school of the deceased, which for most Pakistanis means Hanafi fiqh, with Shia succession rules applied to Shia families. There is no concept of leaving your entire estate to one child, a spouse, or anyone else by will; the fixed shares override any such attempt beyond the permitted one-third for non-heirs.

How the shares work, in outline

Faraid assigns fractions to specific relatives. A widow receives one-eighth of her husband's estate if he left children, one-quarter if not. A widower receives one-quarter or one-half on the same logic. Each parent of the deceased takes one-sixth when there are children. Sons and daughters divide what remains with each son taking twice a daughter's share. Where there are only daughters, they take fixed fractions (half for one daughter, two-thirds shared among two or more) with the remainder passing to other relatives. The full system handles dozens of family shapes with rules refined over fourteen centuries. Real cases quickly justify professional help, especially with multiple marriages, predeceased children or missing heirs.

The 1961 Ordinance and orphaned grandchildren

Classical Hanafi doctrine excluded the children of a predeceased son or daughter: if your father died before your grandfather, you inherited nothing from your grandfather. The Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 changed that for Pakistan. Under its succession provision, the children of a predeceased child receive the share their parent would have received if alive. This remains one of Pakistan's most debated legislative departures from classical fiqh, criticized by some scholars and defended as social protection for orphans. Whatever your view, it is the operative law, and it materially changes distributions in families where a child died before a parent.

What a will can and cannot add

A Muslim in Pakistan can bequeath up to one-third of the estate to persons who are not heirs, a charity or a mosque for instance, and bequests beyond one-third, or to an heir, take effect only with the other heirs' consent given after the death. The remaining two-thirds or more always follows faraid. So a will in Pakistan is a supplementary tool, not a distribution plan. Our guide on whether you need a will in Pakistan covers when it genuinely helps.

No inheritance tax, but not free either

Pakistan currently levies no inheritance or estate tax; estate duty was abolished decades ago. What heirs do pay are process costs: court fees for succession certificates, stamp duties on transfers of immovable property (rates vary by province and often carry concessions for legal heirs), and professional fees. Confirm current rates for your province with a lawyer, since provincial finance acts change them.

What actually happens after a death

First, debts and funeral expenses come out of the estate, and any valid bequest within the one-third is honoured. Then the heirs collect. For movable assets, bank balances, certificates, shares, vehicles, heirs generally need a succession certificate, obtainable through NADRA's facilitation system for uncontested cases or through the civil courts. For land and property, ownership transfers through mutation (intiqal) in the revenue record or the relevant housing authority's transfer process, on the basis of the heirship established. Our step-by-step succession certificate guide walks through documents, timelines and costs.

The gap between law and practice

The law gives daughters and widows fixed shares. Practice, in too many families, pressures women to waive their shares in favour of brothers, or simply never tells them what they own. Courts have grown more skeptical of decades-old relinquishments obtained from women, and provincial laws on women's property rights have added enforcement routes. But the honest picture is that enforcement still often requires a woman willing to litigate against her own family. If you are writing down your estate wishes, the single most protective thing you can do is document assets transparently so every heir knows what exists.

What this means for your planning

Estate planning in Pakistan is mostly about clarity, not distribution design. Keep a current list of assets, accounts, certificates and debts. Keep title documents clean and in your name. Update nominations on bank and fund accounts, understanding that nominees collect as trustees for the heirs rather than owning the money. Consider a will for the one-third space and guardianship wishes. And if your situation involves a second marriage, property abroad, a family business or estranged relatives, pay for a session with a succession lawyer now rather than leaving your family to pay for litigation later. Start with our estate planning guide.

Frequently asked questions

Does a will override Islamic shares in Pakistan?

No. A will can direct at most one-third of the estate, and only to non-heirs unless the heirs consent after the death. The fixed shares govern the rest regardless of what any document says. This is the opposite of the position in Western countries, where the will is the primary instrument.

Can a father transfer everything to his sons before death to bypass daughters?

Lifetime gifts (hiba) are legally possible and are the standard mechanism people attempt this with, but courts scrutinize such transfers, especially those made without genuine delivery of possession or during final illness, which the law treats like a bequest subject to the one-third limit. Beyond legality, deliberately defeating daughters' shares contradicts the very rules the giver claims to follow. See our hiba guide for the details.

What do Shia families do?

Pakistani courts apply Shia (Fiqh-e-Jafria) succession rules to Shia Muslims, which differ from Hanafi rules in important respects, including how residual estates and certain relatives are treated. Families should consult a lawyer familiar with Shia succession specifically.

My father died before my grandfather. Do I inherit from my grandfather?

In Pakistan, yes. The Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 provides that children of a predeceased child take the share their parent would have received. This is specific to Pakistani law and differs from the classical position applied in many other countries.

Do non-Muslim relatives inherit?

Under the classical rules applied in Pakistan, difference of religion bars inheritance between a Muslim and a non-Muslim relative. A bequest within the one-third is the lawful way to provide for a non-Muslim relative. This is exactly the kind of situation where a properly drafted will earns its keep.