Inheritance in Pakistan is not decided by what the deceased wanted, what the family agreed, or who was living in the house. For the estate of a Muslim it is fixed by law, and the shares are not negotiable except by the free consent of the person entitled.

This is the single most misunderstood area of Pakistani law, and the misunderstanding is expensive: a large share of the civil litigation in Karachi is families suing each other over estates that were "settled" informally decades ago.

The shares are fixed by law, not by agreement

Under the Islamic law of inheritance, heirs fall into categories with defined entitlements. The precise shares depend on which relatives survive — the presence of a son changes a daughter's position, the presence of children changes a widow's, and so on.

The general principles most families need to know:

  • A widow takes a fixed share of her husband's estate, which is smaller where there are children and larger where there are none
  • A daughter inherits, always, and her share is generally half that of a son
  • Sons and daughters both inherit; daughters are not excluded by the presence of sons
  • Parents of the deceased inherit where they survive
  • The estate is distributed after payment of funeral expenses, debts, and any valid bequest

Because the arithmetic depends entirely on who survives, do not rely on a general article — including this one — to calculate your position. Have it worked out on the actual facts.

A will cannot do what people think it does

Two limits catch families out.

First, a bequest is generally limited to one-third of the estate. The remaining two-thirds devolves on the heirs in their fixed shares whatever the will says.

Second, a bequest in favour of an heir requires the consent of the other heirs, given after the death. So a father cannot simply will the house to one son and leave the others out — and a will attempting it will be challenged successfully.

This is why estate planning in Pakistan tends to happen during lifetime, through gift or sale, rather than by will. See our guide on transferring property to your children — and note that lifetime transfers designed to defeat heirs are themselves a leading cause of litigation.

Daughters: the recurring problem

The most common inheritance dispute in Pakistan involves a daughter's share being ignored, absorbed into the "family property", or extracted through a relinquishment she did not freely give.

The law is unambiguous: a daughter inherits. Her share does not lapse because she married, because she lives abroad, because her brothers maintained the property, or because it was not mentioned at the time.

Nor does it lapse with time in the way families assume. A daughter who was excluded decades ago may still have a claim, depending on the facts and on when her right was actually denied to her.

A daughter may of course choose to relinquish her share. That has to be a genuine, informed, documented decision — not a signature obtained at a family gathering, and not an assumption drawn from silence.

Non-Muslim heirs and other personal law

The above concerns estates governed by Islamic law of inheritance. Different personal law applies to Christian, Hindu, Parsi and other communities in Pakistan, with different rules on shares and on wills. If that is your position, take advice specific to it rather than relying on the general picture.

Getting the estate distributed

Knowing the shares is not the same as receiving them. Practically you will need:

  • A succession certificate for movable assets — bank balances, shares, savings certificates
  • Letters of administration where there is no will and immovable property is involved
  • Probate where there is a valid will
  • Mutation of the property records into the heirs' names
  • A suit for partition where the heirs cannot agree on division

Banks will not release funds and registrars will not transfer title on a family consensus. See succession certificates for overseas heirs.

The mistakes that cause the litigation

Waiting. Estates left undistributed for years become harder to resolve as records are lost, property is occupied, and the people who knew the facts die.

Informal division. An agreed split that is never documented or mutated is not binding and will be revisited by the next generation.

One heir taking control. No heir has authority to deal with estate assets before a grant, however senior in the family.

Excluding someone and hoping. The excluded heir, or their children, will eventually ask. Estates settled unfairly do not stay settled.

Selling estate property before distribution. A sale by some heirs of property in which others hold shares creates a dispute involving an innocent purchaser as well — and those are the hardest cases of all.

If you are the heir abroad

Overseas heirs are disproportionately the ones left out, simply because they are not present. If a parent has died and you have heard nothing about the estate, that silence is itself worth acting on.

Most of the process can be handled through an attested power of attorney without your travelling — see inheritance and succession for overseas heirs.

How the firm can help

We administer estates: establishing the heirs and their shares on the actual facts, obtaining succession certificates, letters of administration and probate, effecting mutation, and distributing the estate. Where heirs cannot agree, we act in partition and declaration suits, and in challenges to transfers made to defeat an heir.

We act for families trying to do this properly and for individuals who have been excluded. In both cases the first useful step is the same: establish who the heirs actually are and what the estate actually consists of.

Contact the firm with the death certificate and whatever you know about the assets, and we will tell you what the position is.