The ruling on a woman spending her zakat on her orphaned children, and what is obligatory for her children after her death?

The questioner:
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. The listener Ahmad Abu Majid from the Noble Makkah sent a somewhat lengthy message in which he says: My father passed away fourteen years ago and left a sum of fifty thousand riyals. At that time, the eldest of us was sixteen years old. During this period of fourteen years, our mother, may Allah reward her, worked in several jobs until this amount increased and reached three hundred thousand riyals. We bought a house with this amount in which we live. Our mother, may Allah have mercy on her, passed away, and we do not know whether she paid the zakat on the money or not. Our eldest sister told us that our mother, may Allah have mercy on her, told her that she used to take a certain amount from this money and spend it on us, the orphans, and she considered that to be the zakat. She said that it is permissible to spend zakat on orphans. Since the mother was illiterate and ignorant, it is obvious that she did not pay the nisab of zakat. We asked one of the scholars, and he issued a fatwa that it is obligatory for us to pay the zakat on the entire amount mentioned for the past fourteen years. This would be a large amount, especially if you know that none of us works and earns except one, and his salary is nine hundred riyals. We are six children in the house, and we all spend from this amount. Therefore, we ask your honor to guide us to what we must do, as we believe that our mother, may Allah have mercy on her, will be asked about her negligence in this matter. Is it possible for us to help her? Our situation is as we have mentioned to you. May Allah reward you for us and for the Muslims with good.

The Shaykh:
The matter is as this scholar has issued a fatwa for you, if the matter is as you mentioned, that this amount was not paid zakat for several years, and that your mother used to take its zakat and spend it on you. A person’s zakat is not permissible to be spent on him, even if he is young and an orphan. Zakat is paid to the poor and other orphans who are strangers and not from the people of that wealth. However, it is obligatory for you to pay the zakat on this money for all the past years. But each person pays the zakat on his share. Each of you pays the zakat on his share if it reaches the nisab for the past years from the death of your father until the last year that has passed. So each person calculates his share and pays its zakat. If you appoint one of you to calculate this money and pay the zakat on behalf of everyone, there is no harm in that. The important thing is that it is necessary to pay the zakat. And whoever’s share is less than the nisab, there is no zakat on him. Yes.

The questioner:
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. Shaykh Salih, it is known that the amount of three hundred thousand is the last amount accumulated. But what about the other years? Naturally, three hundred thousand did not accumulate in one year?

The Shaykh:
The year in which the profit occurred, the profit follows the capital.

The questioner:
No, that is not the case.

The Shaykh:
And it is paid with it. So if they do not know when this profit occurred, they should use their best judgment and estimate that,

The questioner:
O Allah, send blessings.

The Shaykh:
by their best judgment. Yes.