How to Divide the Estate of a Deceased Person

Question:
Finally, our brother asks a very large question, saying: How is the estate of a deceased person divided?

Answer:
The estate is divided according to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The Qur'an and the Sunnah have clarified the ruling on inheritance with the clearest and most explicit explanation. When the people of knowledge divide the estate, the one in need presents the question to the people of knowledge in the court, or to other people of knowledge, and they divide the estate. Estates and inheritances vary; they are not all the same. So when a case befalls someone, the heirs are brought to the court, or to a well-known scholar, and he divides the estate among them.
For example, he says: A person died leaving a wife and a son. A woman died leaving her husband and her son. The scholar tells them: The estate is divided among them in quarters; the husband gets the quarter, and the rest goes to the son. This is because Allah the Exalted says: [Surat al-Nisa: 12]. That is, the husband. If a person died leaving a wife, or a woman died leaving her husband and her brother, her full brother, or her brother on the father's side, the scholar says: The money is between them; the husband gets the half—as Allah divided it—and the rest goes to the brother as a residuary heir. Or a woman died leaving her husband and her father; the money is between them in halves, the husband gets the half by fixed share, and the rest goes to her father as a residuary heir. Or a man died leaving a wife and his father; the estate is divided between them, the wife gets the quarter, and the rest goes to the father. Or a man died leaving a son and two daughters; the estate is divided into four parts: the son gets two, and each daughter gets one. This is because Allah the Exalted says: [Surat al-Nisa: 11].
And likewise, if a person died leaving his mother and his son, the estate is divided from six parts: the mother gets one sixth, and the rest goes to the son. This is because Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) says: [Surat al-Nisa: 11]. And "child" includes both male and female.

The presenter: If you would be so kind, Your Eminence the Shaykh, could you repeat the verse?

The Shaykh: [Surat al-Nisa: 11]. That is, the parents, the mother and the father. So if a person died leaving his mother, or his father, or both, and he has a child, a son or a daughter, the mother gets one sixth, the father gets one sixth, and the daughter gets one half. If anything remains, the father takes it as an additional residuary share. But if the one present is a son, not a daughter, the mother gets one sixth, the father gets one sixth, and the rest goes to the son from six shares: the father gets one sixth, the mother gets one sixth, and the rest goes to the son, or the son of a son. Yes.