One of the biggest issues in estate planning is estate administration and distribution, which needs to be carried out by international beneficiaries or inheritors. Many have overlooked the issues, but we will highlight some important issues and potential solutions for each.
Assign beneficiaries (including executors and trustees) who are closest and preferably live in the same city, jurisdiction, or country. If the beneficiaries (including executors and trustees) you assigned are from outside your country (i.e., internationally), it will be challenging for them to come, look after estate administration, and receive a portion of the Inheritance share. Many (and most) countries have restrictions that may not allow them to come to administer and receive assets.
Another big issue is ownership, as they cannot own assets if they are not domiciled, residents, and/or citizens in the deceased's country. If any assets require Probate processing, then this issue becomes much bigger than ever to solve. So, many factors come into play when selecting beneficiaries (executors and trustees).
1. Cooperations
These are difficult situations, and beneficiaries, executors, and trustees must make decisions with extra care, empathy, honesty, collaboration, and cooperation with each other so that international beneficiaries get their Islamic inheritance share.
2. Choose from the same country
Assign the beneficiaries (executors and trustees) with the same resident and citizenship status to mitigate all or some of these issues. You can choose executors and trustees from the same country, but eligible Islamic inheritors are determined after a person dies, so you cannot ascertain when the estate plan is being created.
3. Get money than properties
If some international beneficiaries or inheritors cannot travel and take ownership of the property (for any reason), the only option is for these international beneficiaries to receive money (through internet money transfer in a block or gradually) rather than property from estates.
4. Exchange properties and money
If international beneficiaries or inheritors can choose other properties in their home country, then the issue can be resolved by exchanging properties. Exchanging does not mean that actual properties are exchanged but assigns ownership in a way that does not require traveling outside the home country. For example, a deceased person was left with assets in Canada and Australia. If the inheritors are from these two countries only, the possible option is that Canadian inheritors can take ownership of the assets from Canada, and Australian inheritors can get ownership of the assets from Australia. They will still need to work out differences that may in this exchange to match the Islamic Inheritance law calculation.
5. Giving away share
This international beneficiary inheritance issue can be resolved if an Islamic legal heir is willing to let go of his or her portion of the division without heartbreak or unhappy feelings. But in most cases, this may not be an option because everyone needs money, which is their right according to Shariah and the legal regime. No beneficiaries, executors, or trustees can force or request any eligible Islamic inheritor to let his or her estate share division go.