Updated: Dec 18, 2022
You have questions about succession laws, testate, Intestate, the necessity of Will, types of Wills, registration of Wills, notarization of Wills, Testator's duties, Executors and Witnesses' roles, and many more. We will explore this in detail below.
A will or testament is a legal document by which a person, the testator, expresses their wishes, "testament" applies only to dispositions of personal property. So it is your estate, and you would like that the wishes are fulfilled regarding estate distribution. No country law can restrict you from expressing your wishes concerning property distribution to inheritors, whether it could be based on your culture, faith, or simply proportions. Follow the estate planning process, i.e., the Will you create must not contradict the country's laws, acts, or legislations. For example, if you do not have an executor of the Will, but country law requires at least one or two executors, etc., your Will becomes invalid. The Will should not contain something impossible to execute... For example...Do not ever sell my house or car!
The most probable reasons are that it's not a necessity now, it's too expensive, difficult to create, too busy, there is too much information to consume, and you do not know where to start. People do not create Will by making the following three assumptions.
By taking things for granted, If I do not have a Will, the country succession law would be in effect, and all estate-related affairs would be settled through country succession law!
Big assumption: People think they are too young and have plenty of time left in life despite uncertainty about death!
Ignoring importance: Due to unknown consequences!
It's a matter of achieving salvation. Read the previous verses 11-12 of Surah An-Nisa and keep reading until the holy Quran 4: 13 verses where it is stated, "These are the limits (set by) Allah, and whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger will be admitted by Him to gardens (in Paradise) under which rivers flow, abiding eternally therein; and that is the great attainment. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger and transgresses His limits - He will put him into the Fire to abide eternally therein, and he will have a humiliating punishment”. - Holy Quran Surah An-Nisa Verse 11-13
There is an urgency as you read in this Hadith; “Ibn Umar (Allah be pleased with them) reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: It is the duty of a Muslim who has something which is to be given as a bequest not to have it for two nights without having his will written down regarding it." - Sahih Muslim, Book 13, Number 3987
It was narrated from ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to say in his prayer: “Allaahumma inni a’oodhi bika min al-ma’tham wa’l-maghram (O Allaah, I seek refuge with You from sin and heavy debt).” Someone said to him: “How often you seek refuge from heavy debt!” He said: “When a man gets into debt, he speak and tells lies, and he makes a promise and breaks it.” - Sahih al-Bukhaari (832) and Muslim (589).
Also, it stated, "O you who have believed, when you contract a debt for a specified term, write it down. And let a scribe write (it) between you in justice. Let no scribe refuse to write as Allah has taught him. So let him write and let the one who has the obligation dictate. And let him fear Allah, his Lord, and not leave anything out of it...” - Holy Quran Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 282
You have three options.
FREE TEMPLATES: Many people grab the free templates available online. These templates are not up to date, do not reflect the right information, are posted for search engine optimization purposes to get web traffic, and your inheritors may be in trouble for one or more missing legal requirements.
ONLINE WILLS PROVIDER: Most online Islamic Wills providers are IT companies, and the majority of people use these online services as they are inexpensive and readily accessible but make sure they provide what you need. Not all providers are the same.
CONSULTING LAWYER: It is difficult to find a lawyer or attorney specializing in Islamic estate planning. It is best to consult a lawyer if you have large estates and businesses with multiple partnerships.
Two key things are below.
EXECUTOR'S DUTY: Give your executor power and rights to execute your Will. DO NOT LIMIT the executor's duty (unless required) in the Will, which may restrict your Will from being implemented. It may pose delays and incur more expenses.
ESTATE DISTRIBUTION: If your will does not provide legal terms about estate distribution as per Shariah, then your Will is not an Islamic Will. You cannot also say, “Distribute my estates as per Islamic Inheritance law” without providing further details. The court in non-Muslim majority countries does not understand or interpret Islamic law, and the court may reject your Will or delay approval.
Intestacy is when a person dies without a legal or valid Will. If he or she dies intestate, his or her property will be distributed according to Intestate Succession. The State succession law Will apply for estate distribution which will cost money, and time delay, as well as estate distribution, may not be as per the wishes of the deceased person. A person may have a different wish, but there is no choice. The government will hire legal services to oversee the deceased estate's execution. The only way to save yourself from intestate is to have a Will sooner than later. in many countries where instate laws are applicable, such as the USA, Canada, Australia, UK, India, China, etc. The applicability of instate laws may differ largely by the jurisdiction of the basis.
When a person dies by leaving the last will or a Will, this is called Testate or Testacy applies, meaning their estate distribution will be according to their Will. If he or she dies without leaving behind a Will, the deceased would have died Intestate or Intestacy rule applies for his or her estate distribution, and estates distribution will take place according to Governmental laws of succession inheritance.
Your cash money in the bank is asset that require Will. Creating the last Will is not about wealth, but it may include guardianships for minors, your Wishes about your belongings as well as you may have religious or cultural wishes that need to be taken care of. So, there are many reasons you should have a Will that we can go on and on if you think it through.
If you are a family with or without children, then two Wills need to be created; One for the Husband and another for the Wife. Create only one Will if you are a surviving spouse with children, a surviving spouse without children, or a bachelor.
The testator writes the Will by hand, not the computerized one, which is considered a more authentic Will in some countries. You can create Will through our service and write the content by hand. This type of Will needs to be notarized. You will need two, three, or four witnesses depending on the countries where you are creating Will, while you do not need to witness the Will but notarize it in some countries. You may not be able to create International Will in a holographic format as no definition was found for International Will.
Wills can be classified into three categories based on the method of creating a Will, Marital status, and the estate locations and your country of residence. You can find more details in the Article "Types of Islamic Wills" under Blogs & Articles. There are three main types of will offered at Wassiyyah Single or Multi-jurisdictional Will and Internal Will. The types of Islamic Wills we mentioned are only offered at Wassiyyah, and you may not find other Islamic Wills providers offering Multi-Jurisdictional and International Islamic Wills. Wassiyyah is the first to classify these categories to meet the worldwide needs of the Muslim community. All the Wills types offered at Wassiyyah are shariah and legally compliant. Wassiyyah offers complete estate planning solutions, including Islamic Wills, Trust or Waqf, Living Will or Medical Directives, Power of Attorney for Property, Power of Attorney for Healthcare, Letter of Wishes, Pour-Over Will, and more.
The answer is no, except if you are creating International Will. However, it is desirable to have a registration in some countries, and you can find more details in the Article "Registering your Will" under Blogs & Articles.
You must notarize your Will, and you can find more details in the Article "Notarizing your estate plan" under Blogs & Articles.
The testator is the person who creates his or her Will. You must be a sound mind and an adult. It does not matter whether you are a bachelor or married. The executor is the person you nominate in your Will to look after the estate distribution and other related affairs to fulfill your wishes in the Will. The executor is also called an administrator, personal representative, or simply representative in some jurisdictions.
There are two things that I won’t do, even when begged. I won’t help a friend move—too old to say yes to that. Moreover, I won’t be a friend’s executor.” -One of Canada’s best-known and trusted voices in personal finance, David Chilton, shares the benefits of using a trusted company as executor and trustee.
The executor will be carried out lots of paperwork after Testator's death and so needs to be a person, preferably relatives or friends or whom you trust. If no one is available to carry out your affairs, then you may hire professionals such as solicitors or accountants, bank representatives, or, in some countries, there are Public Trustee who offers service to be the executor of your Will. The professional services may charge fees, so, it is good to ask them before appointing them as an Executor.
It is not necessary to appoint more than one executor, although it is advisable to do so, for example, in case one of them dies, the second one takes over. It is common to appoint two, but up to four executors can take on responsibility for administering the will after a death.
You can keep your will at your home or store it with your Solicitor. Alternatively, it can be kept at the Bank deposit box. Wherever you put, the Will must be protected from fire and theft.
When circumstances change, such as getting separated or divorced, getting married, having a child, or moving to new locations, the executors of Will die or may fall into a severe illness, and chances that he or she could not be able to execute Will. Usually, you do not need to update your Wills for the situation such as job changes, investment changes, etc., However, it is worthwhile to revisit your Wills yearly and change the last page Appendix section where there are details of the Family tree and finances are detailed. Since the Appendix section of the Will does not contain any signatures of the Testator or Witnesses, it does not need updating.
The only way you can make changes in your Will is by making an official alteration called a codicil. You must sign and have witnessed the same way as per the legal requirement of creating Will. For significant changes, you should make a new will and destroy your old Will.
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