Updated: Jun 22, 2023
Islamic Wills (called Wasiya, Wasiyyah, or Wasiyat) is the simplest and great Islamic estate plan with worldwide applicability. However, certain things cannot cover under Islamic Wills. Without a smart estate planning strategy, the best attorney, lawyer, or estate planning expert cannot promise that these things can be covered under Islamic Will. You should know that fifteen (15) things cannot be covered under Islamic Wills, which we will explain below. Not covering assets under Islamic Will can provide other opportunities in estate planning, but that is unknown to most people when they grab templates and create their estate plans.
Following things can be covered under Islamic Wills that are legally and Islamically compliant and subject to condition that you follow all requirements provided by Wassiyyah through the Instructions guide.
Assets under your name for which you are the sole owner.
Assets jointly owned under a Tenancy-in-common agreement. To learn more about joint ownership types, visit Joint or Coownerships in Islam.
Money in your Individual Bank account for which you are the sole owner.
Investments under your name for which you are the sole owner.
Personal items such as belongings, jewelry, or other under your possession for which you are the sole owner.
Any assets left out from Trust (or Waqf) with no designated beneficiaries.
The following things can not be covered under legally and Islamically compliant Islamic Wills even though created by the best attorney.
Assets jointly owned under which right of survivorship is applicable. For example, if you own assets under a Joint Tenancy agreement. Most assets are owned under this agreement these days. To learn more about joint ownership types, visit Joint or Coownerships in Islam.
Insurance policy on which beneficiaries are designated.
Investments on which beneficiaries are designated.
Employee pensions or other similar government or private pension or savings plans.
Money in the bank or financial institutions under Joint bank accounts.
Jewelry, Gold, or other items that have a value in money or money itself are in the bank's safety deposit box, which is owned jointly. The reason is once a joint owner dies, the possessions automatically go to surviving joint owners, and this cannot be controlled under Islamic Will.
Vehicles or other moveable assets are owned jointly.
Gifts after death cannot be covered under Islamic Will under Islamic law and will pose non-compliance Islamically; however, there is no issue legally.
Testamentary Bequest to be given to Islamic legal heirs (To know who Islamic legal heirs are! please consider completing the Islamic inheritance course at Wassiyyah academy). All courses offered at Wassiyyah Academy are free for Premium and Ultimate members.
Estates cannot be given to adopted children under Islamic Wills.
Provisions for Pets or other similar issues.
Provisions for Disable children cannot be covered in Islamic Wills. For disabled children, you will need more advanced estate planning solutions like Trust (or Waqf) to gain better control. When you do not have the option to create Trust or Waqf, then your Islamic Will need to be written in a way that can cover those provisions.
You own the assets verbally, but your name is not on the property title. This is the most common issue; you should read the Land title issue article for the impact on final distribution for not having a proper name on the title in place.
Intellectual or digital property cannot be covered under Islamic Will. You need to have arrangements before death to get it transferred; otherwise, it will not cover. Digital property can cost millions of dollars for some people due to the widespread instruments used for earning wealth. Digital property about estate planning is a very complex area, and you need to consult an appropriate expert to manage these properly regarding Islamic estate planning compliance.
Any wealth, cash, investment, business (generating income), or other earned through forbidden (i.e., Haraam or non-Halal) way cannot be covered under Islamic Wills. Any business entity needs an advanced estate plan (and succession plan), such as Trust or Waqf.
Now the question is, do I still have to create Islamic Will if any of the assets mentioned in this blog cannot be covered? The answer is "YES" for the following reasons.
Islamic Will is the only way for many the world countries where you cannot create other estate plans that can cover your wishes, values, and preferences about estate distributions.
Islamic Will is a backup estate plan (also called Pour-Over Will) that is no matter what you should create, whether you create an Individual or Family Trust.
Islamic Will can give you peace of mind and give you satisfaction as an asset owner with the caveat that you did your due diligence to create Islamic Wills by following creative solutions (that Wassiyyah will provide in the Instructions guide of Islamic Will) or other methods (proposed by other experts) that can ensure those uncovered things can be taken care outside of Islamic Wills.
Islamic Will is not only for adults but for minor children, you must have a provision that can be covered under Islamic Will, and that's why you need Islamic Will no matter what.
You should start with creating Islamic Will as a minimum, then you create other estate plans such as Trust or Waqf to make it more shariah friendly in the future to cover everything you own, whether individually or jointly. However, a delay in creating Islamic Will (and if mental incapacity or death occurs) can get you complete non-compliance compared to partial non-compliance.