Updated: Jun 22, 2023
After birth, our parents help us to grow and build our careers. We continue our journey to earn wealth, marry, and have children, and our story continues. During a lifetime, the contribution you can make is through humanity work, charity, or whatever you may think to help family and to build community, and all counts. We will cover general Islamic estate planning requirements after a person dies.
After death, the majority think our story is over, but another story starts, which will stay forever. The only part you accomplish before death is a “war field,” whether you win or lose. The outcome will not depend on whether you were rich, king, qualified, professional, wealthy, or high status, or have a good status or leader in society.
The only thing that matters is how you perform as a human, whether you have a debt owed or contributed; if your inheritors are happy, everyone is happy; that's what matters.
No one cares about assets while you are alive (except for tax purposes); however, as soon as the death occurs, legal processing kicks off with the death certificate until the final estate distributions are completed, and final tax returns are filled out. This process continues until not a single dollar remains in your account after death. The legal process may differ from one country or jurisdiction to another, but we will give you a general overview of the process typically an executor should follow.
Before the funeral or Burial takes place, the executor or family member obtains the death certificate of a deceased person. The executor will start booking travel/visa/ticket if an executor is not in the same city, state, or country. In that case, a family member or community will look after getting a birth certificate and a funeral or burial.
The executor starts getting information about assets, accounts, investments, and liabilities such as loans, mortgages, etc.; If an executor is incapable, the executor may consider hiring a lawyer for Probate. If an executor is capable, then make the appointment for Probate with the court based on the expected information available for assets, accounts, and liabilities.
The executor may file probate in a different jurisdiction (i.e., State, Province, or Territory) if assets are located across Canada, the United States, or Australia. So, in this case, the executors’ duty becomes huge, especially if the testator is left with large assets worldwide and he or she is appointed for all locations.
Appear in court for probate processing. There may be one or more court proceedings until the court approves the Islamic Will for estate distribution. The court may request additional information, and the executor needs to provide and fulfill requirements.
Once Wills is approved and all clear by the court, that is the first and most important step completed. The next step is to get tax clearance from the tax office or revenue office to pay off any pending inheritance tax, wealth tax, estate tax, death tax, capital gain tax, or other applicable taxes. Also, the executor needs to publish advertisements to the public to inform creditors of a timeframe.
After all tax issues are cleared, executors must follow word by word in the Will for estate distribution. Imagine something the testator may have written in the Will without thinking (or grabbing free templates); how big the consequences would be to deal by an executor and inheritors!
Once Wills is approved, executors must follow the word by word in the Will. Imagine something you may have written in the Will without thinking how big the consequences would be! An executor must follow everything in the Will to comply morally, legally, and Islamically.
Once all estates are distributed after applicable taxes and pending debts are paid off, the final step is for an executor to appear in front of the court to show his or her accomplished work before the court gives all clear to the Probate closing.
You can now imagine the vastness of the executor’s duty. That’s why not many people like to become executors. The best way is to become executors of each other's Will, meaning, When you create Will, your friend can be the executor and vice-versa.