Article on Islamic Estate Planning

Imani Jaafar recently published an Article entitled, Practical Islamic Estate Planning: A Short Primer, 42 Mitchell Hamline L. Rev. 925 (2016). Provided below is a summary of the Article:

Islamic estate planning can be challenging for both lawyers and their clients. To attorneys unfamiliar with Islamic estate distribution, the fraction system for dividing an estate can be daunting. The problem can be compounded if Muslim clients do not fully understand the system that applies to their estate documents. Nonetheless, the Qur’an requires Muslims to have a will. The Qur’an, the holy book of Muslims, mandates of believers “when death approaches any of you and he is leaving behind much wealth, to make bequests in [favor] of his parents and [others] near of kin in accordance with what is fair.” The Prophet Muhammad, the most revered and final prophet in Islam, is reported to have said, “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.” This article focuses on Islamic wills and provides an overview of the origins of Islamic estate planning, an explanation of the predetermined inheritor system, and a discussion of common issues practitioners will face when assisting Muslim-American clients in drafting Islamic estate documents.