Reasons for Inheritance
Inheritance arises from three primary causes: marriage, blood relations, and guardianship. Below is an overview of each cause:
- Marriage: This refers to a valid marriage contract between a man and a woman.
- Blood Relations: This term denotes kinship, specifically the connection between two individuals through birth, whether they are closely related or not. Blood relations can be categorized into three types:
- Ascendants: These include parents and grandparents, regardless of how far back they go.
- Descendants: This group encompasses children and grandchildren, irrespective of how many generations are involved.
- Collaterals: These are siblings and their children, along with uncles and their children.
- Guardianship: This refers to the bond established through liberation, enabling the freed individual and their kin to inherit due to the benefaction of the master who emancipated them. Thus, if someone frees a slave who possesses property at the time of their passing, the master inherits that property. However, the freed slave does not inherit from their former master unless there are no heirs.
Conditions for Inheritance
Three essential conditions must be met for inheritance to occur:
- Death of the Deceased: The decedent must have passed away, either genuinely or legally. For instance, a judge may declare a missing person dead, treating them as if they have actually died. Additionally, a hypothetical death may be established, such as in cases where a pregnant woman is assaulted, leading to the death of her fetus; the unborn child’s life is considered despite not being realized.
- Survival of the Heir: The heir must be alive at the time of the decedent’s death, or considered alive in a legal sense, as in the case of a fetus. If it is uncertain whether the heir survived the decedent, as might occur with victims of a flood or fire, no inheritance will transpire among them, even if they are potential heirs. Instead, the assets of each decedent will be distributed among living heirs.
- Absence of Inheritance Barriers: An individual may have a valid reason for inheritance; however, if they possess a characteristic that disqualifies them from inheriting, such as certain legal or moral impediments, they are deemed excluded from inheritance.
Obstacles to Inheritance
There are three main barriers to inheritance:
- Slavery: Enslaved individuals cannot inherit or be inherited, as they are considered property of their masters.
- Religious Differences: There is no inheritance between individuals of differing religions, such as a Muslim and a non-Muslim.
- Murder: A murderer cannot inherit from their victim, regardless of whether the act was intentional or accidental.