Impediments to inheritance in the personal status law

Impediments to inheritance in the personal status law

Disclaimer: This is a legal article that provides information that does not replace consulting a competent lawyer to help you and for more accurate information.

The Saudi Personal Status Law stipulates that in order to be entitled to inheritance, there must be a reason for inheritance and no impediments. The system limits direct impediments to inheritance to two main reasons, in addition to other cases that prevent inheritance, which are as follows:

First: The main obstacles to inheritance

1. Murder: Murder is considered an impediment to inheritance if it is unlawful. Article 200 details its provisions as follows:

Inheritance is prohibited: whoever intentionally kills his heir aggressively or semi-intentionally, and the same prohibition applies if the heir is the original perpetrator of the crime, an accomplice in it, the cause, or the order to kill.

Exception (wrongful killing): An heir who kills his heir wrongly is not deprived of inheritance, but rather inherits from the general estate, but does not inherit from the “blood money” resulting from the killing he caused.

2. Difference of religion: Article 202 stipulates that there is no inheritance with difference of religion. A Muslim does not inherit from a non-Muslim, and a non-Muslim does not inherit from a Muslim (taking into account the permissibility of a will to a non-inheritor in accordance with the provisions of the system).

Second: Other cases prevent inheritance

In addition to the previous prohibitions, the system stipulates specific cases in which inheritance is not proven:

Separation between spouses (divorce): Separation between spouses in life prevents one from inheriting from the other. An exception to this is if the divorce is revocable (as they are inherited as long as the woman is during the waiting period), or if the man divorces his wife during her death illness without her asking him to do so (so she inherits it unless she marries before his death).

Mass death and ignorance of the timing of death: There is no inheritance between the dead if they die at the same time (such as traffic accidents and drowning), or if they die without knowing who died before the other.

For law and legal consultations..Contact the office of lawyer Abdul Majeed Al Rashid.

References

• Article One Hundred and Ninety-Nine of the Personal Status Law and its Regulations
• Article Two Hundred of the Personal Status Law and its regulations
• Article Two Hundred and Two of the Personal Status Law and its regulations
• Article Two Hundred and One of the Personal Status Law and its regulations
• Article Two Hundred and Three of the Personal Status Law and its regulations