Shariawiz | Islamic Wills FAQ

I have an affiliate or discount code. How do I use it?

You will enter your affiliate or discount code at checkout.

How much does it cost?

Our scholar-approved inheritance calculator is free of charge.
The Shariawiz Last Will and Testament is $199, the Health Care Directive is $59, and the Power of Attorney if $39. You can save $47 by purchasing our bundle for $250, which includes all three forms.

How do I update my forms?

Upon purchase, your documents will be available in your Dashboard. You are able to make changes or updates to your documents anytime for free.

What is a Health Care Directive (also known as a Health Care Proxy or Living Will) and why do I need it?

God forbid you have an accident or medical emergency and you’re unable to make decisions about your health – or that you become generally incapacitated, fall into a coma, or that you must be kept alive by artificial life support.
A Health Care Directive (also called a Living Will or Health Care Proxy) is a legal document that allows you to appoint a person you trust to make health care decisions on your behalf if you cannot communicate your decisions on your own.
It is very important to make your intentions known to everyone BEFORE you suffer a critical illness, disability, or incapacity. The Health Care Directive contains your wishes and preferences about health care, including your moral and religious values when it comes to end-of-life issues.
Your health care representative has to act in good faith and in your best interest, including acting in compliance with your religious faith. Signing a Health Care Directive ensures your wishes are followed. It also protects your family, so that they do not have to make these difficult decisions for you.
Do you want your family to follow Islamic principles for these end-of-life issues? Then you MUST have a health care directive with your specific wishes and preferences about health care. It must include your moral and religious values for end-of-life issues. With this directive in place, physicians and your family are required to follow your wishes.
Use our HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE (HYPERLINK) software to prepare your own custom-tailored state-specific, legally binding, Shari'a-compliant Health Care Directive.

What happens if I do not have a Health Care Directive?

If you don’t have a Health Care Directive and, God forbid, you become incapacitated and cannot communicate your own decisions regarding your health care, then your family becomes responsible for those health care decisions.
What's worse, if your family members cannot agree on health care decisions for you, they may be forced to litigate the matter in court, which would allow a judge to make the decision for you. With a Health Care Directive, you can save your family from fighting about your care and ending up in a hurtful court battle.
Further, if you do not have a Health Care Directive and an trusted health care representative, your doctors may not know to perform Shari'a-compliant health care solutions for you. To ensure your health care is in line with your moral and religious values, you must sign a Health Care Directive for your physicians to follow.
Use our HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE (HYPERLINK) software to prepare your own custom-tailored state-specific, legally binding, Shari'a-compliant Health Care Directive.

What is a Power of Attorney and why do I need it?

A power of attorney is a legal document that allows you to appoint someone you trust to act on your behalf in financial and legal matters. The person you appoint can act on your behalf while you are alive or if you become incompetent.
There are many reasons for having a Power of Attorney. For example, a member of the military being deployed overseas, leaving behind their families, should have a power of attorney. He or she needs to appoint someone to act on their behalf to handle certain legal, financial and familial affairs while they are deployed. A child moving to college is another example, for the same reasons. A person that travels for work often should have a Power of Attorney appointing a trusted person to attend to his affairs in the event of long absences.
Further, If you are in retirement or have health issues, a Power of Attorney makes life so much easier for your loved ones to attend to your affairs - including paying bills, dealing with medical insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare offices, and everything in between.
Our Power of Attorney is affordable, and quick and easy to prepare. Use our POWER OF ATTORNEY (HYPERLINK) software to appoint a representative to handle your affairs in your absence or in case you become incapacitated.

Do I have to include a schedule of assets in my will?

Making a Sharia-Compliant will does not require a schedule of assets, but you should appoint an executor who is familiar with your financial portfolio. Your assets at the time of your death may not be the same assets at the time you made your will. The Islamic inheritance system is a default fixed share system. All of the eligible assets you owned at the time of your death will become part of your Estate. Your executor will gather them and distribute them to your Islamic heirs as contained in your will. The distribution may include selling all or part of your assets. The proceeds from the sale will be distributed to the benefit of all beneficiaries according to their Islamic inheritance share. If you live in a community property state (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin), you are required to prepare a schedule of assets as part of your estate plan in order to clarity and identify the type of ownership title for each asset: (i) husband’s separate property; (ii) wife’s separate property; (iii) the parties’ joint property/community property.

I have a complicated estate that requires unique solutions. What should I do?

Shariawiz is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. If you have a complex estate, you should retain a lawyer. If you require complex estate planning expertise or just want to retain an attorney to handle the drafting of your estate plan, email us at help@shariawiz.com. We will provide you with the contact information of several estate planning law firms for you to consult about your matter.

Can my spouse and I make a joint Sharī‘a-compliant will?

A joint will that is also called a “mirror will,” “mutual will,” or “reciprocal will” is a will that may be executed by a married couple to ensure that their property is disposed of identically at time of death. In a standard joint will, the wife and husband make identical wills that provide when one spouse passes away, the surviving spouse receives everything, and when both of them pass away, the estate would be left to their children or other beneficiaries. Except for your spouse, American law allows you to leave your estate to anyone, and for the most part you are free to disinherit any family member (with a few exceptions in some states).

The Sharī‘a, on the other hand, is a fixed share system. You have restrictions on the distribution of your estate. The Sharī‘a has certain gender-specific obligations and the inheritance rights of each spouse's beneficiaries are different. For example, the parents of one spouse are not the legal heirs of the other spouse. The inheritance distribution of each spouse is also different. For these reasons, the Sharī‘a does not permit a person to leave his entire estate to the surviving spouse. For this fundamental reason, a joint will would violate the requirements of the Sharī‘a.

If my only surviving Islamic heir is my spouse, would my spouse take the entire estate?

Yes.

A surviving spouse would first take his or her prescribed share from the estate. A wife’s Islamic inheritance share would be 1/4 (or 1/8 if the husband had children) of her husband's net estate. A husband’s Islamic inheritance share would be 1/2 (or 1/4 if the wife had children) of his wife's net estate. The balance left in the estate would go to the decedent’s surviving Islamic heirs like parents, children, or siblings.

But what happens if there are no other surviving Islamic heirs?

Except for Uthman Ibn Afan, who held that a spouse is entitled to share in radd like the other obligatory Islamic heir takers, the Shāfi’ī, Hanafī, Hanbalī, and Mālikī Schools hold that while spouses are obligatory heirs (ahl al-fara’id), they are not entitled to radd.

Today, the majority of Muslim countries, including Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Jordan, provide that while they do not permit a spouse to take radd if there are any other surviving Islamic heirs, they do permit a spouse to take radd if there are no other surviving Islamic heirs. So if the sole surviving Islamic heir is a spouse, the spouse would take his or her Quranic share plus the balance remaining in the estate by radd.

Islamic Prenuptial Agreement FAQs

What is a Prenuptial Agreement?

A Prenuptial Agreement is an agreement between two people intending to get married. The agreement will outline property rights during your marriage and financial arrangements the two of you would like to make as a condition of your marriage.

The Shariawiz Prenuptial Agreement ensures your marriage will follow Islamic law, including what would happen in the event of divorce or death.

What conditions can my Prenuptial Agreement include?

It includes outlining property rights during your marriage and financial arrangements in the event of a divorce or death. The Shariawiz Prenuptial Agreement ensures your marriage will follow Islamic law, including what would happen in a termination event, such as divorce or death.

Some examples include your mahr amounts (both immediate and deferred), property distribution in a divorce, iddah payments in a divorce, and more.

What cannot be included in my Prenuptial Agreement?

You cannot include provisions for child support or child custody, such as which parent will have primary custody if a divorce were to occur, in a Prenuptial Agreement.

What does the Prenuptial Agreement package include?

The Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement package includes the Prenuptial Agreement and a coinciding Muslim Marriage Contract to be signed at the Islamic marriage ceremony as well as an Islamic Will for each of you.

How does the process work?

You will first begin by answering the questions in the Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement software. Once you’re finished answering your portion, you will be able to invite your potential spouse to answer his/her portion of questions as well. You will both disclose your assets to be reviewed by the other (don’t worry, you don’t have to upload any documents).

Once the two of you have both answered the questions, our software will inform you whether there are answers that you disagreed on. If so, you will be able to negotiate via online messaging and email communications until you both agree to all the terms of the Prenuptial Agreement as well as the financial disclosures that have been provided.

Then, you can download your completed Prenuptial Agreement and Muslim Marriage Contract! You will sign the Prenuptial Agreement before the wedding, and the Muslim Marriage Contract will be signed during your Islamic marriage ceremony.

How much does it cost?

The Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement package costs $999 per couple. After purchase, you will be able to invite your potential spouse to collaborate; he/she will not have to pay any additional fees to do so.

I have an affiliate or discount code. How do I use it?

You will enter your affiliate or discount code at checkout.

What is your refund policy?

Shariawiz has a 14-day money back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with your completed Shariawiz documents, you can request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.

How long does it take?

You can create a Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement as quickly as you want! It should only take each of you 30 minutes to answer the questions in our software. Afterwards, if you have chosen different answers, the two of you will be able to negotiate via messages on our platform to agree on all the terms of your Prenuptial Agreement. Once the two of you agree, your Prenuptial Agreement is complete and just needs to be signed!

How long before our wedding should we start the Prenuptial Agreement?

You should start negotiating your Prenuptial Agreement months before your wedding, if possible. Some states do not consider a Prenuptial Agreement signed within a week of the wedding enforceable, so do not wait until the day before your wedding ceremony to sign the Agreement. Give yourself a month or two to make sure you both have had sufficient time to fully review the terms of the Agreement as well as the financial disclosures that go with it and consult professionals, like an attorney, if desired.

How much money should I have to do a Prenuptial Agreement?

Anyone can get a Prenuptial Agreement, no matter how much money you may or may not have. This is especially true if you want your marriage to abide by Islamic law. The Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement is the only Islamic Prenuptial Agreement available online.

Do I need to disclose all of my assets?

If you want your Prenuptial Agreement to be enforceable in the event of a divorce, then each of you must disclose all of your assets. That is because most states require “full disclosure” or even “full and fair disclosure” of finances prior to the signing of a Prenuptial Agreement. If one or both of you fail to disclose all of your assets, then a court may find your Prenuptial Agreement to be invalid and unenforceable since one party may have had unfair advantage in agreeing to the terms of the Agreement.

Your Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement will include a schedule for each of you that will include your assets, your liabilities, and your income. You each will disclose this information during the question process.

Is my Prenuptial Agreement legally valid?

The Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement was developed by a team of attorneys and Islamic law experts. Your Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement is likely to be enforceable if you follow all the right steps in its creation. But, there is no guarantee, even if you hire an attorney to draft your prenuptial agreement.

With any prenuptial agreement, you are striving to create the likeliest chance of enforcement. To do this, you must collaborate and agree on the terms of your Prenuptial Agreement. Neither of you can be forced or coerced into signing. You must disclose all of your assets for a full financial disclosure according to your state’s terms. You must sign the Prenuptial Agreement in advance of your wedding, preferably month(s) in advance.

And finally, follow the instructions on your downloaded document to make sure you sign, witness, and notarize according to your state’s rules and regulations.

Shariawiz provides the option of waiving attorney representation, but you may bring the draft of your Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement to an attorney for review and revision, if you so desire.

Do we need to sign our Prenuptial Agreement in front of a notary?

Yes, you will need to sign your Prenuptial Agreement in front of a notary, and some states require witness signatures as well. Check the instructions on your downloaded Prenuptial Agreement document to properly sign, witness, and notarize your documents.

My potential spouse and I live in different states. What state should we choose for our Prenuptial Agreement?

Your Prenuptial Agreement should follow the laws of the state where the two of you will be residing once married.

Here’s an example. The Groom lives in New Jersey and the Bride lives in Colorado. After the wedding, the Bride and Groom will be living together as a married couple in Groom’s house in New Jersey. For that couple, their Prenuptial Agreement should be made per New Jersey’s laws.

What if my potential spouse is not a US Citizen?

Citizenship does not affect the validity of a Prenuptial Agreement. Your Prenuptial Agreement should follow the laws of the state where the two of you will be residing once married.

However, if your foreign fiance/fiancée does not speak English as their first language, you may consider having an attorney who speaks their language to review the Prenuptial Agreement with them. If your potential spouse cannot read English, a court may not consider that Prenuptial Agreement valid without proper review and translation from someone who speaks his/her language.

Do I need a lawyer?

In most states, a lawyer is not required in signing a Prenuptial Agreement. Some states, like California, require an attorney to review the document if you will be waiving spousal support.

It is important that both of you had the opportunity to have the document reviewed by counsel. You are not required to hire an attorney if you don’t want to. The Shariawiz Prenuptial Agreement includes a Waiver of Attorney Representation for couples that are not seeking a lawyer’s review. However, it is even more important for these couples to sign their Prenuptial Agreement well in advance of the wedding. A court may see a Prenuptial Agreement signed the day before the wedding and decide there was not enough time or opportunity for you to obtain legal advice.

NOTE: If English is not your first language, we suggest you hire an attorney to review the document with you to ensure you fully understand its contents. Shariawiz is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, but we can connect you to an attorney who can review your Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement with you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us for more information.

What if I want customized solutions that aren’t in your software?

If you have a more complex estate, want customized solutions, or even just want an attorney to review your Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement before you sign, reach out to us! Shariawiz is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, but we can provide you with the contact information of a lawyer you may consult on the matter.

Can I sign a Prenuptial Agreement after I get married?

No, a Prenuptial Agreement must be signed pre-marriage. Your Muslim Marriage Contract, on the other hand, will be signed during the Islamic marriage ceremony.

Can I change/update my Prenuptial Agreement?

Yes, after purchase, you and your potential spouse can agree to make changes or update the Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement as you see fit, as long as it is done before signing. After you sign the documents, you cannot change or sign your Prenuptial Agreement.

To make changes, simply log back into your Shariawiz account, visit your Dashboard, and click “Edit Document.” Your potential spouse will receive notice that a change has been made that he/she must agree to before the document can be downloaded for signing.

NOTE: Your Prenuptial Agreement cannot be changed, amended, or revoked after it has been signed and notarized without attorney assistance.

What should we do after signing?

If you’ve both signed your Shariawiz Islamic Prenuptial Agreement and had your Islamic marriage ceremony, then congratulations! You should both have an original copy of the Prenuptial Agreement and should keep it in a safe place. A fire-proof filing cabinet or home safe is a great place to keep important documents.

Have a question that you don’t see here?

We’d be happy to help! Simply reach out to us via phone or email to ask us your question! Or, enter a webchat here on the website to be connected to a customer support specialist.

Our team is standing by Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm EST to answer any questions or assist with whatever you may need. Salaams!

Shariawiz FAQs

Islamic Prenuptial Agreement FAQs

What are you waiting for?