I have two adopted children. Will they be able to inherit my estate according to Sharī‘a?

According to Sharī‘a inheritance rules, a relative inherits automatically as part of the fixed default-distribution system. Under Sharī‘a, only biological children from a valid marriage are Islamic heirs entitled to inherit from the paternal line. Adopted children and stepchildren are not eligible to inherit under the Sharī‘a.

Under American law, adopted children are treated the same as biological children. While not accepted by most scholars, some American Muslims have requested that they have the option to include their adopted children as Islamic-heir children in their will.

Until then, just because adopted children are not eligible Sharī‘a heirs does not mean they aren’t entitled to inherit through bequests. Sunni Islamic law permits you to leave up to 1/3 of your estate in the aggregate to non-Islamic heirs. If you want to leave something for your adopted children, for example, you can leave up to 1/3 of your estate for them to share.

 Use our ISLAMIC WILL software to prepare your own customized Islamic estate plan that is legally valid for your state, which will allow you to leave a bequest for adopted children.