Other heirs
In the Hanafai, Hanbali and Shii juristic schools, as well as in the Egyptian law, other relatives, such as relatives to the mother of the decedent, share in the estate, two portions for males and one portion for females if there are no named heirs and no paternal agnate heirs. The Shii schools do not agree that paternal male agnates get the remainder after the named heirs. The estate is distributed according to the ranks of kinship. Only heirs in the higher rank inherit.
Scholars have defined ranks for kinship by defining three aspects of kinship: direction, degree, and strength. Directions are ranked as follows: descendants, ascendants, siblings, descendants of siblings, and siblings of ascendants. Degrees are generational. The top degree is the closest generation. Strength is ranked as follows: full, paternal only and maternal only.
To illustrate, the father of the mother is in the direction of ascendants while the son of the daughter is in the direction of descendants. Thus, the latter is ranked above the former because his direction is ranked higher. Another example is that the son of a daughter and the son of the daughter of a daughter are both in the direction of the descendants, but because of the generational degree, the former is ranked above the latter. A third example is that the sons of daughters and the daughters of daughters are all of the same direction and degree, so if they are full siblings, then the sons get twice what the daughters get. If some of them are full siblings and some are half-siblings, the full siblings are ranked above the half-siblings.
Other relatives ranking in the the Egyptian law (Sabiq[1]):
(1)
1a. Children (or grandchildren etc) of daughters,
1b. Children of daughters of sons (or sons of sons etc).
(2)
2a. Father (or father of parent etc) of mother,
2b. Mother (or mother of parent etc) of mother.
(3)
3a. Sons (or sons of sons etc) of brothers from mother,
3b. Sons (or sons of sons etc) of children of brothers from mother,
3c. Children (or grandchildren etc) of full sisters,
3d. Children (or grandchildren etc) of half-sisters,
3e. Daughters of full brothers,
3f. Daughters of half-brothers from father,
3g. Children (or grandchildren etc) of people mentioned in item 3e,
3h. Children (or grandchildren) of daughters of people mentioned in item 3f,
3i. Daughters of Sons (or sons of sons etc) of full brothers,
3j. Daughters of sons (or sons of sons etc) of half-brothers from father,
3k. Children of people mentioned in item 3i,
3l. Children of people mentioned in item 3j,
(4) This category is further sorted into six subcategories,
[4.1]
4.1a- Half-brothers (from mother) of the decedent's father,
4.1b- Sisters of father,
4.1c- Brothers of mother,
4.1d- Sisters of mother,
[4.2]
4.2a- Children (or grandchildren etc) of people mentioned in item 4.1a,
4.2b- Children (or grandchildren etc) of people mentioned in item 4.1b,
4.2c- Children (or grandchildren etc) of people mentioned in item 4.1c,
4.2d- Children (or grandchildren etc) of people mentioned in item 4.1d,
4.2e- Daughters of brothers of father,
4.2f- Daughters of sons (or sons of sons etc) of brothers of father,
4.2g- Children of people mentioned in item 4.2e,
4.2h- Children of people mentioned in item 4.2f,
[4.3]
4.3a- Half-brothers (from mother) of father of father,
4.3b- Sisters of father of father,
4.3c- Brothers of mother of father,
4.3d- Sisters of mother of father,
4.3e- Brothers of father of mother,
4.3f- Sisters of father of father,
4.3g- Brothers of mother of father,
4.3h- Sisters of mother of father,
[4.4]
4.4a- Children (or grandchildren) of people mentioned in item 4.3a,
4.4b- Children (or grandchildren) of people mentioned in item 4.3b,
4.4c- Children (or grandchildren) of people mentioned in item 4.3c,
4.4d- Children (or grandchildren) of people mentioned in item 4.3d,
4.4e- Children (or grandchildren) of people mentioned in item 4.3e,
4.4f- Children (or grandchildren) of people mentioned in item 4.3f,
4.4g- Children (or grandchildren) of people mentioned in item 4.3g,
4.4h- Children (or grandchildren) of people mentioned in item 4.3h,
4.4i- Daughters of full brothers of father,
4.4j- Daughters of half-brothers of father from their father,
4.4k- Daughters of sons (or sons of sons etc) of people mentioned in item 4.4i,
4.4l- Daughters of sons (or sons of sons etc) of people mentioned in item 4.4j,
4.4m- Children (or grandchildren etc) of people mentioned in item 4.k,
4.4n- Children (or grandchildren etc) of people mentioned in item 4.l,
[4.5]
4.5a- Half-brothers (from mother) of father of father of father,
4.5b- Brothers of father of father of mother,
4.5c- Sisters of father of father of father,
4.5d- Sisters of father of father of mother,
4.5e- Brothers of mother of father of father,
4.5f- Sisters of mother of father of father,
4.5g- Brothers of father of mother of mother,
4.5h- Brothers of father of mother of father,
4.5i- Sisters of father of mother of mother,
4.5j. Sisters of father of mother of father,
4.5k- Brothers of mother of mother of mother,
4.5l- Brothers of mother of mother of father,
4.5m- Sisters of mother of mother of mother,
4.5n- Sisters of mother of mother of father,
[4.6]
4.6a- Children of people mentioned in category 4.5,
4.6b- Daughters of brothers of father of father of father,
4.6c- Daughters of sons of people mentioned in item 4.6b,
4.6d- Children of people mentioned in item 46b.
4.6e- Children of people mentioned in item 46c.
Within category (1), priority is given to children of named heirs.
Within category (2), priority is given to children or grandchildren of named heirs. If all heirs within category (2) are at the same level, priority is given to children tracing to the same father. They get two thirds and those tracing to the mother get a third. Otherwise, they share equally.
If all heirs within category (3) are at the same level, priority is given to a male agnate, then to those tracing to the same two parents, then to those tracing to the same father, then to those tracing to the same mother. If they are of the same tracing, they share, males get twice what the females get.
As for category (4), subcategories 4.1, 4.3 and 4.5, priority is given to heirs tracing to both parents, then to those tracing to the same father only, then to those tracing to the same mother only. Heirs tracing to father get two thirds and heirs tracing to mother get one third. For subcategories 4.2, 4.4 and 4.6, priority is given to children of male agnates over children tracing to mother. Heirs tracing to father get two thirds and heirs tracing to mother get one third.