Inheritance calculator: wirasat shares under Pakistani law

How the calculator works

First the funeral costs, then the debts (unpaid mahr is a debt), then a will of up to a third of what is left. What remains is divided among the heirs: those with fixed shares in the Qur'an first, then the residue to the nearest residuaries (Hanafi) or by the classes of heirs (Jafari).

Hanafi shares follow al-Sirajiyyah, the standard Hanafi text on inheritance, in Jones's translation with Rumsey's notes (1869), and Mulla's Principles of Mahomedan Law (1905 edition), which Pakistani courts cite. Where the Sirajiyyah records a dispute, the tool follows the view it says judgements are given on: the father's father shuts out brothers and sisters, as Abu Hanifa held.

Jafari shares follow Ayatollah Sistani's Islamic Laws and his Minhaj al-Salihin. Heirs come in three classes (parents and children; grandparents, brothers and sisters; uncles and aunts), and while anyone in a class is alive the later classes inherit nothing. There is no 'awl, and a surplus returns to the sharers.

Fractions are worked out exactly, never rounded, and the rupees come from them last.

The shares in the Qur'an

The words that set each share, in the Sahih International translation:

What Pakistani law changes

The Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 "applies to all Muslim citizens of Pakistan" (section 1(2)). Section 4(1): "In the event of the death of any son or daughter of the propositus before the opening of succession, the children of such son or daughter, if any, living at the time the succession opens, shall per stripes receive a share equivalent to the share which such son or daughter, as the case may be, would have received if alive."

Under classical Hanafi rules a son's children inherit nothing while any son is alive, and a daughter's children are distant kindred. Under Jafari rules grandchildren inherit nothing while any child of the deceased, even a daughter, is alive (Minhaj AR 1001), and a daughter's child then takes the mother's share (Sistani EN 2756; AR 1003). With Pakistani law selected, the calculator counts each son or daughter who died before, and who left children, as alive, and shows the share of that branch. That changes the other heirs' shares too, and the page shows what classical Sharia would give beside it.

Section 4 reaches only the children of a predeceased son or daughter. It does not reach a predeceased brother's or sister's children, and it does not reopen a succession that opened before 1961 (see the court rulings below).

MFLO s.4(2) to (8), added by Federal Act XXVIII of 2021 (4 December 2021), provides for Shia estates that the widow's share of immovable property is a share of its value at the time of payment, that a husband takes a half or a quarter of everything, and (section 4(8)) that Shia inheritance "shall be decided according to their personal law interpreted by Fiqah-e-Jafria". Whether this federal amendment applies outside Islamabad Capital Territory is not settled in the sources we used; ask a lawyer. Because of section 4(8), the calculator stops on a Shia estate with a predeceased child under Pakistani law.

When the calculator stops

It says the case is outside it, rather than guess, when: the heirs disagree about who is an heir; the will is over a third or to an heir; the debts use up the estate; an heir is missing, unborn, intersex, died at the same time, killed the deceased or is not Muslim; a grandchild through a predeceased child has died leaving children. Hanafi: only distant kindred inherit, with or without a husband or wife, or a spouse is the only heir. Jafari: Sistani leaves part of the estate to a settlement between the heirs; nephews with no brother or sister alive; cousins; maternal uncles with maternal aunts; a wife as the only heir; a wife with land in the estate under classical rules; and, under Pakistani law, a Shia estate with a predeceased child (section 4(8)).

After the shares: succession certificate and transfer

Succession certificate

NADRA's Succession Facilitation Units, in Islamabad, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, issue a succession certificate for movable assets such as bank accounts, prize bonds, savings certificates and shares, and a letter of administration for immovable property such as a house, plot, shop or land, from one application. Our NADRA succession certificate guide covers who applies, the steps, the documents and the fee. The documents include the death certificate, the deceased's CNIC cancellation certificate and the Family Registration Certificate; each has its own guide below.

NADRA declines when the heirs disagree, when the case needs evidence, when an heir is mentally disabled (NADRA's Punjab FAQ) or, under the Islamabad, Punjab and Balochistan Acts, when an heir is a minor. The heirs then apply to a civil court under the Succession Act 1925, whose succession certificate covers only debts and securities (sections 370 and 374), not land or a house. In Punjab, land passes by the inheritance mutation (see Transfer below). Our guides cover the decline certificate and the court route, and the guardianship certificate for a minor heir (in Sindh, a minor's share takes effect only after one).

Agreeing to a succession certificate for one asset does not give up a share in the rest: the Lahore High Court held that a sister who conceded in a petition over her father's savings "has not conceded her right to obtain her share in inheritance in property left by her father".

Court rulings: Lahore High Court, C.R. No. 13153 of 2022, Muhammad Irfan Butt v Aliya Nawaz (2025 LHC 7363) (12 November 2025)

• NADRA succession certificate: process, documents and fee
• Death certificate
• CNIC cancellation after death
• Family Registration Certificate
• Guardianship certificate for minor heirs
• Succession certificate through court and NADRA's decline certificate
• NADRA: succession certificates (fees and documents)
• NADRA succession page (asset examples)
• NADRA Punjab: questions (asset examples, when NADRA declines)

Transfer of land and houses

Each heir owns their share from the moment of death: the Supreme Court has held that the estate "vests automatically and immediately in the heirs upon death without the intervention of any authority", and that delay in asserting a right "or challenging a mutation does not extinguish that right" (C.P. No. 567-K of 2023). In Punjab, apply for an inheritance mutation (intiqal wirasat) at the land record office; the offices tool lists them. A house in a housing society or authority scheme is transferred by that society or authority. Before you pay anyone to arrange a transfer, check them.

Court rulings: Supreme Court, Civil Petition No. 567-K of 2023, Abrar Hussain v Mst. Bibi Shahida (29 August 2025) ; Lahore High Court, C.R. No. 16524/2023, Mehwish Mughal v Amira Bukhari (2024 LHC 726) (14 February 2024) ; Lahore High Court, W.P. No. 10283 of 2025, Muhammad Athar Hannan v Member Board of Revenue (2026 LHC 1252) (20 February 2026)

• Inheritance mutation (wirasat intiqal) in Punjab
• Find your land record office
• Check before you pay

If a woman is denied her share

In Punjab, "any woman deprived of ownership or possession of her property, by any means, may file a complaint to the Ombudsperson Punjab" under the Punjab Enforcement of Women's Property Rights Act 2021 (Punjab Commission on the Status of Women).

Court rulings: Supreme Court, Civil Petition No. 567-K of 2023, Abrar Hussain v Mst. Bibi Shahida (29 August 2025) ; Federal Shariat Court, Syeda Fauzia Shah v Federation of Pakistan, PLD 2025 FSC 1

• PCSW: the women's property rights law

Gifts and mutations that leave an heir out

A gift or sale entered in the land record does not by itself prove the gift or sale. Where heirs dispute an oral gift, the Lahore High Court has held that "the beneficiary cannot discharge the burden merely by producing the mutation", and that a gift made "with the sole intention of depriving his daughter of her rightful inheritance" is "unjust and contrary to the teachings of Islam". The same court has upheld gifts to a child who cared for the father, which "reflects not malice, but recognition of filial duty": every case turns on its facts.

Court rulings: Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, C.R. No. 561/2016, Falak Sher v Irshad Begum (2026 LHC 6457) (23 September 2026) ; Lahore High Court, Multan Bench, C.R. No. 419-D of 2018, Hayat Ali v Mst. Khatoon Begum (2022 LHC 7837) (25 October 2022) ; Lahore High Court, C.R. No. 58611 of 2019, Liaqat Ali v Shahnaz Akhtar (2025 LHC 693) (18 February 2025) ; Lahore High Court, C.R. No. 55105/2023, Muhammad Naseem v Asghar Ali Tabassum (2025 LHC 4724) (19 June 2025)

Don't wait: courts differ on time limits

The Supreme Court has said delay in asserting a right "or challenging a mutation does not extinguish that right" (C.P. No. 567-K of 2023), and one Lahore High Court bench held that "no limitation runs against the inheritance matters". Other benches have held that "a claim of inheritance must cross the bridge of limitation, waiver and acquiescence", and that whether limitation runs "is a determinable issue". So claim your share early, and get legal advice on time limits for your case.

Court rulings: Supreme Court, Civil Petition No. 567-K of 2023, Abrar Hussain v Mst. Bibi Shahida (29 August 2025) ; Lahore High Court, C.R. No. 60420/2021, Gulzar Ahmad v Rab Nawaz (2023 LHC 5745) (7 November 2023) ; Lahore High Court, W.P. No. 10459 of 2019, Muhammad Hafeez v Muhammad Ramzan (2025 LHC 2832) (23 April 2025) ; Lahore High Court, C.R. No. 1539 of 2015, Muhammad Khan v Dost Muhammad (2026 LHC 7961) (27 October 2026)

Court rulings

Judgments on inheritance from the Supreme Court, the Federal Constitutional Court, the High Courts and the Federal Shariat Court, each with what it held, quoted from the judgment or from the report named. A ruling marked "as cited in" or "as reported by" was read in that source, not in its own report.

Supreme Court

Federal Constitutional Court

Lahore High Court

Sindh High Court

Peshawar High Court

Federal Shariat Court

Questions

How is inheritance divided in Pakistan?

By the deceased's personal law, Sunni or Shia, with the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 on top. After funeral costs, debts and a will of up to a third, the heirs with fixed shares in the Qur'an take them (a wife an eighth with children, each parent a sixth, and so on), and the rest goes to the nearest residuaries, usually the sons. Section 4 of the Ordinance gives a predeceased son's or daughter's children the share their parent would have had.

What is a daughter's share in her father's property?

One daughter alone takes half, and two or more share two thirds (Qur'an 4:11). With sons, each son takes twice what each daughter takes: with one son and one daughter, the son takes two thirds and the daughter one third of what is left after the fixed shares. Under Shia law, daughters with no son also take any surplus by return.

What is a wife's share in her husband's property?

An eighth if he left a child, a quarter if not, shared equally between wives (Qur'an 4:12). Unpaid mahr is a debt and is paid to her before the estate is divided. For Shia estates, MFLO s.4(2) to (8), added by Federal Act XXVIII of 2021, provides that the widow takes her share of immovable property as a share of its value at the time of payment. Whether this federal amendment applies outside Islamabad Capital Territory is not settled in the sources we used; ask a lawyer.

Do grandchildren inherit if their father died before the grandfather?

Under Pakistani law, for a Sunni estate, yes: section 4 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance gives the branch the share their father or mother would have received if alive. For a Shia estate, section 4(8) sends inheritance to Jafari law, so ask a lawyer whether section 4 applies; the calculator stops there. Under classical Hanafi rules a son's children inherit nothing while any son is alive; under Jafari rules grandchildren inherit only when no child of the deceased is alive. Courts have held that section 4 does not reach a predeceased brother's children.

How do I get a NADRA succession certificate?

Apply at a NADRA Succession Facilitation Unit in Islamabad, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Balochistan: one application gives a succession certificate for movable assets such as bank accounts and shares, and a letter of administration for a house, plot or land. Patwari's NADRA succession certificate guide covers who applies, the steps, the documents and the fee. If NADRA declines (the heirs disagree, the case needs evidence, an heir is mentally disabled or, under the Islamabad, Punjab and Balochistan Acts, an heir is a minor), the heirs go to a civil court, whose succession certificate covers bank accounts, shares and other debts and securities, not land; in Punjab, land passes by the inheritance mutation. Patwari's court route guide covers that route.

• NADRA succession certificate: process, documents and fee
• Succession certificate through court and NADRA's decline certificate

Sources

• The Qur'an 4:11, 4:12 and 4:176, Sahih International translation (quran.com), read 2 Nov 2026
• Al Sirajiyyah, or the Mahommedan Law of Inheritance, Sir William Jones's translation with notes by Almaric Rumsey (1869), archive.org
• D. F. Mulla, Principles of Mahomedan Law, 1905 edition, chapters V and VI, archive.org
• Ayatollah Sistani, Islamic Laws (English), chapters on wills and inheritance, rulings 2711 to 2796, sistani.org
• Ayatollah Sistani, Minhaj al-Salihin vol. 3, Kitab al-Mirath (Arabic), masa'il 953 to 1109, sistani.org
• Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961, amendments up to date, Sindh Judicial Academy (sections 1 and 4)
• Mir Asfandyar Khan Mohmand, "Inheritance Rights of Orphaned Grandchildren: A Straightforward Provision of Law?", LUMS Law Journal
• NADRA: succession certificates and letters of administration, read 2 November 2026
• NADRA Succession Facilitation Unit, Punjab: questions (asset examples, when NADRA declines), read 2 November 2026
• Punjab Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Act 2021 (Act IX of 2021), Punjab Gazette, 17 May 2021
• Balochistan Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Act, 2022 (Act No. I of 2022)
• Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Act 2020, Ministry of Law and Justice
• Succession Act 1925 (XXXIX of 1925), sections 370 and 374, Pakistan Code
• Punjab Commission on the Status of Women: Punjab Enforcement of Women's Property Rights Act 2021