Computation Overview
Inheritance computation is a relatively simple process that requires basic math skills. This article gives an overview of the computation process, highlighting the main steps. The details of each step are presented in separate articles.
Step 1: Determining the Heirs
List all of the heirs in the scenario. This requires some understanding of basic inheritance principles like: primary heirs, fixed-share heirs, universal heirs, extended relatives and exclusion rules.
Overall, there are three possibilities:
There is a primary heir that is not a spouse
List all fixed-share heirs that are not excluded
Find the strongest universal heir
There is a spouse and no other primary heir
Include the spouse in the list of heirs
Find the eligible extended relatives
There are no primary heirs
Find the eligible extended relatives
When you have populated the list of heirs, construct a table with three columns. Insert the heirs in the left-most column.
For example, if the heirs are wife, daughter and father, the table will look like the following:
Wife | ||
Daughter | ||
Father |
Note how the first row is left empty.
By convention, we list the spouse first, followed by the fixed share heirs and finally the universal heirs. If there are females and males of the same level, the females are listed above.
If there are multiple individuals in the same heir category, then a number is appended to the heir name. For example, if there are two daughters in the above scenario:
Wife | ||
Daughter x 2 | ||
Father |
Example 1.1: Construct a table for a husband, a mother, two sisters and an uncle
The husband is to be placed on top. The uncle is the universal heir, so he should appear at the bottom. The mother and two sisters are all females, so they are placed randomly in the inner rows. The table looks like the following:
Husband | ||
Mother | ||
Sister x 2 | ||
Uncle |
Example 1.2: Construct a table for a wife, three daughters, a mother, a grandson and a granddaughter
The wife is placed on top of the list. The grandson and the granddaughter will jointly inherit through universality so they are placed at the bottom, such that the females appear before the males. The daughters and mothers are placed randomly in the inner rows.
Wife | ||
Daughter x 3 | ||
Mother | ||
Granddaughter | ||
Grandson |
Example 1.3: Construct a table for a husband, a mother, two maternal siblings, three full sisters, two paternal sisters and a paternal brother
The husband is listed first. In this scenario, paternal siblings inherit through universality. Therefore, they are placed at the bottom with the sisters appearing before the brother. The mother and full sisters are placed in the inner rows. The table looks like the following:
Husband | ||
Mother | ||
Sibling [maternal] x 2 | ||
Sister [Full] x 3 | ||
Sister [Paternal] x 2 | ||
Brother [Paternal] |
Step 2: Assigning Fixed Shares
Once the list of heirs is finalized, you need to assign each heir their share. The shares are placed in the second column.
If the heir is a fixed-share holder, then the share is placed in the corresponding cell.
If the heir is a universal heir or inherits in universality, then the letter U is placed in the cell.
For heirs which are excluded, you can either remove them from the table or write the letter X indicating their exclusion.
Determining the shares is the core of the study of inheritance. Therefore, if you are unable to determine the share of a specific heir, you need to go back to the relevant article and find the correct share. For now, focus on understanding the overall computation layout rather than how the shares are assigned.
Example 2.1: Determine the Shares for the heirs listed in Example 1.1
Husband | 1/2 | |
Mother | 1/6 | |
Sister x 2 | 2/3 | |
Uncle | U |
Example 2.2: Determine the Shares for the heirs listed in Example 1.2
Wife | 1/8 | |
Daughter x 3 | 2/3 | |
Mother | 1/6 | |
Granddaughter | U | |
Grandson |
Note how the grandchildren are assigned the letter U indicating that they jointly inherit through universality in this scenario
Example 2.3: Determine the Shares for the heirs listed in Example 1.3
Husband | 1/2 | |
Mother | 1/6 | |
Sibling [maternal] x 2 | 1/3 | |
Sister [Full] x 3 | 2/3 | |
Sister [Paternal] x 2 | U | |
Brother [Paternal] |
Step 3: Computing The Base
As all of the shares are recorded, the next step is to compute the base. The base is the least common multiple (LCM) of the denominators of the shares in the problem. The base is placed in the top cell of the third column. More information on how to compute the base can be found here.
Example 3.1: Compute and record the base for the scenario outlined in Example 2.1
6 | ||
Husband | 1/2 | |
Mother | 1/6 | |
Sister x 2 | 2/3 | |
Uncle | U |
Example 3.2: Compute and record the base for the scenario outlined in Example 2.2
24 | ||
Wife | 1/8 | |
Daughter x 3 | 2/3 | |
Mother | 1/6 | |
Granddaughter | U | |
Grandson |
Example 3.3: Compute and record the base for the scenario outlined in Example 2.3
6 | ||
Husband | 1/2 | |
Mother | 1/6 | |
Sibling [maternal] x 2 | 1/3 | |
Sister [Full] x 3 | 2/3 | |
Sister [Paternal] x 2 | U | |
Brother [Paternal] |
Step 4: Computing The Shares
The shares of all heirs are determined by multiplying the fixed share by the base. The results are placed in the third column.
The remaining shares are allocated to the universal heirs. If there is nothing left, the dash symbol is placed beside the universal heir.
If there are any remaining shares of the base, a new row is inserted at the bottom and the excess shares are recorded at the bottom of the third column.
Example 4.1: Husband, mother, daughter and son
12 | ||
Husband | 1/4 | 3 |
Mother | 1/6 | 2 |
Daughter | U | 7 |
Son |
Example 4.2: Wife, two daughters, mother, granddaughter and grandson
24 | ||
Wife | 1/8 | 3 |
Daughter x 3 | 2/3 | 16 |
Mother | 1/6 | 4 |
Granddaughter | U | 1 |
Grandson |
Example 4.3: Husband, Mother, two maternal siblings, one full sisters and one paternal sister
6 | ||
Husband | 1/2 | 3 |
Mother | 1/6 | 1 |
Sibling [maternal] x 2 | 1/3 | 2 |
Sister [Full] | 1/2 | 3 |
Sister [Paternal] | 1/6 | 1 |
Example 4.4: Daughter, granddaughter and mother
6 | ||
Daughter | 1/2 | 3 |
Granddaughter | 1/6 | 1 |
Mother | 1/6 | 1 |
1 |
Note how a new row at the bottom was added to list the remaining shares.
Step 5: Applying Adjustment or Redistribution
If the scenario requires the special process of adjustment or redistribution, then you apply it at this stage. The result of this step is put in a new column.
Example 5.1: Daughter, granddaughter and mother
This is an example of a scenario that requires redistribution.
6 | 5 | ||
Daughter | 1/2 | 3 | 3 |
Granddaughter | 1/6 | 1 | 1 |
Mother | 1/6 | 1 | 1 |
1 | – |
Example 4.3: Husband, Mother, two maternal siblings, one full sisters and one paternal sister
This is an example of a scenario that requires adjustment.
6 | 10 | ||
Husband | 1/2 | 3 | 3 |
Mother | 1/6 | 1 | 1 |
Sibling [maternal] x 2 | 1/3 | 2 | 2 |
Sister [Full] | 1/2 | 3 | 3 |
Sister [Paternal] | 1/6 | 1 | 1 |
Step 6: Applying Normalization
If any of the individual shares is not a whole number, then the process of normalization should be applied.
Example 6.1: Five daughters and one paternal sister
3 | 15 | ||
Daughter x 5 | 2/3 | 2 | 10 |
Sister [Paternal] | U | 1 | 5 |
In the above scenario, the daughters are entitled for 2 shares out of 3. However, this will give each daughter 2/5 shares which is not a whole number. The normalization process results in each daughter receiving 2 full shares, summing up to 10 out of 15.
Example 6.2: Wife, three daughters, mother and a grandson
24 | 72 | ||
Wife | 1/8 | 3 | 9 |
Daughter x 3 | 2/3 | 16 | 48 |
Mother | 1/6 | 4 | 12 |
Grandson | U | 1 | 3 |
In the above scenario, the share of the daughters (16) does not divide by 3 ( i.e. each daughter will receive 5 plus one third of a share, which is not a whole number.) The normalization process gives the daughter 48 out of 72 shares which is divisible by 3.
Summary
The following chart summarizes the computational steps for inheritance scenarios: