# Inheritance Law in Egypt



## aykalam

Hi all!

I have been searching for some info on inheritance law in Egypt but can' find much on this subject, at least in English. Maybe I should improve my Arabic? 

My situation is as follows: I have EU nationality, my husband is Egyptian. He is muslim, I am not. We have one daughter, no sons. 

If (god forbid) anything happened to him, would his assets in Egypt automatically pass to me as his spouse, or is this me wishful thinking? 

Please any advice would be much appreciated?


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## Sam

aykalam said:


> Hi all!
> 
> I have been searching for some info on inheritance law in Egypt but can' find much on this subject, at least in English. Maybe I should improve my Arabic?
> 
> My situation is as follows: I have EU nationality, my husband is Egyptian. He is muslim, I am not. We have one daughter, no sons.
> 
> If (god forbid) anything happened to him, would his assets in Egypt automatically pass to me as his spouse, or is this me wishful thinking?
> 
> Please any advice would be much appreciated?


Hi.

Sorry to say it, but as a non-muslim wife you get nothing.

Your child will, but the inheritance laws are very specific and according to set rules, you cannot disperse the assets as you desire. Of course you can redistribute things amicably once the "law" has done it's part, but his family would not have to if they didn't want to.


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## MensEtManus

Sam: If the child (daughter) is as the above scenario from a muslim and non-muslim. However, the child is not biologically from the muslim parent - does the child still inherit? 

Also, from the above scenario, what are the %? The grandmother (mother of the father) takes 1/8... the daughter takes 4/8, and the first male (uncle?) takes 3/8 ?


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## MaidenScotland

I dont even want to put my thoughts on this down...


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## aykalam

@Sam, 
Thank you for your reply, even if it's not what I would like to hear! I guess the next question is: Is there any point in him making a will to cover his assets in Egypt? i.e. if he does not want sharia law to apply re inheritance, can he say so on a legal piece of paper and would this stand on death? Thanks again.

@Maiden,
Please do share...


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## aykalam

MensEtManus said:


> Sam: If the child (daughter) is as the above scenario from a muslim and non-muslim. However, the child is not biologically from the muslim parent - does the child still inherit?
> 
> Also, from the above scenario, what are the %? The grandmother (mother of the father) takes 1/8... the daughter takes 4/8, and the first male (uncle?) takes 3/8 ?


...first male gets 3/8???!!! so much for women's rights, eh?


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## Beatle

aykalam said:


> ...first male gets 3/8???!!! so much for women's rights, eh?


Under Sharia law my brother inherited 2/3rds and my sister and I inherited 1/6 each on the death of my father. My mother didn't inherit anything as a non-Muslim. But this was awarded by a court in the Gulf, so it may be different in Egypt. But I don't see how Sharia law would be interpreted differently in Egypt


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## expatagogo

aykalam said:


> @Sam,
> Thank you for your reply, even if it's not what I would like to hear! I guess the next question is: Is there any point in him making a will to cover his assets in Egypt? i.e. if he does not want sharia law to apply re inheritance, can he say so on a legal piece of paper and would this stand on death? Thanks again.


He can will as he chooses as long as it does not disagree with Sharia law.


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## MaidenScotland

mmm So if a women sells her house and comes over here with a child or children from the first marriage then buys a house in her and her new young Egyptian husbands name and she doesn't convert.. does she end up with sweet diddly?


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## expatagogo

MaidenScotland said:


> mmm So if a women sells her house and comes over here with a child or children from the first marriage then buys a house in her and her new young Egyptian husbands name and she doesn't convert.. does she end up with sweet diddly?


That is exactly what she'll end up with.


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## MaidenScotland

expatagogo said:


> That is exactly what she'll end up with.




Why am I not surprised?


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## aykalam

expatagogo said:


> That is exactly what she'll end up with.


Even if the house in Egypt is in joint names???... Surely the 1/2 that's in her name will remain in her name if he passes away!


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## Beatle

aykalam said:


> Even if the house in Egypt is in joint names???... Surely the 1/2 that's in her name will remain in her name if he passes away!


I think you need to talk to a lawyer to be honest. The way we dealt with the inheritance issue is that my siblings and I gave my mother's bank account for the assets to be paid into so that she received everything. And my parents had assets outside the Gulf and we told the court they didn't have jurisdiction to deal with those assets (which the court didn't like) and so those assets were dealt with under UK inheritance laws. But I think you would need to work out how to have assets outside Egypt and if there is anything you can do to protect your Egyptian assets in the event of your husband's death and that question is best answered by an Egyptian lawyer.


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## Sam

MensEtManus said:


> Sam: If the child (daughter) is as the above scenario from a muslim and non-muslim. However, the child is not biologically from the muslim parent - does the child still inherit?
> 
> Also, from the above scenario, what are the %? The grandmother (mother of the father) takes 1/8... the daughter takes 4/8, and the first male (uncle?) takes 3/8 ?


I am not confident with inheritance law. It is a huge subject with a lot of rules, but at the same time very specific. 

I would presume if the child was not biologically from the parent then he/she would not inherit anything, but I am really not sure. And even, again they quite possibly are cases where he/she does or doesn't.

I know that wills are generally not applied here, since the Sharia law will be applied regardless. But perhaps the family would amicably redistribute assets according to the will after the initial laws were applied.


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## Sam

MaidenScotland said:


> mmm So if a women sells her house and comes over here with a child or children from the first marriage then buys a house in her and her new young Egyptian husbands name and she doesn't convert.. does she end up with sweet diddly?


In principle yes.

If it is in joint names, she will still have her portion and his portion would be inherited by his family according to Sharia Law. This is when the property is owned as Freehold. Even for a foreign couple who buy a property, both non-muslim, Sharia laws are applied if both pass away and it cannot be written into a will, either here or home.

In Sharm el Sheikh where Usufruct ownership applies the owners may stipulate next of kin and pass their property to their children or whomever they wish, since they do not "own" the property so much as they own the right to the property for a limited period. Something that should also be mentioned in this case that is important for anyone in this position, if there are no next of kin stated and all named purchasers pass away then in this case the property is repossessed by the freehold owner, usually a developer, and he has no legal obligation to pass it to the families next of kin. Again this cannot be changed by being written into a will, either here or the home country, but must be written as a clause in the contract or as an addendum if the contract had already been articulated and signed.


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## MaidenScotland

Sam could you please add this information to the sticky you have done on property?
I will close it once it is done so that the informations doesnt get lost

Thanks 

Maiden


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## Sam

MaidenScotland said:


> Sam could you please add this information to the sticky you have done on property?
> I will close it once it is done so that the informations doesnt get lost
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Maiden


Okay, sure.


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## aykalam

Guys,

Thank you so much for the advice, it really is appreciated.


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## NZCowboy

From my knowledge and understanding of NZ Trusts and companies which are based on UK law, there will be ways of protecting assets. Rather than having ownership of assets by individuals, they are owned by the trust. But as with everything this requires foresight and planning. Consult a UK lawyer, maybe set up a trust that purchases and owns the assets in Egypt. That way if the individual dies, the trust continues to operate in accordance to the wishes of the settler, as its a seperate legal enity.


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## starchief

I'd certainly see a lawyer as the info I've got is the Will will be respected (but not many write one over here). Professional advice over an internet forum, I'd say.


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## MaidenScotland

NZCowboy said:


> From my knowledge and understanding of NZ Trusts and companies which are based on UK law, there will be ways of protecting assets. Rather than having ownership of assets by individuals, they are owned by the trust. But as with everything this requires foresight and planning. Consult a UK lawyer, maybe set up a trust that purchases and owns the assets in Egypt. That way if the individual dies, the trust continues to operate in accordance to the wishes of the settler, as its a seperate legal enity.




I applaud your belief that the Egyptian system will honour overseas trusts/agreements/legal documents,


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## Beatle

MaidenScotland said:


> I applaud your belief that the Egyptian system will honour overseas trusts/agreements/legal documents,


Just out of interest do you have any examples of Egypt's failure to comply with its international legal obligations?


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## starchief

Just to confirm after speaking to someone, Wills are made all the time by richer families in Egypt, so it should be okay to do one - just get a lawyer to get it official, with all the ins-and-outs.

What happens many times instead of a will is that possessions are actually sold to the wife/child for a negligible fee, so there's none of this rigmarole. Of course, divorce is a bit more common in the West, so that may not always be a great idea.


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## NZCowboy

MaidenScotland said:


> I applaud your belief that the Egyptian system will honour overseas trusts/agreements/legal documents,


So give us examples of offshore companies with Egyptian Directors, where the Egyptian system has ruled the companies assets are the personal wealth of the directors.


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## MaidenScotland

Only last week a big international firm has finally managed to get after 8 years of lawyers, courts, rulings, and so on.. the right to arbitration and payment honouring a contract drawn up 15 years ago.


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## Beatle

MaidenScotland said:


> Only last week a big international firm has finally managed to get after 8 years of lawyers, courts, rulings, and so on.. the right to arbitration and payment honouring a contract drawn up 15 years ago.


i hate to say this but lawyers don't make their money in any country through things being dealt with swiftly.....


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## Docmaurice

Inheritance law is very specific and is, I think, along the lines of Napoleonic code, NOT Shariaa! It is all in fixed ratios, but the upshot is that the son(s) inherit twice as much as the daughter(s), and the wife gets "Not a Lot". The husband CANNOT write a will for more than 1/6th of his property-as the code HAS to apply.

The way around this is for the property to be registered in both names, with a 50% share each. otherwise the wife ends up very badly off.


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## expatagogo

The fixed ratios come from Sharia - directly from Sharia.

Sure, you're right, Egyptian law is a hodge-podge, but inheritance laws fall back to religious doctrine, as marriage (and divorce) does.

Again, Muslims and Christians do not inherit from each other.


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## DeadGuy

aykalam said:


> Hi all!
> 
> I have been searching for some info on inheritance law in Egypt but can' find much on this subject, at least in English. Maybe I should improve my Arabic?
> 
> My situation is as follows: I have EU nationality, my husband is Egyptian. He is muslim, I am not. We have one daughter, no sons.
> 
> If (god forbid) anything happened to him, would his assets in Egypt automatically pass to me as his spouse, or is this me wishful thinking?
> 
> Please any advice would be much appreciated?


First of all you don't need to worry about the Arabic part! I'm a native Arab speaker myself and all I could get after reading that crap was like "WTH are they talking about!" 

The figures I could get after asking couple of people about the mess for a late husband that had no sons:

Late husband's father: 1/4
Late husband's mother: 1/6
Late husband's widow: 1/8

The rest goes for the late husband's siblings and daughters, but I never got exact figures for those.

Now those figures could be wrong, but that's what I got when I asked :juggle:

It is known in the local "culture" that if someone didn't have a son then his parents/siblings or both get almost everything, kinda explained to me why most locals care too much about the gender of their coming child......It's all business after all :lol:

Now to go around it, only a registered contract selling the husband's assets to the wife (Or anyone else he wants, could be his own father sometimes) that would fix this mess, the "buyer" in the contract doesn't have to pay a penny, just a contract signed by the owner, buyer and 2 adult males (Witnesses!), register it in a court and then things won't be his anymore, so no one can actually inherit those assets!

Another way around it is the will thing, I used to believe that they respect that in here, but I seriously doubt it, even in a will you need to "respect" the "laws" in here, so I think it would be pointless to make a will, simply cause if you broke just a lil tiny bit of any part of the law, I'm sure there will be a lawyer using that to cancel the whole will........

That was the "legal" part of it, now the social part, which is actually harder than the legal one.......

It all depends on how "good" or "bad" things are with the in-laws.......I've seen people treating their sons' widows better than their own parents would treat them, but I've also seen those who got actually murdered over inheritance.........

If things were set right legally but with the wrong in-laws, then they (The widow and her daughter(s) ) won't actually get nothing for a really long time, and then one part will have to give their share up selling it to the other part for a really low price (It's usually the widow that would sell!).

Everyone advised you to see a lawyer, that was probably the best advice you had and anyone could give, so I'll say the same, see a lawyer, but I'd just try to suggest talking to your husband about it (I do NOT mean to intrude on your personal life, but an Egyptian man would probably get really mad if his wife went to see a lawyer for his own inheritance behind his back!).

Good luck!


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## MensEtManus

folks used to always advise.. get the house in your name.. get the house in your name. Everyone in Egypt "sort of" knows the laws, hence you always find fathers (with no male children) writing all their assets in the name of their daughters while they are alive so they at least have some assets in case the inheritance goes left..


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## aykalam

Once again, thank you all for your posts. It sounds like it will be fun to manage this matter here in Egypt...


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