🤝 Existing wife & prospective wife · #51
After my husband died, I learned he had another wife. What are my rights and hers?
If both marriages were valid, both wives are heirs and share the wife's portion (one eighth if there are children, one quarter if not) equally; children from both marriages also inherit.
Allah sets the wife's share in an-Nisa' 4:12, and that share is divided among all the wives. Steps: obtain proof of the other wife's marriage (a marriage certificate or confirmation order); if it was unregistered, it may need to be validated by the Syariah Court before she is recognised as an heir. Each wife's jointly acquired property with the deceased is claimed first, before faraid. This shock is very painful; anger towards the deceased and the other wife is human, but the children of both sides are paternal siblings who are not to blame. Get a Syariah lawyer and emotional support. See the question on the wives' faraid shares.
Allah sets the wife's share in an-Nisa' 4:12, and that share is divided among all the wives. Steps: obtain proof of the other wife's marriage (a marriage certificate or confirmation order); if it was unregistered, it may need to be validated by the Syariah Court before she is recognised as an heir. Each wife's jointly acquired property with the deceased is claimed first, before faraid. This shock is very painful; anger towards the deceased and the other wife is human, but the children of both sides are paternal siblings who are not to blame. Get a Syariah lawyer and emotional support. See the question on the wives' faraid shares.