Requirements for obtaining a succession certificate

To obtain a succession certificate in Pakistan, you generally need to fulfill the following requirements:

• Filing Application: Submit an application for a succession certificate to the relevant NADRA or civil court. This application should include details such as the deceased person’s name, date of death, and the names and addresses of the legal heirs, details of the assets etc.
• Death certificate: Provide a copy of the death certificate of the deceased property owner duly issued by the Union Council.
• Legal heirship documents: Submit documents to establish the relationship of the legal heirs with the deceased, such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, and any other relevant documents.
• Affidavits: Prepare and submit affidavits from the legal heirs stating their relationship with the deceased and their right to inherit the property.
• Newspaper publication: Publish a notice in a local newspaper to inform any potential claimants or creditors about the application for the succession certificate.

Procedure for transfer of property to legal heirs in Pakistan

The procedure for transferring property to legal heirs in Pakistan involves the following steps:

1. Obtain a death certificate: The first step is to obtain a death certificate of the deceased property owner from the Union Council.
2. Identify legal heirs: Determine who are the legal heirs according to the applicable inheritance laws. This may involve obtaining legal documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, and other supporting evidence.
3. File an application for succession certificate: The legal heirs need to file an application for a succession certificate in NADRA or the relevant court. This certificate establishes the legal right of the heirs to inherit and transfer the property.
4. Provide necessary documents: Along with the application, you’ll need to submit various documents such as the death certificate, identity proof of the legal heirs, details of the assets, and any other relevant documents as required by the court.
5. Attend court hearings: The court will review the application and may schedule hearings to verify the claims of the legal heirs.
6. Obtain the succession certificate: If the court is satisfied with the claims of the legal heirs, they will issue a succession certificate. This certificate allows the transfer of the property to the legal heirs.
7. Transfer of property: With the succession certificate in hand, the legal heirs can proceed with the transfer of the property. This may involve executing a transfer deed, paying any applicable taxes or fees, and updating the property records with the relevant authorities.

Inheritance law for daughters in Pakistan

In Pakistan, the inheritance law for daughters is governed by the Succession Act, 1925 as well as Letter of Administration and Succession Certificates Act of 2021. According to these laws, daughters have the right to inherit from their parent’s property, including land, houses, and other assets. The share of inheritance for daughters is determined based on the concept of “sharers” and “residuaries”.

Daughters are considered “sharers” and are entitled to receive a specific share of the inheritance, usually half of what a son would receive. Share of daughter of deceased is 2/3 when there is also a son(s) and 1/2 when there is no male child (son).

Yes, unmarried daughters in Pakistan can claim their father’s property. The inheritance laws grant inheritance rights to daughters regardless of their marital status. Unmarried daughters are considered “sharers” and have the right to inherit a specific portion of their father’s property, typically half of what a son would receive.

According to Islamic law, a son is entitled to a share in his father’s property after his father’s death. The specific proportion of the son’s share depends on various factors, including the presence of other legal heirs, such as daughters, wives, and siblings. If the father has only sons, each son is entitled to an equal share of the property. However, if the father has both sons and daughters, the son’s share may vary. In other words, son(s) will receive two shares for every one share that a daughter will have.

In Pakistan, the legal heirs of a deceased person can include sons/daughters, husband/wife, parents, siblings, and grandparents etc. but in view of the sharers and residuary, the legal heirs of a deceased person in Pakistan can be categorized as follows:

Sharers:

• Sons and daughters
• Husband or wife

Residuary:

• Parents
• Brothers and sisters
• Paternal or maternal grandparents
• Paternal or maternal uncles or aunts

Yes, grandchildren can claim inheritance in Pakistan. Under the inheritance laws, grandchildren are considered legal heirs and may have a share in the deceased person’s estate.

No, inheritance is not taxable in Pakistan. The reason is that Pakistan follows an Islamic legal system, where inheritance is governed by Islamic principles. In Islam, inheritance is considered a right therefore is not subject to taxation.

Historical discrimination faced by married women with respect to ownership of property in Europe and United States of America.
The old European and American concepts at times permeate into the thinking even of judges in Pakistan.
The doctrine of ‘coverture’ subsumed a married woman’s identity. Sir William Blackstone described the doctrine of coverture:
“By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband: under whose wing, protection, and cover, she performs everything; and is therefore called in our law-French a feme covert”.
In her comprehensively researched book Amy Louise Erickson writes,
“Under common law a woman’s legal identity during marriage was eclipsed, literally covered by her husband. As a ‘feme covert’, she could not contract, neither could she sue nor be sued independently of her husband. The property a woman brought to marriage – her dowry or portion – all came under the immediate control of her husband”.
It was only on the passing of the Married Women’s Property Act, 1882 that in England a married woman became, “capable of acquiring, holding, and disposing by will or otherwise, of any real or personal property as her separate property, in the same manner as if she were a feme sole, without the intervention of any trustee”
The situation in the United States of America of married women was no better, they had no legal existence apart from their husbands. The reason for a married woman’s servile status was sought to be explained by the Supreme Court of Illinois,
“It is simply impossible that a married woman should be able to control and enjoy her property as if she were sole, without practically leaving her at liberty to annul the marriage”.
The unjustness of the laws was severely criticized. Elizabeth Cady Stanton listed in the Declaration of Sentiments;
“the injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman”- “He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead. He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns the law, in all cases, going upon a false supposition of the supremacy of a man, and giving all power into his hands”.
Harriet Beecher Stowe was another campaigner for women’s rights, observing that,
“The position of a married woman is, in many respects, precisely similar to that of the negro slave. She can make no contract and hold no property; whatever she inherits or earns becomes at that moment the property of her husband. In English common law a married woman is nothing at all. She passed out of legal existence.”
Discrimination against women pervaded in other areas too. It was only in 1960 that women in America could open bank accounts without their husband’s permission and this right was acquired by women in the United Kingdom as late as 1975.
The professions were also barred to women. Mrs. Myra Colby Bradwell had passed the bar examinations but was not allowed to practice law; she asserted her right to practice but in 1873 the United States Supreme Court held that;
“denying Mrs. Bradwell the right to practice law violated no provision of the federal Constitution” and added, “That God designed the sexes to occupy different spheres of action, and that it belonged to men to make, apply, and execute the laws, was regarded as an almost axiomatic truth”
The position of women in Islam is different.
“Men shall have the benefit of what they earn and women shall have the benefit of what they earn”.
The Holy Qur’an also prohibits taking another’s property –
“Do not eat up (or consume) one another’s property”.
Women’s share in inheritance are also precisely ordained. What a woman inherits is hers and hers alone; neither her husband, father, brother or son has any entitlement to it; a woman also does not need permission to dispose of her property or to acquire property.
The bridal gifts given at the time of marriage are also the wife’s property, these can be added to but not subtracted by the husband. It is also recommended that husbands make wills to provide for their wives.
A husband and wife, who were both Government servants, had challenged an office memorandum of the Government which did not treat husband and wife alike. The Federal Shariat Court comprehensively attended to the question of discrimination and the status of a married woman in Islam and after referring to a number of verses of the Holy Qur’an held:
“These Verses clearly confirm the right of earning, owning and possessing by male and female – all in the like manner – and emphasizes again and again that no one can be deprived of his/her due share for any reason. Both are equally entitled to their own individual shares on the basis of their services, duties and functions performed by each one. Each one is at par with the other in this respect, without any discrimination. The rights of each one accrued thus in no manner could be infringed, curtailed or diminished.”
The Federal Shariat Court held that,
“one of the principles which is the hallmark of Islamic injunctions is the principle of equality before law and equal protection of law for all people, irrespective of their gender, colour or creed”34.
Elaborating further the Court observed that,
“This fraternity and equality is all pervading and is not only a matter of form but is indeed a matter of substance. It emphasizes equality before law and equal protection of law. In this respect, Sharia does not make any distinction between the citizens of an Islamic State. Here we find no concept of discrimination in the administration of justice between one person and another on any basis. In social and legal perspectives, no human being can be denied or deprived of any fundamental right, nor any juridical right can be reserved for any particular group on the external consideration of his wealth, status, caste or colour or any other ground. It clearly shows that equality before law and equal protection of law is the cardinal principle which runs like a golden chord in all Injunctions of Islam.”
A chasm existed between a woman’s position in Islam to that which prevailed till a century ago in Europe and America where upon marriage a wife stood deprived of her property, which became that of her husband to do with it as he pleased.
However, in the Muslim world the situation was altogether different and this has been the position since over fourteen hundred years. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was employed by lady Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (may Allah be pleased with her), the first convert to Islam, who spent abundantly from her personal wealth in the cause of Islam; she retained her properties and wealth after her marriage to the Prophet (peace be upon him).
In Islamic societies Muslim ladies not only retained their properties but also their identities after marriage.
The noble lady Ayesha (may Allah be pleased with her) on becoming a widow on the death of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was not cloistered but became one the greatest narrators of hadith and between three to four thousand recorded in the six main hadith collections cite her as their source; she was also a teacher, a great scholar and made her presence felt on the battlefield.
British rule and Colonization of the subcontinent disrupted Muslim society’s links with the past but without completely severing ties with shariah.
To restore the privileges and status of women in Islam a number of laws were enacted, including the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939.
The importance of a Muslim married woman’s right to property can be gauged from the fact that, if her husband, “disposes of her property or prevents her from exercising her legal rights over it”, she could obtain dissolution of her marriage because it constituted “cruelty”.
The Fundamental Rights in the Constitution include the “right to acquire, hold and dispose of property” and “no person shall be compulsorily deprived of his property save in accordance with law”; these provisions do not distinguish between men and women.
Therefore, unless a married woman elects to gift, sell or otherwise dispose of her property neither her husband nor any male relative has any right over it.

Under the Hanafi Law of inheritance, heirs can be divided into seven classes, three principal and four subsidiary classes.
The three principal classes are
● Sharers or Qur’anic heirs who are those heirs who have been named in the Holy Qur’an and have been assigned specific shares viz., husband, wife, father, true grandfather h.h.s., mother, true grandmother h.h.s., daughter, son’s daughter, his full sister, consanguine sister, uterine brother, and uterine sister,
● Residuaries or agnatic heirs who are all those persons for whom there are no specified shares and who take the residue after sharers have been satisfied or they take the whole estate if there is no sharer, and
● Distant Kindred or uterine heirs who are entitled to succeed only when there is no sharer or residuary.
The four subsidiary classes of heirs are
● successor by contract,
● acknowledged kinsman,
● universal legatee and
● the State.
According to Hanafi Law, in the first instance the property of the deceased goes to sharers, and if the estate is not exhausted by sharers, it goes to residuaries and if there is no sharer and/or residuary, the property is distributed amongst the distant kindred. It is to be noted that heirs nearer in degree excluded the more remote.
When there are Quranic heir or sharers and a residue of estate is left after allotting them their shares, or when there are no Quranic heir or sharers, then whatever is left in the former case, and the entire estate in the latter case, goes to the Agnatic heir or residuries.”
The Agnatic heirs may be classified into
(i) Agnatic Descendants,
(ii) Agnatic Ascendant and
(iii) Agnatic Collaterals (Father’s Agnatic descendants).
They may be depicted in tabular form, where full brother is at Serial No.5, as
Collateral Descendants of the father.

Full brother
(a) When there co-exists a full sister, he takes double portion (b) In absence of the sister, he takes the entire Residue.

Whereas, the consanguine brother is at Serial No.7, and as per rules of succession, the nearer in degree excludes the more remote.