Exclusion of Heirs in Inheritance: Who Is Excluded and Who Remains?

One reason inheritance is confusing is that the presence of one heir can remove another. This is called exclusion by person: the closer relative excludes the more distant one through the same ground of inheritance.

The basic rule

The closer heir in the same line excludes the more distant one.

"Same line" means both inherit through the same ground: both are descendants, or both are ascendants, or both are collaterals. If the ground differs, there is no exclusion: the wife and father both inherit, because the wife inherits through marriage and the father through kinship.

Common exclusion cases

Is the grandmother excluded?

The mother excludes all grandmothers, maternal and paternal, so no grandmother inherits while the mother is alive. If the mother is absent, the grandmother takes one-sixth, and two grandmothers of equal degree share it. The father's mother is excluded by the father in the majority view, while the mother's mother is not excluded by the father.

Those who do not inherit for other reasons

Some people do not inherit for reasons other than a closer heir:

• A divorced wife after the waiting period: the marriage ground is cut.
• Someone of a different religion: difference in religion prevents inheritance in the majority view.
• An intentional killer: excluded as retribution.
• Distant relatives by womb: such as the paternal aunt or the daughter's daughter, who do not inherit by fixed share or residuary right in the well-known view.

Worked example

Estate of 300,000 dinars, heirs: father, mother, wife, son, daughter.

• Mother: one-sixth = 50,000
• Wife: one-eighth = 37,500 (because there is a descendant heir)
• Father: one-sixth fixed = 50,000, with no residue because the son is present
• Remainder = 300,000 - 50,000 - 37,500 - 50,000 = 162,500
• Son and daughter: share the remainder as residuary heirs, the male receiving twice the female: son ≈ 108,333, daughter ≈ 54,167

Notice that a son is never excluded: his presence instead limits the father to his fixed one-sixth.

Link to the obligatory bequest

In some Arab countries, such as Egypt and Syria, the children of a predeceased son receive an obligatory bequest up to one-third despite being excluded by the living son. This is a legal exception, so check your country's personal status code.

Steps to check a case

1. Start with the closest relatives: children, then parents, then siblings.
2. If a closer heir exists, remove the more distant one of the same ground.
3. Give fixed-share heirs their portions first, then distribute the remainder to residuary heirs.
4. Test the case in the inheritance calculator to verify.
5. For more on fixed shares and worked cases, see our article Who Inherits and Who Does Not.