Islamic Inheritance Calculator UK (2026): Faraid vs English Intestacy Rules

An Islamic inheritance calculator divides an estate according to the fixed shares in the Qur'an (4:11, 4:12 and 4:176): a widow receives one eighth where there are children, a widower one quarter, each surviving parent one sixth, and children take the remainder with a son receiving twice a daughter's share. English law does none of this unless you write a will. Under the intestacy rules of the Administration of Estates Act 1925, a married person who dies in England or Wales with children leaves their spouse all personal possessions, a fixed net sum of £322,000 (set by the 2023 Order from 26 July 2023) and half of everything above that, with the children sharing the other half. Use our faraid calculator to see your Shariah split, then compare it with what the state would do.

What a faraid calculator actually computes

Faraid, the Islamic law of succession, fixes the shares of a defined list of heirs and leaves the balance to residuary heirs, who are usually the deceased's sons and other male agnates. The estate is distributed only after funeral costs, debts, including unpaid zakat and the deferred mahr owed to a wife, and any bequest (wasiyyah) of up to one third to non-heirs have been settled. The calculator therefore needs the net estate, the list of surviving relatives, and whether a wasiyyah exists. It then applies the Qur'anic fractions, resolves cases where fixed shares exceed the whole through proportional reduction (awl), and returns to fixed-share heirs any surplus where there is no residuary heir (radd).

Those fractions are the same in Birmingham as in Cairo. What differs is the legal machinery that gives them effect. In England and Wales the only instrument that can impose faraid on your estate is a valid will under the Wills Act 1837, drafted so that the executors distribute according to the Islamic shares. Without one, the Administration of Estates Act applies, and the result for a typical Muslim family is far from the Qur'anic split, as the next section shows.

What English intestacy does instead when there is no will

The intestacy rules sit in section 46 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925, as amended by the Inheritance and Trustees' Powers Act 2014. Where the deceased leaves a spouse or civil partner and children, the spouse takes the personal chattels, a fixed net sum (the statutory legacy) and one half of the residue absolutely; the children share the other half. The statutory legacy was set at £322,000 by the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (Fixed Net Sum) Order 2023 for deaths on or after 26 July 2023, uprated from the previous figure because CPI had risen more than 15%. Where the deceased leaves a spouse and no children, the spouse takes everything, and parents and siblings receive nothing.

Compare that with faraid on a worked example, using arithmetic only. A married man dies in London leaving a net estate of £600,000, a wife, a son and a daughter, and no surviving parents. Under intestacy the wife receives the chattels plus £322,000 plus half of the remaining £278,000, which is £139,000, giving her £461,000 in total; the son and daughter share £139,000 equally, £69,500 each. Under faraid the wife receives one eighth, £75,000, and the children share the remaining £525,000 at two to one, so £350,000 to the son and £175,000 to the daughter. The two systems disagree about every single heir, and the difference for the widow alone is £386,000.

Who intestacy leaves out that faraid includes

The gap is widest for the relatives English law treats as remote. A Muslim's parents are fixed-share heirs whenever they survive their child, taking one sixth each where there are grandchildren; intestacy gives them nothing if a spouse or child survives. Siblings, grandparents and paternal relatives can inherit under faraid in defined circumstances; intestacy reaches them only when there is no spouse, child, parent or closer relative. Half-siblings and relatives through the mother's line follow separate faraid rules. On the other side, English law gives nothing to an unmarried partner under intestacy, which faraid also excludes, and nothing to a religiously married but not civilly married spouse, which is a specifically British problem: a nikah without a civil registration leaves the surviving wife a stranger to the estate in law, whatever faraid says.

• Parents of a married deceased with children: one sixth each under faraid, nothing under intestacy.
• A wife married by nikah only, without a civil ceremony: one eighth or one quarter under faraid, nothing under intestacy because she is not a spouse in English law.
• Daughters: fixed shares under faraid, equal shares with sons under intestacy.
• Adopted children: full children under English law, but most scholars do not treat them as faraid heirs, so they should be provided for through the one-third wasiyyah.
• Charities and non-heir relatives: nothing under intestacy, up to one third of the estate by wasiyyah in an Islamic will.

How the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 can override both

Even a perfectly drafted Islamic will is not the final word in England and Wales. Section 1 of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 lets a spouse or civil partner, a former spouse who has not remarried, a cohabitant who lived with the deceased as if married for the whole of the two years before death, a child, a person treated as a child of the family, and anyone being maintained by the deceased apply to the court on the ground that the will, the intestacy rules, or the combination of them does not make reasonable financial provision for them. For a surviving spouse the standard is what would be reasonable in all the circumstances, whether or not needed for maintenance; for every other applicant it is limited to maintenance.

This matters for faraid in a specific way. A widow left one eighth of a large estate while the children receive seven eighths has a realistic 1975 Act claim, because the spouse standard is generous and the court considers what she might have received on divorce. Section 4 sets a time limit of six months from the first grant of representation, extendable only with the court's permission. Good Islamic will drafting anticipates this: the husband can direct within the one third wasiyyah or through lifetime gifts and joint ownership that the widow is adequately housed, which reduces the incentive to litigate while keeping the faraid shares intact for the remaining two thirds. Our guide to writing an Islamic will in the UK covers the clauses.

Inheritance tax: the second place faraid and English law collide

Gov.uk sets the inheritance tax nil-rate band at £325,000, rising to £500,000 where a home passes to children or grandchildren, with 40% charged above the threshold and a reduced 36% rate where at least 10% of the net estate goes to charity. Anything passing to a spouse is exempt, and unused allowance transfers to the survivor. Faraid works against that structure: on the first death the Qur'anic shares send most of the estate to children and parents rather than the spouse, so the spousal exemption is largely unused and tax can fall where an English-law will would have deferred it. Islamicwills.co.uk, a solicitor service, confirms on its site that Islamic inheritance does not reflect the exemptions available in England and Wales and offers a flexible life interest structure in its £350 plus VAT Pro plan for estates over £325,000. The detail is in our article on inheritance tax and Islamic wills.

Where to get the will drafted, and what each service publishes

Three services dominate the UK market. IFG Wills is the price and disclosure leader among online Islamic wills and names the Mufti who reviews its templates; its current prices were not readable on its site when we checked, so confirm them directly. Wahed Wills runs a questionnaire-led online service from Wahed's Baker Street office with a preview-before-payment step; its pricing also sits behind the questionnaire. Islamicwills.co.uk is the Islamic wills department of Farani Taylor Solicitors, an SRA-regulated firm, and publishes a Basic plan at £250 plus VAT for estates under £325,000 and a Pro plan at £350 plus VAT with an in-person meeting and flexible life interest, charged per person. Our estate planning hub compares them, and the Islamic will hub explains what a valid will needs.

Scotland is different territory. Its law of succession gives a surviving spouse and children legal rights that cannot be defeated by a will, which constrains faraid in ways English law does not; see our separate guide to Islamic inheritance in Scotland. Northern Ireland has its own intestacy legislation, and the £322,000 figure above applies only to England and Wales.

The decision: what each type of reader should do now

A married Muslim with children in England or Wales and no will should treat this as urgent: intestacy would hand a widow roughly £322,000 plus half the rest and leave parents with nothing, which is the reverse of the Qur'anic split. Run the faraid calculator linked above, then instruct one of the three services; a straightforward estate under £325,000 can use IFG Wills or Wahed Wills, while an estate with a house above the nil-rate band or a widow who could bring a 1975 Act claim should pay for solicitor drafting with a life interest trust, which Islamicwills.co.uk prices at £350 plus VAT per person. A couple married by nikah only should register a civil marriage before anything else, since the surviving wife otherwise has no intestacy rights at all. Anyone who has already made an English will should check it does not leave everything to the spouse, which is the standard template and contradicts faraid outright. Facts checked against legislation.gov.uk, gov.uk, islamicwills.co.uk on 13 September 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How does an Islamic inheritance calculator work?

It takes the net estate after funeral costs, debts and any bequest of up to one third, lists the surviving heirs, and applies the Qur'anic fixed shares: one eighth or one quarter to a wife, one quarter or one half to a husband, one sixth to each parent where there are children, and the residue to children at two to one for sons over daughters. It then adjusts for cases where shares exceed or fall short of the whole estate.

What does a wife inherit under English intestacy rules in 2026?

If the deceased left children, the wife receives all personal possessions, a statutory legacy of £322,000 (fixed by the 2023 Order for deaths from 26 July 2023) and half of everything above that; the children share the other half. If there are no children, she inherits the entire estate. This applies in England and Wales only, and only to a spouse recognised in civil law, not to a wife married by nikah alone.

Can faraid be applied in England without a will?

No. Without a valid will the Administration of Estates Act 1925 intestacy rules apply automatically, and they bear no resemblance to the Qur'anic shares. Heirs can in theory agree to redistribute the estate afterwards by deed of variation, but that depends on every adult beneficiary consenting and on no minor children being involved. A properly drafted Islamic will is the only reliable way to make faraid legally binding.

Can a widow challenge an Islamic will under the 1975 Act?

Yes. Section 1 of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 allows a spouse to apply where a will does not make reasonable financial provision, judged without reference to maintenance need. A one-eighth share of a large estate can invite such a claim. Section 4 requires the application within six months of the grant of representation unless the court permits otherwise. Good drafting provides for the widow's housing through the one third or lifetime arrangements.

Does inheritance tax apply to faraid distributions?

Yes, on the same basis as any other estate. Gov.uk sets the nil-rate band at £325,000, up to £500,000 where a home passes to direct descendants, with 40% above that and 36% if at least 10% of the net estate goes to charity. Because faraid passes most of the estate to children and parents rather than the exempt spouse, more of it can become taxable on the first death than under a typical English will.

How much does an Islamic will cost in the UK?

Islamicwills.co.uk, a solicitor service, publishes £250 plus VAT for its Basic plan for estates under £325,000 and £350 plus VAT for its Pro plan with an in-person meeting and flexible life interest, each charged per person, with add-ons at £250 plus VAT. IFG Wills and Wahed Wills are online services whose current prices sit behind their questionnaires, so confirm directly before comparing.