Date : 10-06-2024

Question :

A piece of land jointly owned by several heirs was sold through a broker. Should the broker's fee be deducted from the sale price before dividing the amount among the heirs, considering that one of the heirs (the stepmother) passed away and her heirs weren`t informed about the broker's fee?


The Answer :

All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.


The Islamic principle is that the relationship between heirs in inheritance is one of joint ownership. In joint ownership, each partner bears the expenses according to their respective shares because the burden is proportional to the benefit. The broker's fee is part of the expenses of dividing the inheritance, so each heir bears the broker's fee according to their share of the inheritance. Shaykh al-Islam Zakariya al-Ansari, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "The fee of the distributor, which the partners hired him for without specifying an amount, is distributed according to the shares, not the number of individuals" [Asna al-Matalib, Vol. 4/P. 330].


As for the heirs of the stepmother, if the sale contract was made with their permission, they share the broker's fee with the rest of the heirs. This is because a broker does not work without a fee, and it is well known that what is customary is considered as stipulated.


Accordingly, the broker's fee should be deducted from the sale price of the land before dividing the amount if all the heirs agreed to the sale through the broker. This applies to the heirs of the stepmother as well, as long as they agreed to the sale. And Allah The Almighty knows best.