Distribution of a Debtor's Estate when the Creditor also Receives a Bequest from the Estate

Primary text

When a deceased person owes a debt, and the same person (the creditor) has also been bequeathed one-third (thuluth) of the estate, the creditor receives nothing from the estate until the debt is fully settled. Subsequently, for any amount recovered from the debt (which is considered an asset of the estate), the creditor is entitled to one-third, and the heir (son) is entitled to the remaining two-thirds. This is one ruling attributed to Al-Shafi'i. The evidence supporting this shared distribution is that the heirs are partners with the creditor in the debt, but they have no partnership share in the physical assets (al-'ayn) themselves. Therefore, the creditor cannot claim an exclusive right to what is recovered from the debt over the heirs, similar to a situation where the partner in the debt was another legatee, or if the bequest was of the physical asset itself while another person was owed the debt.