Islamic Will Guides and FAQs
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The Ultimate Guide to Islamic Wills
What is an Islamic Will? Why is it different to a normal Will?
In the Qur'an, Allah has prescribed who inherits from you. In a normal Will, you simply choose who you want to inherit from you and your wishes will be fulfilled upon your death. In an Islamic Will, your Will provider will calculate your inheritance for you based on your family and the rules set out in the Qur'an.
They will then draft these amounts into your Will so that your estate (i.e. the material things you leave behind) is distributed to your rightful Islamic inheritors in the right proportions.
You can read more here about what makes a Will Islamic.
Islamic Wills for reverts / converts
If you are new to Islam, it's completely normal to have lots of questions about your life affairs. An Islamic Will is a great place to start in order to get your whole financial life in order in a more Islamic way.
Islamic Wills can perfectly well cater for reverts. Although there are some key differences, the fundamentals of the Will remain the same.
One of the key things for you to note is that non-Muslim family members do not receive inheritance Islam.
We have written in more depth about the specific circumstances of reverts when writing a will.
Can I make a gift in an Islamic Will?
Yes you can make a gift (otherwise known as a bequest) in an Islamic Will.
As part of the rules that are prescribed in the Qur'an, Allah has given flexibility over 1/3 of your estate if you wish to exercise it.
For example if your estate is £100,000 at the time of your death and you did not leave a gift, that money would simply get divided up between your rightful Islamic inheritors.
However, if you chose to exercise your discretion over 1/3, you would choose where £33,333 went (for example, you may want to split it between the charities you support) and the remaining £66,667 would be shared amongst your rightful Islamic inheritors in the right proportions.
You can read more about leaving bequests in an Islamic Will.
Can Islamic Wills be tax efficient?
Wills are a key part of tax planning in order to minimize or eliminate inheritance tax.
Islamic Wills are compatible with well-known, tax-efficient Will structures. At IFG, we offer an upgraded tax-efficient Will drafted by our experts.
You can find out more about tax-efficient Islamic Wills here.
Can my spouse continue to live in my property after I die?
The short answer is yes. You can insert straightforward drafting to make sure that your partner can remain in your property without any worries after you pass away.
We find that this is one of people's biggest worries and a Will is a great way of giving certainty to everyone.
If this is a key concern for you, you are better off opting for the trust-based Will or just speak to us beforehand.
How do I buy an Islamic Will? How much does it cost?
IFG Wills is £98 for a standard Will or £348 for a tax-efficient Will (recommended if your estate is worth £325,000+). We lead the market on value for money and were the first to disrupt the traditional industry as we're a technology-first company without the compromise.
Can I speak to someone?
Yes, with IFG Wills you can book a call if you want to speak to someone before or during the Will-making process. You might want to get more understanding about the process, or you might have circumstances that are quite unique and you want a confidential chat.
We firstly recommend reading our Islamic Wills FAQ series as your question is likely to have been answered there.
If you want to speak to someone, contact us here.
Should I go with a free Will instead?
A free Will can be a great option if your estate is relatively straightforward. We tend to find that as people get older and their assets and family situations become a bit more complex and higher stakes, it is better to have a professionally-drafted will where you needs are taken into account.
What happens after I submit my Will?
Once you've done your bit online, the magic at IFG Wills HQ begins. Our expert team get to work putting your Will together. They'll be in touch if there are any specific queries that come up during the drafting.
If there are queries from our team, they'll get in touch with 3-5 working days. Your complete drafted Will follows shortly after via e-mail and all you then need to do is sign it.
Detailed Guides
We have previously written the incredibly detailed definitive guide to Islamic wills in the UK. This is still the best place to start. We keep updating this every year to reflect changing law.
You can get started on your Islamic Will here and be finished in just 20 minutes. You can also ask us any Islamic wills queries not covered below through our contact page or by emailing us directly at wills@islamicfinanceguru.com
Introduction to Islamic Wills
- What makes a will Islamic?
- Do Muslims need a will in Islam?
- 7 Practical reasons a Muslim needs a will
- Islamic Will technical terms explained
- I'm a revert, is there anything I should know?
What decisions do I need to make?
How does it work?
- Dealing with your assets and liabilities
- How to ensure your Islamic will is legal
- Dealing with an overseas marriage
- Dealing with property abroad
- Is your pension part of your Islamic will?
- Is your life insurance part of your Islamic will?
- How to ensure your Islamic will is legal
- Wills aftercare – how to make changes and store your will
- An overview of the probate process for executors/trustees
What about inheritance tax?
FAQs
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Yes! You have two options:
- You can pay £30 whenever you need to change your will in the future.
- You can subscribe for just £10 a year to make unlimited changes your will whenever you need.
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With a free will template you do not get any of the following:
- Legal review of your drafting (~70% of the wills we see contain legal errors before we correct them). Without those corrections your will won’t actually say what you think it says.
- Mufti review of your proposed bequests (~50% of the wills we see contain Islamic errors. Without our guidance their will would be inadvertently unIslamic).
- Someone to ask questions to before, during and after the will-writing process.
- Basic tax-planning advice. Around 30% of our wills benefit from our basic tax-planning tips that can save £10,000s.
- Someone to sort out the headache of the drafting and reviewing so you only have to sign on the dotted line when you get the document.
We cover in detail the limited circumstances where it makes sense for you to use free Islamic wills in this detailed guide here.
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You can change your will as many times as you need to in the week it takes for us to get your will over to you.
After that if there are minor changes, we can do those as well as a courtesy.
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Yes. We also offer a Trust-based will and will offer that to those of our clients for whom it is suitable.
Our trust-based will is a robust, tax-efficient solution designed in collaboration with a leading wills barrister from Ten Old Square Chambers.
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Yes. Each spouse has to get their own will written.
We offer a £10 referral bonus and a £10 discount to the person who referred. For spouses this amounts to over 20% off the cost price.
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Both of us (Mohsin and Ibrahim) have quit our corporate legal careers to focus full-time on IFG as we believe strongly that there is a need for strong personal finance education and resources for the UK Muslim community. If people like us do not take a risk and sacrifice a bit, no one will. IFG Wills is a subsidiary of www.islamicfinanceguru.com.
IFG Wills works for us from a commercial perspective as a lot of the will production is automated using sophisticated programming. This means our job is cut down from laborious copy-pasting to just pure legal review. Ultimately this then saves you guys £100s of pounds.
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Our wills are written so that the will remains valid in case of such changes. However no will is ultimately completely future-proof and we recommend revisiting your will every few years.
We offer an update service for £30 one-off, or unlimited updates for £10 a year.
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Islamic marriages (nikah contracts) are typically not accepted in English courts. We’d strongly recommend getting a legal marriage (this is particularly relevant for Islamic wills).
Our wills are designed so you can get the will done and get legally married afterwards without it nullifying your will.
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The IFG trust-based will is a tax-efficient will designed and crafted in collaboration with a leading wills barrister. We automatically offer it to those of our customers for whom it is suitable.
Just fill out our will form and we’ll flag to you if the trust-based will is relevant.
It is ideal for people with an estate over £325,000, or who have mean-tested benefit recipients among their heirs, or who would like to retain a lot of flexibility and discretion as to how their estate is divided up after their passing.
We charge £348 for this solution, less than a third of what a high-street solicitor would charge. We can do this because we use technology to bring down our costs, which we can then pass on to you.
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Yes – our wills are fully legal and binding in England & Wales. We are fully qualified and registered solicitors.
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You can log in to the Will platform here.