Endowment: Validity of Endowing a Shared Property Before Partition

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Endowment: Validity of Endowing a Shared Property Before Partition

English:

Question #2058:

A woman, who has a one-sixth stake in some jointly owned land, sets up an endowment trust for the entire property. Can this arrangement be deemed valid, or is it so insofar as her share is concerned? Assuming that it is valid, is it correct to hold the jointly owned land in trust before partitioning/ distributing it? And if holding the share of the jointly owned land in trust before the distribution is valid, what should the position of the other partners be?

Answer #2058:

There is no legal barrier to setting up a trust concerning the share in a jointly owned property, even before partitioning it provided that it can be of use to the beneficiaries, even after partitioning. However, endowing the entire property by one of the joint owners is dependant on the permission of all the owners. The partners have the right to demand the partitioning of the property to have their shares separate from that of the endowment.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Endowments