Leaving a Will: Redirecting a Bequest When Its Intended Beneficiaries No Longer Exist

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Leaving a Will: Redirecting a Bequest When Its Intended Beneficiaries No Longer Exist

English:

Question #1814:

In his will, my brother has directed that one-third of his estate should be spent in looking after the people who were displaced by the war in a particular town. Since there are no such people left in that town, what can be done?

Answer #1814:

The money must be given to those people who were displaced and found refuge in that town, even though they might have already been repatriated to their hometowns or housed somewhere else. Yet if the spending is confined to the displaced people who are living in that town at the time being, the money should revert to the inheritors.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Leaving a Will