Writing an Islamic Will Workshop

2 المشاهدات· 24/05/11

MECCA Media
مشتركين

في محاضرات

أظهر المزيد

Transcript

[0:00]e Mal [Music] [Music] [Music] the m [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter]

[2:15][Music] m [Music] [Music] un [Music] [Music] [Music] well [Music] [Music] [Music]

[3:59]h [Music] in [Music] muham muhamad Salam Alum everyone thank you for

[5:02]coming tonight for this very important topic writing an Islamic well um

[5:06]a topic that I personally have a lot of questions about topic

[5:11]that we don't often think about even though it's very important because

[5:14]there is a stigma around this topic that if you think of

[5:17]the well and writing well that means Cent is to establish the

[5:22]the Frameworks and the processes to protect their interests and Legacy both

[5:28]during their life and after they pass away in addition to his

[5:33]planning practice Muhammad has experienced advising clients on immigration nonprofit and corporate

[5:38]matters he has served in various capacities with several nonprofit organizations for

[5:45]15 plus years where he has been using his legal and analytical

[5:49]skills to advance his community we are honored to have you with

[5:52]us today um brother Muhammad and now without further Ado I would

[5:58]like to welcome Sam first to uh as I said discuss the

[6:06]Islamic aspect of writing well after muham Muhammad [Music] my dear brothers

[6:46]and sisters one of the realities that is often ignored and people

[6:53]try to think not think about as much as the reality of

[6:59]death this is a real real it that will happen to every

[7:01]single one of us and as Believers as of course we believe

[7:08]that death is not the end we transition from One Life to

[7:13]another life from one realm to another realm death is a bridge

[7:19]that we cross and everyone crosses this bridge with their deeds with

[7:24]their everyone goes with their own book of Deeds if your book

[7:54]is given in your right hand then you will be happy Allah

[8:01]subhana T then gives us the example of what the sadness and

[8:09]the the frustration that will happen to those who fail the test

[8:14]with Allah subhana wa tala so in our life we have to

[8:17]make sure that we pass that test and in passing that test

[8:22]we have to fulfill our duties and obligations in this life and

[8:29]before we leave we all have an opportunity to amend to fix

[8:34]to mend some of the struggles that we had some of the

[8:40]challenges that we had in this life and one of the ways

[8:47]to fix things once we leave for our children for the inheritors

[8:52]for people that stay behind is to leave behind the will leaving

[8:56]behind the will there's a lot in the will a lot of

[9:02]people think for example will is only about money no will is

[9:05]much greater than that will is about your beliefs the will is

[9:11]about your prayers and your fasting and your Hajj and yours and

[9:16]your your obligations towards God towards people towards the community and writing

[9:23]a will is something that is extremely extremely important from an Islamic

[9:29]perspective it's important and from a legal perspective we will find out

[9:33]how important it is because you live in a country that they'll

[9:36]come and they'll take half of your wealth or I don't know

[9:38]how much but if you don't have a trust if you don't

[9:42]have a will you haven't appointed and designated how you want your

[9:45]money and your assets to be spent the government will take a

[9:49]big portion of it there's ways to protect yourself I'm not going

[9:52]to talk about that we'll leave that to the lawyer but I

[9:56]will talk about the importance of writing a will writing a will

[10:00]and what do we write in the will what should we cover

[10:04]when we are writing a will so Allah subhah wa tala says

[10:10]in the Quran whenever you see what does that signify obligation however

[10:34]here Scholars they say it's not W to write a will why

[10:39]because at the end it says this is for the if you're

[10:44]a Pious person you will write a will and not not only

[10:46]a Pious person someone who's smart someone who thinks ahead someone who's

[10:49]futuristic they're going to write and plan ahead for what's going to

[10:56]happen at the end of the day we come in this life

[10:57]we live we eat we sleep we buy we drink we have

[11:01]businesses we do everything when you leave at least leave some document

[11:04]to say this person I want this to happen with my wealth

[11:07]I have I have this shortcoming I need to do this I

[11:11]need to do that leave some type of document so that when

[11:14]you leave now if you leave any what does mean if you

[11:24]leave any assets any wealth you put a so Allah subhana T

[11:34]says not only in your life you take care of your parents

[11:36]if your parents and what does this mean this means that some

[11:41]people we leave this life and our parents are alive so doesn't

[11:44]mean that only when I'm in a senior citizen and I'm so

[11:49]old that's when I write a will no write a will any

[11:50]anytime think of the W think of your parents and think of

[12:03]thein think of your family think of your relatives right give them

[12:07]something this is what the this is what the religion of Islam

[12:10]is telling us give leave something behind for your relatives and this

[12:14]is something very important there was a man there was a man

[12:17]during the life of the prophet he died and then the the

[12:25]prophet he came and he heard that this man his children are

[12:28]begging in the street so s alai he said what happened with

[12:31]their father their father had money what happened with it they tell

[12:36]him he gave all of his money away he became angry and

[12:43]he said if I had known earlier I would not have allowed

[12:46]him to be buried in a Muslim Cemetery meaning that you have

[12:51]to you can't make your children and your family become Beggars because

[12:55]you want to do sod no there's there's a portion for everything

[12:58]give your family but also give the poor do good deeds but

[13:04]there is there is a share for everyone to go around so

[13:07]now this is the was writing a was how can a be

[13:15]a could be an oral dictation for example there are there are

[13:20]witnesses and you say this is my I want I want such

[13:25]and such to happen this is this is a perfectly valid from

[13:29]an Islamic perspective does this apply right now no because we live

[13:32]in a government where they want to see legal documents and this

[13:35]is why and say this is what he told me so you

[13:40]need to have a document now Scholars say it is highly recommended

[13:44]but then we have many narrations from from the that talk about

[13:48]the importance he says Muslim every Muslim should write a was it

[13:56]doesn't matter how old you are you're young or you're old have

[14:01]some document and we will explain what you need to write in

[14:03]it someone might say I don't even have money should I even

[14:05]write yes everyone should write a was because there's a lot of

[14:13]a lot of things that could go in a in another Hadith

[14:17]says the one who is meaning the one who is basically taken

[14:22]away from him the one who does not have a or the

[14:28]one that has not been given an opportunity to write a to

[14:33]have a will now what should a person put in a there

[14:40]are there are four or five things four points that a person

[14:43]four things that should go in a person's was from an Islamic

[14:50]perspective the first is your was is your opportunity to declare your

[14:53]faith how beautiful is it that a person leaves this life but

[14:59]there's a document that says this person lived as a Muslim and

[15:02]this person Bears witness that there's no God other than Allah and

[15:07]that Allah is a prophet and that the IM the first IM

[15:09]is and IM the second IM is IM Hassan and IM Hussein

[15:14]and IM Z pointing out all your imams pointing out your belief

[15:17]this is a testament of Faith you have that opportunity to write

[15:23]it down someone says why because you want your children this is

[15:26]a legacy you're leaving behind let your children see this that Our

[15:30]Father our mother they testified this is what they left this duny

[15:37]after living for a long life this is what they believed in

[15:39]and this is this was a testament of their faith and Allah

[15:42]subhana tala describes and the prophet how prophets of allahim and under

[15:53]deathbed what do they say they gather their children and their family

[16:04]and they tell them this is the most important thing more that

[16:08]more important than money more important than wealth more important than the

[16:13]assets I'm leaving behind this Legacy of faith I'm leaving behind this

[16:17]Legacy of of IM he he was dying he gathered his children

[16:28]and he tells them who do you worship so this is the

[16:43]greatest Legacy if you were able to come in this life and

[16:45]live and leave behind the legacy of faithful children leave behind the

[16:51]Legacy where you have placed an imprint of Iman on your family

[16:56]and your children and you leave then you'll be in a good

[16:58]place this is more important than leaving behind the millions this is

[17:04]more important than leaving behind the assets this is the most important

[17:10]thing leaving behind a good Legacy of M why because if you're

[17:12]raising your children to be M then you're going to have someone

[17:16]who prays for you you're going to have someone who recites fat

[17:19]over your grave you're going to have someone who recites Quran for

[17:22]you so this is one thing that goes in a a declaration

[17:26]of Faith a declaration of faith and this is the last thing

[17:29]a person will hear before they shut down the grave there's there

[17:33]is it's done when a person is dying they come they tell

[17:39]him say this is one time another time is right before they

[17:46]close the grave it's must for a family or a person to

[17:52]come and they say even hold the person hold the person from

[17:56]their shoulders and shake them Yan fan when the angel of death

[17:59]comes comes to you when when the Angels uh from Allah or

[18:05]for the they come to you and they ask you about your

[18:08]lord about your about your Prophet about your IMS and tell them

[18:15]be very clear this is the last thing that a person hears

[18:26]and they say that the soul hears so write this down this

[18:32]is one second you write down in your will anything that you

[18:36]owe to anyone I borrowed a dollar from someone I have to

[18:39]write that down because I don't want I can't afford standing in

[18:44]front of Allah subhana tala and I have stolen $1 I have

[18:46]taken one one whatever it is taking something that is the hack

[18:53]of someone else taking it wrongfully I need to write it down

[18:56]some of us sometimes maybe I'm borrowing something and then I die

[18:58]you never know maybe I borrowed something very small very insignificant but

[19:04]I this is why we should always write it down always write

[19:07]it down and a a will could always be updated so you

[19:12]write down and this is why when the when the was when

[19:19]the inheritance is divided before it gets divided according to the laws

[19:24]of Islam according to the laws of the Quran Allah says meaning

[19:28]you have to come and take all of the D out all

[19:33]of the inheritance all of the anything this person borrowed from another

[19:36]person or any specific was and then they come and they divide

[19:42]it according to the laws of the Quran and sometimes D is

[19:47]financial and sometimes it's not sometimes I've hurt people with my tongue

[19:52]with other things so maybe it's very important to go and apologize

[19:54]or to write down any H that I have towards another person

[19:59]so this is the second so first you write down your faith

[20:02]The Testament of Faith write that down even if you don't have

[20:07]any money let your just have that this I bear witness that

[20:09]there's no God other than Allah and Prophet Muhammad and the imams

[20:11]of the this is sufficient second you write down if you've borrowed

[20:17]anything from anyone you've taken anything from anyone even a dollar you

[20:20]don't want to stand in front of Allah on the day of

[20:21]judgment third anything you owe to Allah we're all we're always worried

[20:28]about what we owe other people but what about God has a

[20:32]h upon us what are some things that I owe to Allah

[20:35]Salah a lot of people they have Salah they have not prayed

[20:41]write that down and write it down during your life maybe I'm

[20:43]starting to make it up write it down now someone might say

[20:49]this person they didn't pray their whole life why should it I

[20:52]should what's the significance of writing it down how's that going to

[20:55]be we don't know maybe Allah subhana wa ta'ala will be merciful

[20:58]with a person it's waj upon you to write it down and

[21:02]it's waj upon the eldest son to make it up and the

[21:06]family they could make it up later this will be something that

[21:08]will alleviate and remove the pain and the suffering you don't know

[21:14]Allah is very merciful and maybe someone at one point in their

[21:18]life they weren't praying they were fasting but now they decide on

[21:21]changing but once they decided on changing they did Toba then the

[21:27]angel of death came and visited them so Allah knows what's in

[21:29]the hearts the important thing is you write it down you're not

[21:31]playing a game with God that someone says I'm not going to

[21:35]pray and I'm just going to write it down no it's not

[21:39]like that it's for someone who is sincerely trying on uh planning

[21:45]on changing their life so write down your Salah of course there

[21:49]are certain things obligations that cannot be made up while a person

[21:54]is alive the only thing that someone could make on your behalf

[21:58]while you're alive is Haj Hajj you could give nyaba if if

[22:00]you're unable to go if you're unable to go you have an

[22:05]excuse you could pay someone send someone to go and perform the

[22:07]Hajj however Salah zakat HS fasting while you're living you can't have

[22:13]someone make it up but you write it down so write down

[22:17]if you have not gone to Hajj and Hajj became waj upon

[22:20]you when does Hajj become waj upon you when you're financially when

[22:25]you're physically capable when you have no legal issue blocking you then

[22:30]H becomes waj on you now it becomes waj and the moment

[22:32]it became waj it's waj every year so you write that down

[22:37]and this is something that is very important and the fourth point

[22:43]and the last that we write in the will is the distribution

[22:45]of wealth we come in this life empty-handed and when we leave

[22:53]how do we leave also empty-handed whatever I had in this dya

[22:57]this was just something that we were just borrowing we were holding

[23:04]Allah says in the Quran you come to you left behind what

[23:18]we gave you as a we gave you a brief time to

[23:21]use this this house you're living in this was just temporarily yours

[23:24]you were just borrowing it this car you were just holding it

[23:27]on for a short while this and you're just temporarily holding it

[23:31]then someone else will hold it and someone else will come and

[23:34]hold it and someone else so these things that we collect during

[23:38]this life we should we should write it down now how is

[23:44]the inheritance distributed when a person how is our wealth distributed you

[23:48]come and you take all of the wealth how much is all

[23:53]of the wealth this wealth is divided into three 2third of it

[23:58]two-thirds of it they say the moment a person becomes sick a

[24:03]moment becomes ill in their illness that they're going to die even

[24:07]before their death they come and they tell this person yaal no

[24:11]more using your money this money does you don't have the right

[24:14]to use this money anymore if the if someone is in their

[24:18]in their illness that they're dying in so they that way someone

[24:21]can't come and oh I'm dying I have 5 days left to

[24:24]live I'm going to come and give all my money to for

[24:26]example one person no at that time two3 of your wealth you

[24:31]can't you can't do anything with it anymore and once a person

[24:33]dies 2third of their money that is right away it's taken and

[24:38]is divided to the inheritors based on the laws of the Quran

[24:41]this is not a Sunni thing this is not a sh thing

[24:44]these are the laws of inheritance in the Quran you could find

[24:46]them in a wife she inherits 1/4 if she has children she

[24:57]inherits 1/8 and there there are certain law that are mentioned in

[25:00]the Quran that are very clear it's not disputed onethird of your

[25:06]wealth you could do whatever you want with it you want to

[25:09]give it to a charity you want to give it to one

[25:13]of your favorite children you want to give it to your neighbor

[25:16]you want to give it to your friend you want to give

[25:17]it to any person that onethird you could do whatever you want

[25:22]with it 2third their children they have fun with it they do

[25:25]whatever they want they go buy Lamborghinis and fast cars and and

[25:28]onethird of it onethird of it you could do something good with

[25:35]so this is this is um some I want to benefit from

[25:39]it and then two3 let the the inheritors do whatever they want

[25:45]with so this is these are the four things that need to

[25:47]be pointed out in a will in Islamic will one is your

[25:51]beliefs the second if you owe anything to anyone else the third

[25:56]is if you owe anything to God and the fourth is how

[25:59]you want your money to be distributed yes brother no I didn't

[26:16]say that no no no when it the not the medical I

[26:20]didn't say medical yes when a person becomes when a person dies

[26:27]23 of their money is divided amongst the inheritors but if a

[26:34]person they say that this doesn't have to be that when a

[26:36]person dies this is when a person is in their terminal illness

[26:39]they're going to die they come and they tell him that's it

[26:42]you have no right to use two-thirds of your money so the

[26:45]onethird you do whatever you want with it the one-third you could

[26:50]give it to one one person one daughter one son sometimes you

[26:55]know in Islam the boys they get double the girl so some

[27:00]fathers some mothers they come and they say no I want my

[27:04]daughter for example to get to get equal shares so from that

[27:06]one third they could they could compensate and they could make it

[27:09]equal um but the two-thirds it goes you you don't have a

[27:15]say in how it's divided it goes based on the laws of

[27:17]the Quran no the the money three portions 2/3 goes to the

[27:36]way it's supposed to be distributed the onethird is yours it's three

[27:41]portions yes when you're alive you do whatever you want with your

[27:47]money but when you become ill in your terminal illness then that's

[27:52]when you become meaning you don't have the Islamic right to to

[27:58]um spend it freely as you want yes oh if you don't

[28:14]if you don't do if you don't choose to do anything with

[28:16]your oneir it will it will all equally be so if you

[28:24]follow no so so basically if a person dies and they have

[28:30]not done a was you do no no no if a if

[28:34]a person dies and they don't have a was all of their

[28:37]money is divided based on the laws of the Quran and the

[28:40]laws of Islam the the the wife gets a share the husband

[28:43]gets a Share the Children get a share the parents if they're

[28:45]alive they all get a share but you have the right to

[28:50]take out onethird and do whatever you want with it you have

[28:52]the right but if say I did not do anything with that

[28:56]oneir I didn't even write I said let it let let them

[28:59]deal with it however they deal with the two3 then they will

[29:01]they will have it yes in the you could say for example

[29:23]the 2third I can't I can't come and say for example I

[29:25]want I want the the girl to get equal share of the

[29:29]the boy in the 2/3 but I could come and say where's

[29:32]the loss for example the boy is getting 10 and the girl

[29:35]is getting five so I come from the oneir I come and

[29:38]I give five to the girl now they're equal the oneir you

[29:41]do whatever you want with it you alive you give while you're

[29:46]alive it's not even a anymore I know some people before they

[29:48]died he came and he gave his daughter this he gave his

[29:52]son this and they gave everything when he died he was died

[29:54]in the clothes that he was wearing and this is the probably

[29:57]the most noble thing that a person could could do give it

[30:00]away while you're alive yes sister if you give you give during

[30:18]your life no once a person dies the wealth automatically transfers you

[30:22]don't have the right to give a you could give it during

[30:24]your life yes yes yes that would be a stage prior to

[30:49]the was prior to death even yes yes brother yes okay all

[31:01]all assets all assets yes everything in your assets gets passed on

[31:07]yes brother so you could you could give them ownership before your

[31:25]death give them ownership of it if you if they don't have

[31:28]ownership of it then it's your ownership so this is this is

[31:41]the tricky part because you're basically you're you might be playing with

[31:44]the rules of God because Allah subh says the moment you di

[31:47]this is how it's supposed to be so maybe we'll let the

[31:53]lawyer answer that so we'll let you come up here and you'll

[32:07]you'll go over the the legal aspect and then we'll and then

[32:11]if if there was a need for me to come up again

[32:14]I'll come up I ask you all to welcome brother Muhammad alanon

[32:18]lawyer with loud muhammedi Muhammad [Music] uh thank you say I think

[32:39]uh s did uh alhamdulillah an amazing job with covering uh not

[32:44]just the ethical moral aspects of the will but also some of

[32:49]the um technical legal aspects of the F part of it um

[32:51]let me start Salam alaykum uh everyone brothers and sisters uh of

[32:55]course I start with appreciation not just for uh say uh the

[33:01]brothers that put all this together but also everyone here who took

[33:04]two hours out of their Friday night uh to come and listen

[33:09]to something that a lot of people see as either boring or

[33:11]uh maybe even a little bit um um frightful in a way

[33:16]uh that you don't want to be thinking about uh these kind

[33:18]of topics but I think it shows everyone's uh character and their

[33:21]willingness to accept this inev inevitability and also to kind of do

[33:28]the wise thing thing in terms of planning for it uh and

[33:34]let me um I don't think it's working oh yeah work so

[33:43]don't need to do an introduction I think we're running a little

[33:46]bit short on time thank you H for for the uh generous

[33:50]introduction uh this is my information if anyone needs to get a

[33:53]hold of me take a picture of that or I have some

[33:56]business cards to pass along afterwards so um so what's the goal

[34:04]of our um inshallah session today it's to have a basic understanding

[34:07]of the laws of wills and States especially as they intersect with

[34:12]our Islamic laws with the Shar and have that as a starting

[34:16]point for us to start planning to start writing our Wills now

[34:19]at the end of this session I'll have a link up where

[34:24]everyone can go in there is a service that we're providing at

[34:26]laog group where everyone can get a free will you go in

[34:30]there's a portal you provide your information uh a little bit of

[34:33]information that will go through what information you need for a will

[34:35]uh once you have all that you'll be emailed a a will

[34:39]and you can take that print it sign it have it witnessed

[34:43]and notorized we'll go through that process that needs to be done

[34:45]to make a will formally effective so my Approach uh for this

[34:53]session inah will be try to try and cover these five questions

[34:54]first why should I have a will or a plan and happens

[34:59]if I don't have one how do I write a will uh

[35:02]what do I need to make sure that the will complies with

[35:04]Islamic laws with the Shar what are some other objectives that might

[35:08]I might be able to achieve through the process of Estate Planning

[35:11]and what are the different Vehicles trust was mentioned uh that I

[35:15]could use to achieve those objectives so inshallah I'll try to answer

[35:19]those questions one by one so first of all what happens if

[35:26]I don't have a will or I don't have a plan uh

[35:27]number one the first question that a lot of people ask is

[35:31]Will the government come and take all my money and sorry S

[35:33]no that's not usually the case unless uh unless you owe the

[35:37]government money then they're going to take it back if you owe

[35:39]them taxes or sometimes if you owe them uh Medicaid recovery so

[35:44]if you if you God forbid had to kind of be in

[35:46]long-term care Medicaid had to pay for your expenses they might come

[35:53]back and ask for that money back right um so unless those

[35:56]things are true government won't take your your money also unless you

[36:00]don't have any heirs so you don't have any living relatives then

[36:04]the government might come in if you don't have a will and

[36:08]take that money there's the other potential for losing money which is

[36:13]not that the government might come and take it but that it

[36:16]becomes unclaimed what do I mean sometimes there's money that we own

[36:20]that we have a right to that we don't necessarily um understand

[36:23]or are aware of or or maybe have forgotten about I have

[36:26]a lot of clients that come in and talk about retirement accounts

[36:30]from previous jobs that they don't necessarily know how much is in

[36:35]there how much how much it's grown who's entitled to it who's

[36:38]the beneficiary if you don't have all that information then there's the

[36:41]possibility that your uh your heirs might not be able to get

[36:44]access to that money and so it ends up going to the

[36:48]government the government will hold it so that people can come and

[36:50]look for it if you're if your heirs don't know to actually

[36:54]look for it it's going to eventually end up being um taken

[36:57]by the government so government doesn't just step in and take uh

[37:02]all the money there are fees uh there are probate taxes there

[37:07]are uh court fees that might uh be have to have to

[37:09]be paid in the probate process uh but we'll get through some

[37:14]of that information uh later on uh so if I don't have

[37:20]a will I don't have a plan who's going to take care

[37:24]of my kids I also get that question a lot which is

[37:25]first answer is uh the other parent whether you're currently married or

[37:30]or divorced the other parent if they're able and if they're available

[37:34]to take care of the kid they'll be given that right now

[37:36]let's say anything something happened to the other parent or they're not

[37:39]able they're not available to take care of your kids then it's

[37:43]going to be the closest to living relative or any other relative

[37:46]that stands up in front of Court the court and asks the

[37:51]judge I want to be a guardian of this child now again

[37:53]this is if you don't have a plan if you have a

[37:56]plan if you have a will you can assign any your will

[38:00]nominate a person to stand as guardian for your children so if

[38:03]you know who you want to be raising your kids how you

[38:08]want them to be raised then that's a uh that's a reason

[38:10]to take the proactive step towards having a plan having a will

[38:15]that allows for that who's going to take care of my funeral

[38:19]to take care of my assets and that's again the spouse if

[38:25]they're available closest living relative or any other relative or friend that

[38:28]stands up in front of court and asks for that right so

[38:32]now you have to think about your family your friends who's going

[38:35]to take that step to go to court and make sure that

[38:41]they're fighting for for your um for your rights I I can

[38:47]take questions as we go potentially uh I mean again you don't

[39:00]have any documents you haven't planned for this a friend can step

[39:04]up if they if no one steps up then they're going to

[39:08]go through the foster care system even if a friend does step

[39:11]up then there's also going to be a process there's going to

[39:13]be cor dates there's going to be uh the judge is going

[39:16]to look at what's best for the child and they're going to

[39:18]decide based on that that's going to be timec consuming in the

[39:23]meantime they're going to be in the foster care system right uh

[39:25]so if you want to avoid the foster care system the best

[39:28]thing to do is to name a guardian for your kids through

[39:31]uh a well clear uh for your assets and for your estate

[39:37]again anyone who's willing to to come up and stand for that

[39:42]unless again you name uh an executive a personal representative in your

[39:46]will they'll be able to come up and do that on your

[39:48]behalf what will happen to my assets so the technical term for

[39:56]what happens to assets if you pass away without will is called

[39:59]intestacy so there are these laws in every state they're called the

[40:02]laws of intestacy and they govern what happens to your assets in

[40:08]Most states they look at the spouse and they give them the

[40:10]greatest rights uh so uh a spouse in the state of Michigan

[40:15]uh if they're a married couple no previous marriages potentially could uh

[40:20]have a right to the first 150,000 of the estate plus half

[40:23]the rest right so that depends on the state but in the

[40:28]state of Michigan that's the cas case say mentioned about the right

[40:33]of a spouse islamically which is um 1/4 or one8 for a

[40:36]wife with children uh that clearly contradicts with the laws of intestacy

[40:40]so if you want things to be taken care of in Terms

[40:44]of uh the way that the Quran States and the way that

[40:49]Allah T dictated uh then you would have to plan for that

[40:54]will there be family conflict and that's a question not for me

[40:59]but for you each one of us knows their family and knows

[41:01]if there's going to be any conflicts in any of these things

[41:04]that I mentioned uh is there going to be a conflict in

[41:06]terms of the division of the assets is there going to be

[41:09]a conflict in terms of who gets to raise the kids again

[41:11]if you don't plan for it then it's going to end up

[41:14]in front of a judge your family may be in agreement about

[41:18]what happens or they may be in disagreement and so if you

[41:20]want to prevent the disagreement you have to be clear you have

[41:22]to set out a plan and make sure everything is stated so

[41:26]that they know what will happen with every sing SLE point in

[41:31]those points another thing is what if I'm disabled or have some

[41:35]kind of medical emergency unfortunately I have a lot of people that

[41:38]come to me and say um my parents uh unfortunately uh are

[41:42]developing Alzheimer or or Parkinson's and now we need to be able

[41:47]to take care of them and usually what happens they go to

[41:49]a hospital hospital refuses for the individual to make those decisions on

[41:53]behalf of the disabled uh parent and they ask to go to

[41:57]court so you have to to go to court petition the court

[42:00]for guardianship or conservative ship and then through that process you end

[42:04]up getting the final say in how your parents are being treated

[42:08]medically and to avoid all of that we go back and say

[42:10]there's the potential for writing Powers of Attorney medical Powers of Attorney

[42:14]that state how you can or who has the right to take

[42:18]care of you in case of a medical emergency so those are

[42:25]the things that would happen if you don't have a plan now

[42:28]I call it a plan because there are different levels of planning

[42:33]we the say respected say spoke about wills uh one of the

[42:36]gentlemen asked about trust but I would categorize it as five different

[42:39]levels first a lot of people actually I think statistics say 50%

[42:45]of of Americans don't have a plan they don't have a will

[42:47]they don't have a trust they don't have any any of that

[42:51]the higher level than that is to have a basic well this

[42:55]is what I mentioned at the beginning that will have a way

[42:57]to create a basic will that will be sent to your email

[43:01]you'll be able to take it have it signed notorized and be

[43:03]able to assign in it a guardian uh assign in a um

[43:09]personal representative who would stand in court for you if you pass

[43:12]away um who you want to raise your kids how you want

[43:15]some of your assets to be divided and all of that in

[43:17]a simple will a level above that would be a more complicated

[43:21]will where you are actually dividing your assets maybe in more detail

[43:25]you might even be able to create uh some something for for

[43:28]for generations to come through a testamentary trust uh one of the

[43:33]kinds of trusts so the more complicated the more advanced you want

[43:37]to get with that the more you can through a will the

[43:42]next level uh would be a trust which would allow you to

[43:44]achieve some higher objectives in terms of what you want to do

[43:47]uh with your family or with your assets in terms of uh

[43:51]some objectives and we'll cover those objective later on in this session

[43:54]and then there can be more complex trusts for more complex strategies

[43:58]again that comes down to what your objectives are uh for this

[44:03]planning process yes again it depends on number one um your personal

[44:16]family situation your personal um assets and wealth uh and also your

[44:20]objectives for how you want things to to be handled uh post

[44:25]death or or even during life in case disability in medical I

[44:27]think that might be a little bit more clear if we pass

[44:32]through or if we go through the rest of the uh presentation

[44:33]if that question remains then I'll go back and answer it very

[44:51]good question um the will doesn't affect the Pod so uh you

[44:57]pod is a designation of beneficiaries that you say in your bank

[45:01]account or in your retirement accounts that if I pass away the

[45:03]money goes to for example to my wife to my children the

[45:08]will doesn't affect that legally speaking the will does not affect that

[45:11]the will handles property outside of that right so the world doesn't

[45:15]manage that that goes back to whoever you designated now um we

[45:22]can ask say if that money is a part of the full

[45:23]estate that needs to be divided 1/3 by 2/3 right so that

[45:28]money might still have to go 2third of it to your uh

[45:32]to your a islamically even though it doesn't go through well legally

[45:36]okay is that distinction clear so why don't people if these are

[45:43]if if a plan if a will is so important why don't

[45:46]people uh actually write a plan or write a will uh a

[45:51]lot of people say it can wait and we all know and

[45:52]that's why we're all here that sometimes we don't know whether it

[45:59]can wait sometimes things can happen suddenly unforeseen uh a lot of

[46:03]people say I don't have enough assets uh for an estate plan

[46:06]or for a will and again that's false because anything that you

[46:09]might have again from a moral perspective as well from a legal

[46:13]perspective you have the ability to direct uh islamically a portion of

[46:20]it legally all of it through a will some people say it's

[46:25]too expensive uh and again it might be more expensive to pass

[46:28]away without a will than is to pass away with a will

[46:32]okay so let's get to the formalities of writing a well yes

[46:44]I have a I have a slide on that I have a

[46:53]slide on that let me get to it and then you can

[46:57]ask the question again if I don't answer it okay so writing

[47:00]a will first of all a will is a very formal process

[47:04]legally speaking we want to make sure that people understand what a

[47:07]will is and that they're doing it with sound mind and they're

[47:10]not being forced into it they're not being taken advantage of so

[47:12]we require it to be in writing we require it to be

[47:18]signed that there will be two witnesses and in some states that

[47:20]it be notorized right and so it's best to kind of make

[47:25]sure that it's signed witnessed and notorized Wherever You Are in in

[47:28]any state make sure it's notorized so once you have that you

[47:34]have a will so who can write a will any adult own

[47:40]that they know who their relatives are uh and that they know

[47:42]that by signing a will they're allowing them to take possession of

[47:45]this property after they pass away so those are the kind of

[47:49]questions you ask a person to make sure that they have sound

[47:51]mind to be able to write a well and you can tell

[47:55]that it's not a very high threshold but again some people who

[47:57]are suffering from God forbid Parkinson's or or Alzheimer's they might not

[48:02]late to write a well uh also again a person has to

[48:07]be doing it freely so they can't be under the AR they

[48:09]can't be forced into it they can't be taken advantage of what

[48:13]should a will include uh first of all you have to identify

[48:18]yourself as the person writing the will usually we do that by

[48:20]writing the name but also writing some clear characteristics like address who

[48:24]I'm married to who my children are and then you can name

[48:29]a personal representative or you might have heard of it as an

[48:32]executive a person who takes the will and actually takes it to

[48:34]court and enforces it and that's another thing about wills it has

[48:37]to actually be certified by the court but we'll get to that

[48:41]yeah you can name a guardian for your kids if you have

[48:44]minor minor children you can nominate a person who would be able

[48:48]to take care of your kids and you can give directions on

[48:49]how they should do it you can make specific uh distributions of

[48:55]property so you can say I leave let's say my car to

[48:57]my to my son or uh 15% of my assets to my

[49:01]daughter whether it's an actual item or a percentage you can do

[49:07]that in a well uh and then you have to identify where

[49:11]everything else goes so you can say my car goes to my

[49:16]son 15% goes to my daughter and then the rest goes to

[49:20]my wife now again islamically speaking there are specific ways uh that

[49:26]these need to be divided 1/3 2/3 specific of the inheritance of

[49:31]the 2/3 the way I would suggest that a will be written

[49:33]islamically is to go through the inheritance go through your specific family

[49:36]situation and say for example I have a single daughter she gets

[49:40]a half and so on and so forth and incorporate that in

[49:43]to the will other question I get asked sometimes is can I

[49:50]inherit disinherit my wife and my kids if you have minor children

[49:53]you can't disinherit them if you have a spouse you also can't

[49:57]disinherit themer means taking out of the yes taking them out of

[50:03]the world so that they don't get anything um yeah so you

[50:04]can't do that to minor children you can't do that to your

[50:08]spouse the spouse has what's called an elective share and that depends

[50:11]on state law so in the state of Michigan one example uh

[50:15]I think I already mentioned this which is if you're married no

[50:19]prior marriages you have children uh the spouse gets 150,000 plus half

[50:24]the rest okay so if you leave a will that gives the

[50:29]spouse less than that they have the right to petition to the

[50:32]court and ask for more uh you can potentially limit that in

[50:37]a will by saying that for example my wife can't get more

[50:40]than half of that elective share but there's always a potential for

[50:44]that to be not enough in view of the court and that

[50:48]the court will basically give them more now before that might sound

[50:52]a little bit uh kind of scary because it contradicts the Islamic

[50:56]Shar so much there is always number one the spouse doesn't have

[51:01]to uh kind of does they don't have to contest the will

[51:06]so if you're married to a Believer someone who fears Allah subhana

[51:09]wa tala they're not going to do that but also you can

[51:13]get a waiver of that beforehand and usually that happens in a

[51:17]prenuptual agreement where you wave your spousal right and that way that

[51:20]possibility isn't even there for them to go to court to contest

[51:22]the will and get more than that does that clarify your question

[51:30]okay can I change my will your answer yes uh you can

[51:36]completely revoke it uh you can uh toss it out you can

[51:40]write a new one you can just shred it and go back

[51:41]to not having a will um you can even edit it you

[51:45]can edit it by what we legally call a cisal which is

[51:48]a document attached to it that says I've made these changes one

[51:51]thing I'll warn against is don't go around Crossing things out and

[51:55]adding things in because that could put potentially create more confusion uh

[52:00]if your will was written in a specific way you might not

[52:02]you might not be able to or you might not you might

[52:05]unintentionally cross out the wrong thing or not cross out the right

[52:11]thing or uh create more confusion by doing that so so there

[52:20]has to be there has to be a hard copy because uh

[52:24]courts uh and that might differ from state to state but in

[52:27]michig michig courts require an an original ink signature on the document

[52:31]right uh so just having an electronic copy might not be enough

[52:35]right or electronically electronically signing a copy might not be enough so

[52:40]ink signature needs to be present and that's why we usually tell

[52:46]our clients to keep keep the whe in a safe place either

[52:48]next to their bed or even if they can and in a

[52:52]safety deposit box or something of the sort yeah yeah so so

[53:04]you'd have to have the original one um we usually as attorneys

[53:07]we keep a scanned file just in case there's something that that

[53:12]happens where we can't find the original but the court does want

[53:14]the original and if you don't have the original you have to

[53:16]justify it in some way and if you've lost it and you're

[53:19]still around to kind of make a new one then you should

[53:23]make a new one would not recommend that because there is the

[53:32]potential that again if you want it to change or if you

[53:36]want it to completely revoke then you yeah you exactly there's the

[53:40]potential for multiple Originals contradictory Originals to be floating out there that's

[53:45]going to create more problems than you've solved right clear on this

[53:50]one okay what a will can't do so it's important to realize

[53:55]what a will does and what it can't do so number one

[53:59]it can't avoid the probate system a will needs to be certified

[54:02]basically by a judge the judge needs to have it in front

[54:04]of him stamp it and say I give the personal representative the

[54:09]executive the power to act in accordance with the will right and

[54:12]that could be timec consuming and it could be expensive it can't

[54:15]avoid any taxes so if you're in a bracket where you're worried

[54:21]about uh estate taxes which most of us in well most of

[54:24]us AR inshallah some of us are which is around 26 million

[54:29]um most people don't have have to worry about that but if

[54:32]you're in that bracket I will can't change that for you there's

[54:38]a potential for estate taxes there's no estate taxes now that number

[54:43]changes and there are some states that have different numbers this is

[54:48]the federal number I have a slide on it uh the other

[54:51]thing I will can't do follow I'll get to it I'll get

[55:05]to it the other thing will can't do is affect joint property

[55:08]so in the US legal system Most states if you Jo if

[55:14]you jointly own property meaning that for example me and my wife

[55:17]both our names are on the deed to the house uh that's

[55:21]not affected by the will and what happens is that if one

[55:23]of us passes away the house is so me and my wife's

[55:29]names are on the deed I pass away my name basically gets

[55:35]uh scratched out and the house remains in her name uh now

[55:38]that's what happens legally again you go back islamically was that her

[55:41]right to kind of get that other half of the house um

[55:45]we don't see it as getting the other half legally but islamically

[55:49]it could be problematic then it goes into uh what would happen

[55:57]with either if they had a will or if they don't have

[56:00]a will you'd have to go through that hole but if it's

[56:01]jointly oned that's where a will doesn't affect it because what we

[56:07]say is your your property right got extinguished at death so you

[56:10]don't have a right to it anymore it was you couldn't have

[56:14]done anything with the will to change that so it doesn't pass

[56:17]through will it passes outside of probate yeah yeah if if both

[56:26]spouses die then it passes on to their ears if you have

[56:32]joint accounts that would be the same so if again if if

[56:35]one of the spouses dies they scratch their name out and it

[56:37]Remains the property of the other individual life insurance is different life

[56:47]insurance um I'm correct me if I'm wrong say it's from what

[56:51]I've seen from sayani it passes completely outside of that right so

[56:56]legally life insurance isn't your property but someone has a benefit to

[57:00]it right so for example if I have my kids on the

[57:04]life insurance if I pass away my kids get the money directly

[57:06]so it's not through the probate and it's not through uh even

[57:13]islamically it's not through the 1/3 2/3 division uh there is a

[57:16]potential just because tax laws are different than probate laws that it

[57:20]might be taxed if you hit that $26 million Mark but that's

[57:26]different uh ready went through joint property okay so how do I

[57:33]make sure that my will is Sharia compliant first of all we

[57:36]have to understand the Islamic laws and I think say did a

[57:40]great job of of doing that for us and then we should

[57:42]incorporate those laws into our will uh so first of all we

[57:49]have to understand that 1/3 2/3 division that onethird that we have

[57:52]the power to divide or to um allocate in whatever way we

[57:56]wish we write that in the well and then for the other

[57:58]2/3 we should also State how that division is going to be

[58:04]so my example if uh I'm right now I'm married I have

[58:08]a single daughter I have my parents are alive and well so

[58:11]one six to each of my parent 1/8 to my wife uh

[58:15]one half to my to my only daughter that's the division that

[58:19]would be according to the verses from Sur uh the complexities start

[58:25]to add up when when or when those fractions don't add up

[58:28]to 100% so what happens to some to a shortage what happens

[58:33]to an excess in terms of those fractions that's something that each

[58:37]individual should assess on their individual basis based on uh their personal

[58:43]family situation and incorporate that in the will because otherwise if I

[58:47]put a will in front of a judge that says divide this

[58:49]islamically just not going to know what to do with that right

[58:53]and they could potentially just throw the whole will out because they

[58:56]can't act on right um so that's why it's important to have

[58:59]that division incorporated into the will uh there aren't much differences because

[59:16]a woman is entitled to her own property so are you asking

[59:21]this from an Islamic perspective or a legal from a again from

[59:25]a legal perspective um depends on how they're titled uh are they

[59:29]titled jointly or not from an Islamic perspective she had the right

[59:35]to have her own property uh her property once she passes away

[59:38]is divided according to the same divisions the only differences is where

[59:42]in some instances in some cases where there is where there's a

[59:48]double for the male heirs and I think you can again assess

[59:51]on a personal basis Case by casee basis so there's nothing wrong

[60:11]with that except that it creates possible room for uh family conflict

[60:15]and for uh the wellbeing contested in court so if your family

[60:19]can't agree or if God forbid if you anticipate that one of

[60:25]your heirs might not be under understanding of the Shar that they

[60:28]might want to contest the will then they could potentially jeopardize all

[60:31]of that right so to reduce family conflict to make sure it

[60:34]happens the way you want it to happen according to the Islamic

[60:39]laws you incorporate all of that into the will uh I think

[60:47]say Sal did a excellent job of going through a lot of

[60:51]these um scenarios okay I I also want to make sure I

[61:00]have some time for question and answer in case I haven't answered

[61:03]anyone's uh questions so objectives to estate planning what are some objectives

[61:09]that can be achieved through Wills trusts uh Powers of Attorney what

[61:14]are some things that we can do with this estate planning process

[61:19]first of all Let me give a little bit of a background

[61:23]on trust because again that that term has been thrown thrown around

[61:26]a little bit so what a trust is I usually say it's

[61:30]like a box so you create this trust and you put your

[61:32]property inside that box while you're alive and well you have full

[61:38]and absolute control to do whatever is you please with whatever you

[61:42]put in that box once you pass away that box automatically gets

[61:46]shifted to the next person over so whether it's your spouse your

[61:50]children that box just moves along and now they have complete ownership

[61:57]of that prod property okay so that's how a trust can be

[62:00]used that's the the way it can become beneficial talk about so

[62:05]what are some objectives that we can achieve first of all we

[62:11]can put in there some language to protect uh spouses and children

[62:14]so for example if I have an inheritance I know that for

[62:17]example one of my sons uh isn't great at managing money might

[62:22]be uh there might be an impending bankruptcy case I don't want

[62:26]them to lose the inheritance I'm giving them directly when they receive

[62:29]it potentially I could build in some creditor protections for them in

[62:36]the trust disabled beneficiaries if I have uh children or other beneficiaries

[62:41]that are disabled I don't want to give them that money if

[62:44]that's going to jeopardize uh their government assistance they're going to lose

[62:47]their Medicaid and now they're not going to be able to get

[62:50]the treatment that they want I want to make sure that I

[62:51]build it into the trust where I make sure that they continue

[62:56]to have the eligibility for government services um planning for my personal

[63:01]God forbid disability what happens if I'm disabled how should my assets

[63:04]be controlled who should be making decisions both financially and medically tax

[63:08]planning in terms of uh State gift and income taxes so um

[63:13]in terms of state taxes we mentioned the $26 Million number gift

[63:16]taxes is similar if you give gifts more than that number uh

[63:20]throughout your lifetime or more than 16,000 to a specific to a

[63:26]single individual during a year then it might be taxable to you

[63:29]right not to the person getting the gift but to you as

[63:31]the person giving the gift so those are some things to consider

[63:36]as well and then you could use the trust to kind of

[63:38]plan for that how can I save the most taxes by utilizing

[63:45]those taex oh I'm sorry okay yeah other objectives asset protection if

[63:55]I'm someone with potentially high risk for example medical doctors I want

[63:59]to make sure that no one can come and sue me and

[64:02]take all my property and I'm left with nothing my family's left

[64:05]with nothing there's a potential to have asset protection trusts that will

[64:10]save something for for your family uh business succession planning if you

[64:13]have a business and you want to make sure that it continues

[64:16]to operate successfully after you pass away God forbid then that's something

[64:20]to build in both in the business and in the trust ensuring

[64:24]F family harm Harmony so if there is potential conflict that you

[64:28]foresee uh between your kids between uh your heirs then how do

[64:33]you deal with that how do you make sure that everyone is

[64:35]happy and there's no chance not necessarily that everyone's happy but that

[64:39]everyone knows exactly where the lines are as well and there they

[64:43]won't be Crossing it in terms of contesting the will and things

[64:46]like that how do you preserve Family Values so I have clients

[64:49]that come to me and say I want to make sure yeah

[64:51]I have this this wealth that I want to pass down to

[64:54]my kids but how do I make sure that they don't become

[64:58]trust babies that they don't become just dependent on the trust that

[65:01]they go out and earn their own decent living how do I

[65:03]make sure that they got an education how do I incentivize them

[65:07]to get married for example on their own families expenses or the

[65:11]trust will give invest in your business all of these things are

[65:13]things that you can do to preserve potentially your family values there's

[65:18]also charitable planning so that ranges from for example saying uh one3

[65:24]uh of my assets in will saying onethird of my assets to

[65:28]my local mosque or saying that I have the sizable uh number

[65:33]of assets I want them to be invested and then they can

[65:35]be uh donated to charity during my life or after my death

[65:41]potential tax benefits of that thing in the US called uh pet

[65:43]trust so you can leave a trust aside for your pets to

[65:46]make sure that they're taken care of I only mentioned that to

[65:49]say that the possibilities are endless whatever objective you can come up

[65:52]with that you want to achieve through a trust there's probably a

[65:57]legal vehicle for you to do that depending on the kind of

[66:05]trust um money in the trust can be taxed on growth right

[66:08]so if there's a business in the trust if it's making money

[66:12]then that money uh could be taxed as income right so that's

[66:16]income taxes I would say so yeah so so so you can

[66:41]set up the beneficiaries according to the divisions uh islamically so again

[66:45]I have a single daughter she gets half I give her half

[66:47]in the trust my wife gets eighth uh in the will she

[66:52]would get eighth an eighth in the trust or potentially I can

[66:56]just build the trust if they're sizable assets build the trust with

[67:00]just my one third and then distribute the other two3 the other

[67:04]thing that trust can do and I'm not sure I don't think

[67:08]I have I have it in here which is actually going back

[67:10]to protecting um spouses and children so if you have minor children

[67:14]and you're passing things along to them by will they get complete

[67:20]access to it at that age right so it could be a

[67:22]5-year-old inheriting $100,000 right uh and and you don't want that because

[67:28]they could either misspend it who's going to be taking care of

[67:30]them who's going to who's going to be monitoring how they spend

[67:32]the money as opposed to a trust where you're building all of

[67:38]that in advance right so potentially if you take those considerations in

[67:41]mind the Trust might even be more beneficial because you're again establishing

[67:46]your values making sure everything is done correctly from an Islamic perspective

[67:51]answers your question um so I think I was asked about uh

[67:56]what's probet uh probet process so probet is basically opens a case

[68:04]um the family goes to the court they provide a an inventory

[68:07]a list of all their assets and then the court makes sure

[68:11]that number one that creditors are paid and then that the family

[68:15]divides everything else uh either according to the law or according to

[68:17]the will there is no uh abuse or misuse no one's taking

[68:21]advantage of anyone else after the creditors are paid so the that

[68:28]usually is a lengthy and a uh expensive to attorney fees in

[68:31]that process appraisers whatever it might be to make sure that the

[68:34]case goes through that system and that actually could last from at

[68:41]least at least six months stat based on the statutes in the

[68:43]state of Michigan there's a waiting period you can't close it before

[68:46]6 months just to get all your property across the probate core

[68:51]and make sure it's distributed to your hirs that's why I mentioned

[68:56]um avoiding probate as one important uh objective to be achieved now

[69:00]the other thing is if you have a will like I said

[69:03]it doesn't avoid probate for you uh so you could have a

[69:05]will the will needs to be presented to the judge the judge

[69:09]needs to approve it and ask the personal representative to act in

[69:13]accordance to the will only a trust through a trust or if

[69:19]your assets are small enough uh so in the state of Michigan

[69:22]if your assets are less than 50,000 um avoid probate also like

[69:29]I mentioned joint property isn't accounted as part of that so you

[69:34]could for example um H jointly own the house with with your

[69:36]wife um have assets over on top of the house less than

[69:42]$50,000 and then you would be avoiding probate the other thing that's

[69:45]available to you in the state of Michigan actually is what's called

[69:48]a ladyb bird deed so you can even in the uh deed

[69:52]of your house you could write uh this house belongs to me

[69:56]or to me and my wife as long as I'm alive and

[69:57]then when I pass away it backets and that way it doesn't

[70:02]go through the court system so from my understanding no so if

[70:15]they're owners on the deed uh then they would own whatever portion

[70:21]you have them as on the deed yes whatever is on the

[70:28]deed or or whatever either an equitable share or or whatever is

[70:31]on the deed then then it would have to go through the

[70:44]Probate Court it will still go to the children but it will

[70:48]have to go through the Probate Court after that process so so

[70:50]they might have to be yeah potentially because you'd have to figure

[70:55]figure out who's going to um who's going to handle that money

[71:00]on their behalf right so unless you've left a will assigned the

[71:03]guardian appointed the guardian all of that the court is going to

[71:06]have to consider uh yes for commercial real estate you can do

[71:16]that you could also through your um business planning so if the

[71:19]commercial real estate is owned by an LLC you would have an

[71:24]operating agreement that potentially you can make sure uh operates in the

[71:27]way that you want that's a question for the say maybe but

[71:33]I as far as I understand yes you would be because you've

[71:38]owned it during your life and so even though you've you've put

[71:41]in place an automatic trigger for it to transfer after your death

[71:46]you still owned it up to the point of death so if

[71:48]you've owned it up to the point of death then islamically it's

[71:53]within that one3 two3 division if you've given them ownership during your

[71:58]life by placing them on the deed then you should be fine

[72:08]yeah yeah so I think the bottom line is if if that's

[72:15]your objective then go back look at your objective and make sure

[72:18]that you VI done that also making sure that you haven't in

[72:26]yes go ahead M no they would be passing outside of probate

[72:48]for example life insurance uh if you have life insurance you have

[72:55]correct uh beneficiary design Nations they'll pass outside the probate process designations

[72:58]or if you designate it to for example my wife who passed

[73:05]away before me or or at the same time then it could

[73:06]end up in the probate process the other thing to consider I

[73:10]think I mentioned this is that the probate process is one thing

[73:13]and then estate taxes is another thing which I'm getting to which

[73:16]is it could potentially be taxed even though it's outside of the

[73:19]probate process if you get to those numbers so the current numbers

[73:25]for state taxes federally is $12 million per individual 24 um for

[73:29]a couple I think that changed as of the beginning of this

[73:31]year it's adjusted for inflation so it's um basically where you live

[73:37]and where you own your assets that might also be triggered in

[73:39]terms of having to pay estate taxes so for example if I

[73:44]own property in in Maryland I might have to pay estate taxes

[73:47]on that property because I might be subject to their laws similar

[73:52]thing is gift taxes which is if I give a gift uh

[73:59]that's substantial it might be taxable to me so if anyone has

[74:02]assets that add up to these amounts I know they sound ason

[74:05]astronomical to most yes so uh for them right so if I

[74:12]give say Sal $16,000 or $188,000 I might have to pay taxes

[74:19]on that personally not you me right yeah so and then there's

[74:24]a believe that's 30 or 40% estate tax is 40% I believe

[74:29]gift tax is 40% too yeah so there's a there's an per

[74:35]person per year limit which is 16,000 and then if you go

[74:39]above it then there's an annual there's a lifetime limit of again

[74:42]it's 26 million for a couple right now so then if you

[74:46]go over 26 million for a couple this is significant and important

[74:50]for billionaires but not most of us ta mhm yes so income

[75:06]taxes is one thing because there are different kinds of tax so

[75:10]you pay you pay sales tax and then you pay income tax

[75:13]and then you could pay estate tax and gift tax the IRS

[75:16]gets their money gift taxes yes yes yeah yeah so there's a

[75:37]yeah there's a perear limit and then there's an a lifetime limit

[75:40]so if you hit the Pere limit then it's going to count

[75:44]against the lifetime limit then if you pass the lifetime limit then

[75:47]it's it's taxable to you so sounds like tax evasion to me

[76:01]if you structure right potentially um giveness and then they might be

[76:08]text on it themselves but yeah okay I think we talked enough

[76:11]about taxes jointly owned property uh life insurance and retirement accounts um

[76:17]so mentioned that also briefly which is life insurance passes outside of

[76:22]um probate same thing with retirement accounts as long as there's a

[76:26]proper beneficiary designation on them there are potential tax advantages to having

[76:31]your spouse named as the beneficiary uh so if if it's not

[76:34]your spouse that's named as as a beneficiary retirement accounts could potentially

[76:38]be taxed uh that's a complicated question for your accountant okay yes

[77:00]yeah yeah so so according to company policy I guess you would

[77:07]get their signature to be or you would have them as beneficiary

[77:09]or if you got their signature and they've said I don't want

[77:12]to be the beneficiary the kids can be the beneficiary that could

[77:17]potentially become taxable to the kids when they get that pay out

[77:23]right I insurance I so so it's going to go to your

[77:36]estate which means court is going to open a file they're going

[77:38]to look at the life insurance and they're going to see where

[77:40]it goes most likely to the kids right um exactly so so

[77:47]what you can do is you can name a primary beneficiary and

[77:53]then you can name secondary beneficiaries which is to say if if

[77:57]that contingency happens then they would be the ones uh uh to

[78:00]take that money so there is potential survivor benefits on the Social

[78:41]Security side uh but those are they're very spe specific in terms

[78:45]of the rules so with retirement accounts you're putting money in and

[78:49]you're going to end up getting that money back either to you

[78:51]or or to your spouse or to your kids with Social Security

[78:55]you're putting money in you don't know how much you're getting out

[78:59]of it you're not getting the same amount and then there's your

[79:02]benefits there's potential survivor benefits for your spouse uh so there might

[79:07]be money out there there might not be money out there you'd

[79:11]have to kind of look at the specific scenario for Social Security

[79:18]it's it's not it's not really your property what's in Social Security's

[79:22]hand it's not your property it's a government benefit right exactly exactly

[79:27]now your spouse should know um whether there's a Survivor benefit or

[79:32]anything like that again going back to one of the first slides

[79:37]I I did there's something called unclaimed funds agencies in the state

[79:41]so if your kids if your wife if your kids they don't

[79:44]know what you own and you pass away um then that money

[79:50]could potentially be lost right so it's important to communicate to them

[79:54]that hey this is what I own if something happens to me

[79:57]make sure life insurance pays you make sure my retirement account they

[80:00]get paid out to you right so it's important to have that

[80:04]clear communication if you if you keep connections with the previous state

[80:24]for example you keep your assets there then you don't have to

[80:29]do that but if you move completely move all your assets sell

[80:31]your house buy a new house then potentially you might want to

[80:33]do that because again there's potentially different laws now there might be

[80:37]just you might have to amend things instead of doing things from

[80:39]scratch but that that would depend on the case by case scenario

[81:09]to come up with a fair Division if there isn't a fair

[81:15]division then for example if it's joint if me and my wife

[81:19]are both on the on the deed then it's assumed 50/50 because

[81:21]it's just two people on a deed right unless there is a

[81:25]fair way otherwise to divide things yeah I mean probably the same

[81:32]answer and this always comes up when it comes toes as well

[81:37]sometimes people you know couples they have a shared account and they

[81:41]don't know whose money is which and that's why it's advisable you

[81:46]could still love one another you could still respect one another and

[81:50]cherish one another but it's advisable to kind of know where's your

[81:54]money and where's even though you live your life in a way

[82:00]where myone is her and you should know you should know where

[82:07]it is so that when it comes to homes and when it

[82:10]comes to inheritance you'll yeah so maybe you could see for example

[82:28]how much how muches estimate I think the we had some questions

[82:37]over here first and and children are living He they have sh

[82:49]he has other relatives that might be alive they might have Islam

[82:56]Shar so that's why it's important to have this for example you

[83:00]could say I want or you during your life give it to

[83:06]them say for example this is for you or out an agreement

[83:08]where example I know some sometimes they would have to sell that

[83:13]and some I've heard stories where the kids and the mother the

[83:17]dad died and the kids and the mother had to sell the

[83:19]house because for example the in-laws asking for their rights and it

[83:26]becomes your right the moment a person passes away the money is

[83:31]transferred the way the way the way the Islamic law has legislated

[83:35]so it's to come and forbid someone and stop someone from taking

[83:47]their he could give it to the wife or he could give

[83:51]it to the to the children during his life out so you

[84:09]could basically say my house I I give it to my wife

[84:14]or I give it to All My Children equally of so one

[84:35]that is I've seen in the Middle East for example in some

[84:39]countries what they do is a TR right basically yeah is a

[84:47]has to stay in this family this has to stay this children

[84:53]so you could do that um they do countri uh before before

[85:05]I answer more questions I do have time right yeah yeah okay

[85:08]uh one thing that I want to mention is uh I mentioned

[85:12]the free will if you want to scan the QR code or

[85:15]go to the uh web page basically it'll prompt you to go

[85:18]through uh a list of questions you're going to answer about your

[85:23]personal information spouse's personal information children's personal information who you want appointed

[85:29]as a guardian as a um personal representative if there's any specific

[85:33]gift that's to be made uh you can do that now this

[85:39]is a what I call a basic will so you can make

[85:40]a basic gift for example let's say to to your kids or

[85:44]or to a friend but this will is going to say the

[85:48]rest goes to my wife and that's because there's legal reasons and

[85:51]I can't I can't advise you all personally on whether you can

[85:56]do something different right now or not um so so I don't

[85:59]give General legal advice to to the whole group that's the that's

[86:02]the best I can do so go through that get that done

[86:06]uh if that's to your to your needs and fulfills your needs

[86:12]that's great uh if not if you want to go further uh

[86:14]also available for that I should mention that this will achieve some

[86:19]important uh objectives which is uh it will again appoint a guardian

[86:25]for your kids in case you you want that in case you

[86:27]have minor kids uh it will assign a person to be your

[86:32]personal representative to standing core and make sure everything is done properly

[86:36]and it will hopefully if there's a chance for family conflict this

[86:40]will reduce that chance so there's important reasons to have that even

[86:44]though it's basic even though it's simple uh but it's a first

[86:46]step so I advise everyone to go through it is this something

[86:50]that you fill out print and then bring it to you so

[86:54]so you fill it out you you fill it out you print

[86:55]it uh and then you can come to my office it's just

[86:58]going to need a uh basically your signature with Witnesses and a

[87:01]notary so you can come to my office you can go to

[87:04]a local bank and you'll be able to finalize it and everything

[87:07]will be set so someone could basically fill out a without lawyer

[87:13]winess yeah yeah you don't necessarily need a lawyer yeah yeah exactly

[87:20]there are forms available online trust is different the trust is different

[87:24]this is a basic simple will if you need legal advice to

[87:29]a group this probably best thing that you I would say yes

[87:59]except that uh it depends on your personal family circumstance and your

[88:03]assets so I I think I may have forgotten to to mention

[88:07]it it was on there but in the state of Michigan if

[88:10]your assets are below 50,000 actually I think I did mention it

[88:14]if your assets are below 50,000 then you might not need to

[88:15]go through probate so you don't necessarily need a trust as long

[88:20]as things are figured out with the family um but yeah if

[88:23]you have assets you you want to make sure that they're passed

[88:28]on correctly then uh yes find an attorney make sure that they

[88:30]do it for you uh the other thing I'll say excuse my

[88:33]uh I'll be able inshallah I'll be able to guide you through

[88:39]the Islamic side as well I have some background in that uh

[88:41]but if there's anything that I I might not be able to

[88:45]answer for you then say is available uh the scholars in we

[88:51]can refer to legally 18 but depends on again family Dynamics who

[89:01]you trust to be the guardian is an 18-year-old going to be

[89:04]qualified to look after a 2-year-old that's that's depends on the person

[89:10]up to your family I think there are some questions over here

[89:13]let's be kind of eal yeah for a will if there's a

[89:22]notary it would be called a self short answer answer is it's

[89:25]best to have to have not necessarily required but best to have

[89:30]a notary for a while uh okay so legally speaking the the

[90:17]house is owned subject to the mortgage or or to the lean

[90:19]so that transfers with the house so the wife would get the

[90:23]house as well as the mortgage on the house right uh so

[90:25]then she'd be liable to pay the mortgage if you can't then

[90:30]potential foreclosure and so on um but I hope that answers your

[90:35]question from a legal perspective then again it would be divided to

[90:47]her hirs right so her husband would be one of her airs

[90:52]but also her parents her her kids so it depends on again

[90:55]family makeup composition oh I'm sorry legally yeah if it's just her

[91:00]name then it would uh go through the probate process to go

[91:04]to her heirs the husband would have what's called a spousal share

[91:08]uh which would be 150,000 plus half potentially if family looks different

[91:12]that might be a different number but very similar but with different

[91:16]numbers than the Islamic s yeah yeah no no they won't be

[91:25]evicted in the meantime but but if God forbid more there are

[91:28]so again less than 50,000 there's a different process if it's even

[91:32]less then depending on what kind of assets there might not be

[91:38]any process uh to go through over 50,000 uh then um there

[91:40]you'd go in front of the the judge you would um basically

[91:45]submit what's called an inventory listing all the property um and then

[91:49]how it's going to be divided right if you have a trust

[91:53]then like I said it's put in the box and the Box

[91:54]transfers automatically so yeah no courts nothing except that if you miss

[92:00]something out of the box again it's a box you put whatever

[92:04]you own in it if you missed putting something in the box

[92:06]then it's going to have to go to court so can you

[92:09]put all my Assets in that box you'd have to name the

[92:14]specific assets what if you're money now but then started that trust

[92:18]a year ago you want everything your account so you you would

[92:22]name the bank account in the name of the trusts so then

[92:27]everything in the bank account would be in the trust um the

[92:30]only thing is the biggest thing I'd say is real property so

[92:36]houses um houses or or real estate if they're not named in

[92:38]the trust then they're going to have to go through the apprpriate

[92:39]process because you you want to be able to sign over the

[92:45]deed to the trust otherwise it's going to have to be uh

[92:49]a judge who signs over the deed to your kids exactly so

[93:00]Powers of Attorney could be useful in that if something happens to

[93:03]you they could act on your behalf Powers of Attorney are no

[93:08]longer valid once a person passes away so they're completely uh invalid

[93:12]if someone passes away so they might not be useful uh in

[93:16]that in some scenarios even in terms of passing away yeah power

[93:24]of attorney is no longer valid once a person passes away um

[93:28]that's where a will comes in that's where trusts come in but

[93:33]Powers of Attorney are only valid as long as the authorizer is

[93:55]so they can be and I would I would suggest that they

[93:58]should be and and I've I've done wills and I've done trust

[94:02]to for some CL there's tabs in it and like one of

[94:04]the first tabs is a statement of faith where it l I'm

[94:08]a Muslim this this is my Creed this is I believe in

[94:12]that Allah is one Prophet Muhammad the Quran the imams and like

[94:16]the S beautifully said we're talking a lot about property but ultimately

[94:20]passing along your values your your religion that's more important so even

[94:25]though there is legal aspect to passing along property that should be

[94:31]a a greater concern for for every believer make sense there there's

[94:45]a big range uh so there's a big range um from I'd

[94:51]say like a a complex will uh where I just sit down

[94:55]and kind of write a more complex will for you something more

[94:57]than just the simple will might might cost you 1,200 bucks me

[95:04]or other attorneys similar range um up to complex tax savings or

[95:09]asset protection strategies those could be over um as attorneys especially as

[95:14]state planning attorneys we usually represent each couple so I would represent

[95:20]you and your wife you and your husband and so I'm both

[95:25]your attorneys and so there isn't I'm not planning for one side

[95:28]against the other or if if the husband tells me something I'm

[95:33]going to share it with the wife so uh one funny thing

[95:37]some people come to me and be they're like I have these

[95:39]assets I want to hide from My Wife and that's not something

[95:42]I can help you with ladyb bird did a ladyb bird did

[95:54]or sometimes it's called the technical term it's called an Enhanced Life

[95:58]Estate Deed so what I do is for example the house is

[95:59]in my name I write a deed and I say this house

[96:03]that's in my name I'm going to keep it in my name

[96:07]but if I pass away it goes on to this individual or

[96:12]or or these individuals right and then that's registered with the county

[96:18]Wayne County or whever it is then once you pass away instead

[96:20]of going to court all your heirs or whoever named in the

[96:25]deed has to do is take the death certificate to the register

[96:28]of deeds and now they own the property so that kind of

[96:33]simplifies uh transfer of real estate there are I'd be able to

[96:39]help with that but I should mention that there are potential complexities

[96:41]with that especially if there are Medicaid considerations then you'd have to

[96:47]see whether Medicaid would want to go after the house or not

[96:51]and that's could cause complications okay I I think that was it

[96:55]uh thank you again thank you all for coming taking two hours

[96:59]of your time to have me put you to sleep with this

[97:04]uh subject uh thanks again thank you everyone for coming I would

[97:14]like to thank uh brother Muhammad this was very helpful and uh

[97:19]it was a lot to absorb but this is I think very

[97:21]helpful overall thank you uh just just a reminder we we're going

[97:25]to do salot right after this uh probably in another two or

[97:28]3 minutes so if you want to stay with pray with us

[97:31]thank you don't yeah so that's no but with life insurance yeah

[98:51]I don't want my to yeah so you just have to play

[98:58]with the fractions and make sure that happens usually I I I

[99:12]I mean I'm here on Friday uh you're Wednesday spe

0 تعليقات

التالي

Writing an Islamic Will Workshop

Transcript

التالي

استكشاف المزيد

يرجى ملاحظة أنه إذا كان عمرك أقل من 18 عامًا ، فلن تتمكن من الوصول إلى هذا الموقع.

التالي

Writing an Islamic Will Workshop

Transcript

التالي

استكشاف المزيد

اختيار طريقة الدفع

لغة