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Laws of Religion

Laws of Judaism Concerning Women and Men

 

8.  Inheritance

from the Biblical Books of Moses (Torah),

the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah)

and the Shulchan Aruch

 

 

Inheritance

From the Biblical Books of Moses (Torah)

 

If a man loves one of his wives and hates his other wife, and his firstborn son is the child of the wife he hates, he must nevertheless stipulate that the firstborn son will inherit a double portion, as firstborn sons do.[1]

 

 

Inheritance

Jewish Law (Halakha) from the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah)

 

When a man dies without a will, his sons inherit the property in his estate. [4] The firstborn son inherits a double portion, i.e., twice as much as each of the other sons.[5] If a man dies and has no sons, then his daughters inherit the property in his estate, equally divided among them.[6] Males and females never share in an inheritance.[7] A child resulting from illicit sexual intercourse inherits from the father as long as the man acknowledges that he is the father; this applies even if the mother was married to someone else at the time.[8] If the man who died has no children, his father inherits his estate, but never his mother.[9]

 

When a man dies, his daughters are to be fed, clothed and housed from his estate until they are married or reach the age of majority (12-1/2 years old). When a daughter is being fed from her father's estate, the products of her work and anything she finds belong to her.[10] If a dying man decrees that his daughters shall not be fed from his estate, his decree is ignored and they are fed.[11]

 

When a man dies, part of his estate must be directed to be used as dowry for his unmarried daughter. The amount is to be determined by the court based on what they think he would have given. One-tenth of his property considered the standard amount for this if the court cannot decide.[12] If there is more than one unmarried daughter, the first gets one-tenth of the father's property, the second gets one-tenth of what is left after the first daughter receives hers, etc.[13] If, at the time of his death, a man says his property should not be used for dowries for his daughters, then they get no dowry.[14]

 

If a man dies and leaves both sons and daughters, the sons inherit his property but they must feed their sisters until they reach the age of majority (12-1/2 years old) or are married. In addition to this maintenance, the daughters receive a portion of the estate for their dowries, so men will want to marry them. If there is not enough in the father's estate to feed both the sons and the daughters, then the court allocates enough to the daughters for them to eat and the sons get the remainder, even if that means that the sons must become beggars.[15]

 

A man on his deathbed who has many sons, or who has no sons and many daughters, may direct that only one of the sons, or daughters, is to inherit his whole estate. Or he could designate that half of his estate is for one son, or daughter, and the other half to be divided among those remaining. He may not, however, designate a person who is not a lawful heir to inherit any portion of his estate.[16]

 

If, however, a man on his deathbed specifies that the distribution of his property is as a gift rather than an inheritance, then he may give his property to anyone at all,[17] though it is displeasing to the Sages for a person to take property from his heirs by giving it to others.[18] Such a gift by a critically ill person is not transferred to the designated recipient until the ill person dies.[19] If the gifts of the critically ill person amount to all of his property and he recovers from his illness, the gifts are retracted[20] unless the ill person specifies that the gifts are to be transferred immediately, while he is still alive. In that latter, case, the gifts are not retracted since they are no different from gifts made by a healthy person.[21] If a man on his deathbed gifts all of his property to others, money for the amount of the ketubah to go to his wife and also money for the maintenance of his daughters is taken for these purposes before the gift is distributed to the designated recipients.[22]

 

A woman's husband has priority over all others in inheriting his wife's estate when she dies,[23] but a wife never inherits her husband's estate.[24]

 

 

Inheritance

Jewish Law (Halakha) from the Shulchan Aruch

 

The Jewish courts of our time are still empowered to adjudicate cases concerning inheritance.[27]

 

If a man dies and leaves both sons and daughters, the sons inherit his property but they must feed their sisters until they reach the age of majority (12-1/2 years old) or are married.[28] If there is not enough in the father's estate to feed both the sons and the daughters, then the court allocates enough to the daughters for them to eat and the sons get the remainder, even if that means that the sons must become beggars.[29] Isserles^* says:  It is the custom for a father to direct that each of his daughters will inherit one-half the amount that each of his sons will inherit from him.[30]

 

If a man who is deathly ill says that his wife is to inherit from him the same amount as one of his sons, this is valid and she also receives her ketubah amount upon the man's death.[31]

 

If a dying man decrees that his daughters shall not be fed from his estate, his decree is ignored and they are fed. However, if he makes this decree at the time of marriage, then it is obeyed and the daughters are not fed from his estate.[32] When a daughter is being fed from her father's estate, the products of her work and anything she finds belong to her.[33]

 

If a man dies, part of his estate must be directed to be used as dowry for his unmarried daughter. The amount is to be determined by the court based on what they think he would have given. One-tenth of his property considered the standard amount for this if the court cannot decide.[34] If there is more than one unmarried daughter, the first gets one-tenth of the father's property, the second gets one-tenth of what is left after the first daughter receives hers, etc.[35] If, at the time of his death, a man says his property should not be used for dowries for his daughters, then they get no dowry. Isserles^* says: If the man said this at the time of his marriage, his order is not obeyed and the daughters do get the dowries from his estate.[36]

 

If a man dies with daughters but no sons, his property is divided equally among the daughters. There is no allocation for dowries.[37]

 

A husband takes precedence in inheriting from his wife. This begins as soon as she leaves her father's house for the finalization of the marriage.[38] If the secular law specifies that someone other than a woman's husband inherits her property, the secular law is disregarded and her husband inherits it; this applies even if her father or others who might inherit under the secular law say that the secular law applies.[39]

 

 

If the wife dies and her husband had specified before the marriage that he would not inherit her property if she died, then he does not inherit it.[40]

 

If a woman dies before her husband, then upon her husband's death their sons are to inherit the amount specified in her ketubah in addition to the dowry that she brought to the marriage that she would have received if she were alive at the time of her husband's death. Thus, if the man had sons by different wives, each son receives the amount of the ketubah and dowry of his own mother.[41] If, in such a case, the husband decrees as he is dying that the sons of his dead wife will not inherit these amounts, this decree is ignored and the sons receive what it due to them. Isserles says: If the husband had made this decree at the time of the marriage rather than as he is near death, then his decree is followed and the sons do not inherit the amount that would have been due to their mother.[42]

 

 

^*The Shulchan Aruch, written by Joseph Caro in the 16th century, represents his Sephardic background. Printed copies of the Shulchan Aruch always include the comments of Moses Isserles, which are written from an Ashkenazi perspective.

 

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Abbreviations used in footnotes:

Gen: The Biblical book of Genesis.

Exod: The Biblical book of Exodus.

Lev: The Biblical book of Leviticus.

Num: The Biblical Book of Numbers.

Deut: The Biblical Book of Deuteronomy.

 

MT:  The Mishneh Torah of Maimonides (Code of Maimonides). The names of the specific books and treatises within each book are given according to the Yale University Press translation and also the Moznaim/Touger Hebrew transliterations to facilitate locating the texts posted here.

F:  indicates page numbers in the Feldheim Publishers, Ltd., translation of Book 1 of the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides, the Book of Knowledge.

M:  indicates page numbers in the relevant volume of the Moznaim Publishing Corporation’s Touger translation. (Some of the books of Mishneh Torah are published in several volumes by Moznaim, so the Moznaim volume numbers do not correspond to the Book numbers of Maimonides’ work.)

Y:  indicates page numbers in the translation of the Yale University Press Judaica Series.

 

SA:  The Shulchan Aruch of Joseph Caro, with the comments of Moses Isserles noted, as appropriate. Our summaries are based on the Sefaria English translation, which is not yet complete. The four sections of the Shulchan Aruch are on Sefaria at the following links: Orach Chayim, Yoreh De'ah, Even HaEzer and Choshen Mishpat.

    

●  The sources cited are described on the page Source Texts Used for Laws of Judaism.