Your will cannot give everything to anyone you like. The limit is one third.

Key points

• The Supreme Court in 2025 SCMR 1673: "The Will under the Hanafi Muslim Law may either be verbal or in writing, however a Muslim cannot, by Will, dispose of more than 3rd of surplus of his estate after payment of funeral expenses and debt."
• The same judgment: a bequest beyond the legal third may be validated by the consent of the heirs; if they do not consent, "the remaining two-thirds must go to the heirs in the shares prescribed by the law".
• A bequest to an heir is not valid unless the other heirs consent after the testator's death (Mulla, paragraph 117, as quoted by the Sindh High Court in 2026 CLC 557).
• The Sindh High Court in 2026 CLC 557: a will deed in favour of one heir, without the other heirs' consent, was "ineffective in law beyond one-third of the property".

The rule in one line

First pay the funeral costs and the debts. Of what is left, a will can dispose of one third. A will for one of your own heirs, or for more than one third, works only if the other heirs agree after your death. Otherwise the rest goes to the heirs in the shares the law fixes.

What the Supreme Court said

In Ehsan-ul-Haq v. Muhammad Nawaz, 2025 SCMR 1673, a bench of Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Aamer Farooq dealt with land left by will in 1934 by a man to his daughter, on condition that she would be only a limited owner for her life (paragraphs 2 and 6).

Setting out the law, the Court said a Muslim may dispose of his property by will, "but this testamentary power is limited to the disposal of only one third of property". It traced the limit to the tradition in which the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) told a sick companion who had only a daughter as heir that he could not bequeath the whole, nor two thirds, nor one half, but only one third (paragraph 6).

The only bequest binding on the heirs is one that does not exceed the legal third and is made to a person who is not an heir; a bequest beyond the third can be validated by the heirs' consent, and consent once given cannot be withdrawn (paragraph 6).

On the facts, the Court held that the life estate condition was void, so the daughter took the land free of it as absolute owner, and dismissed the appeal on 20 February 2025 (paragraphs 7 to 10).

What happened in the Sindh case

Grandsons of a landowner sued their cousins for their inherited shares in agricultural land at Kandhkot. The cousins relied on a registered will deed of 21 February 1983 by which, they said, the grandfather gave the property to their father, another grandson (paragraphs 2 and 3).

The trial court decreed the suit, cancelled the will deed and ordered partition by shares through the revenue authorities. The appellate court upheld it (paragraph 4).

What the Sindh High Court said

Justice Ali Haider 'Ada' of the Sindh High Court, Larkana Bench, dismissed the revision by a short order on 20 October 2025, with reasons on 23 October 2025.

Quoting Mulla, the Court said a bequest to an heir is not valid unless the other heirs consent after the testator's death, and a Muslim cannot by will dispose of more than a third of the surplus of his estate after funeral expenses and debts (paragraph 11).

Nothing on record showed any other heir had consented (paragraph 12). The right to make a will "cannot be exercised to the detriment or exclusion of other legal heirs" (paragraph 13). Since the other heirs neither assented nor accepted it, the estate devolved on all heirs by inheritance, "rendering the alleged will deed ineffective in law beyond one-third of the property" (paragraph 14).

The case at a glance

Facts

Sindh case: grandsons sued for their inherited shares in land at Kandhkot. Their cousins relied on a 1983 registered will deed by the grandfather in favour of their father. The trial court cancelled the will and ordered partition by shares; the appellate court agreed. Supreme Court case: land left by will in 1934 to a daughter as a life owner.

The question

Whether a will in favour of one heir, without the other heirs' consent, can take effect over the whole estate.

What the Court held

No. Without the other heirs' consent after the death, the will is ineffective beyond one third, and the estate passes to all heirs by inheritance. Revision dismissed.

Why

Under Muslim law as stated by Mulla and the superior courts, a will cannot exceed one third of the estate after funeral costs and debts, and a bequest to an heir needs the other heirs' consent after the testator's death.

Limits

The rule stated here is Hanafi law, as the Supreme Court applied it; anyone who follows Fiqh-e-Jafaria should ask a lawyer about their own rules. The Supreme Court case was decided on the void life estate condition, not on the one third limit, which it set out as the governing law. Each will turns on proof of its execution and on who the heirs are at the time of death.

In the Court’s words

“Accordingly, since in the present case the other legal heirs neither assented to the will nor accepted its validity, the estate of the deceased was rightly ordered by the learned Courts below to devolve upon all heirs under the principles of inheritance, rendering the alleged will deed ineffective in law beyond one-third of the property.”

2026 CLC 557, para 14

The law it relies on

What this does not mean

• It does not mean a will is useless. A will of up to one third, to someone who is not an heir, binds the heirs.
• It does not mean a will for an heir can never work. It works if the other heirs consent after the death, and any single heir may consent so as to bind his own share.
• It does not cover gifts made during your lifetime (hiba). Those follow different rules.

Questions people ask

Sources

• Ehsan-ul-Haq and others v. Muhammad Nawaz and others, 2025 SCMR 1673 (Supreme Court of Pakistan, 20 February 2025), paras 2, 6, 7, 8, 10
  Under Hanafi law a will may be verbal or written, but cannot dispose of more than one third of the estate after funeral expenses and debts; excess needs the heirs' consent. verified against full text Supreme Court of Pakistan (judgment PDF)
• Bahadur Golo and others v. Qaimuddin Golo and others, 2026 CLC 557 (Sindh High Court (Larkana Bench), 23 October 2025), paras 2, 3, 4, 11, 12, 13, 14
  A will in favour of one heir, without the other heirs' consent after the death, is ineffective beyond one third; estate devolves by inheritance. verified against full text Sindh High Court (judgment PDF)

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What the reel says