Siblings leave brother out of over BD660,000 inheritance

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

without his share. Two courts dismissed his claim, but the Supreme Sharia Court has overturned the rulings, finding that the father’s transactions took place while he was gravely ill and could be invalid.

The case was brought by the man’s lawyer, Dr Salem Ghumaid, who argued that his client had been unfairly cut out.

The father had been unwell for some time before he died, yet during his final illness, he withdrew BD664,546 and distributed it among his children — except for the claimant.

Deliberate move

This, the lawyer contended, was a deliberate move to deprive him of his inheritance.

The man learned of this in October 2023, months after his father’s death.

The money had already been transferred, and his siblings admitted in a police report that they had received the funds through bank transfers based on inheritance rules.

The man went to court, seeking to overturn the transactions and claim his rightful portion.

His case was dismissed by the Court of First Instance. He took it to appeal, but the ruling was upheld.

Running out of options, he turned to the Supreme Sharia Court.

His lawyer argued that the lower courts had misapplied the law, ignored key evidence, and failed to give proper reasoning.

He stressed that the father had been hospitalised about a month before his death and was in no state to be making such financial decisions.

Banking records

He also pressed for banking records from the Central Bank of Bahrain to trace the withdrawals and transfers made in the final months of the father’s life.

However, the court brushed aside these requests and backed the earlier rulings.

The Supreme Sharia Court saw things differently. It ruled that a key defence had been ignored, which could have changed the outcome.

A ruling that overlooks crucial evidence is flawed, the court found, and a proper review was needed to determine whether the transactions were lawful.

Financial transfers

The court also ruled that financial transfers made during a final illness with the intent of donating assets are legally treated as inheritance matters.

If a person is seriously ill, aware that they are near the end, and later dies from that illness, any financial dealings they make could be considered posthumous and subject to inheritance laws.