Halachic Wills Explained: Securing Inheritance Rights for Daughters

I would like to know; are there any solutions that would give my daughter rights to my inheritance?

Thank you for your question.

This is a very important topic, as not everyone is aware of the differences between the Jewish law of inheritance and the civil laws of the state. If a will is not properly prepared to align with both, it could lead to significant arguments and strife among siblings. Therefore, I will introduce you to the differences between Jewish law and the methods of implementation. This overview is meant to provide a general understanding; following this, one should consult a competent dayan who can draft a will covering all halachic aspects, thereby preventing any disagreements or strife within the family.

According to Jewish law, when a man dies and leaves both sons and daughters, the sons inherit their father's estate, while the daughters do not. However, daughters do inherit if there are no sons. This is explicitly stipulated in the Chumash, Parshat Pinchas (27:8) as follows:

במדבר פרק כז, ח

(ח) וְאֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל תְּדַבֵּר לֵאמֹר אִישׁ כִּי יָמוּת וּבֵן אֵין לוֹ וְהַעֲבַרְתֶּם אֶת נַחֲלָתוֹ לְבִתּוֹ:

And speak to the Children of Israel, saying: If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.

We see that if there is a son, the son takes precedence. (This is in a case where one did not prepare a Halachic will.)

So is it permitted to write a will that will change the Torah-prescribed order of inheritance?

There are several reasons why it is permitted to do so:

1. The Torah prohibits giving the entire inheritance to a daughter; however, if it is only part of the inheritance, it is permitted.

2. Since the will that is written according to Din Torah is really considered as a present during one's lifetime (as will soon be explained), it is not considered as changing the order of inheritance.

3. Since it is given as a form of הודאת בעל דין — meaning that one is essentially saying 'I admit that I owe such and such an amount to my children' (as will be explained soon), it is not considered as an inheritance.

The Halachic will :

As we explained, if someone leaves sons and a daughter, the daughters are not eligible to inherit. Therefore, if someone intends to leave part of the inheritance to his daughter, he must write a will that is accepted by Jewish law in Jewish courts (simply writing any will is not sufficient). Let's understand how, according to Halacha, one can write a will that grants the daughter the right of inheritance.

Since ownership of all assets transfers to the son at the moment of death, it is crucial to specify in the will that the assets one wishes to give to his daughter are being granted to her under the framework of גוף מהיום ופירות לאחר מיתה – the assets are given now in his lifetime, and the benefits of the assets (the rights to rent and usage, etc.) will automatically transfer to her after death. The best way to ensure this is to stipulate that the acquisition of the assets will be at a short time before death, whenever that is. Then, a short time before death, she will have automatically acquired the assets.

However, this would only work if one intends to give assets that he currently owns. It would not be effective for debts owed to him or even money that is currently in a bank account, since the money is not considered as being in one's possession at the time of acquisition.

Therefore, the best solution is for one to write that the x amount of money that all my assets are worth at the time of my death, I owe to ………. He should then list the names of his sons and daughters, and they will all inherit equally or as he decides to divide his assets.

Wishing you a long and healthy life

Azamroh Lishmecho issue 141