The Ruling on Giving Charity From an Inheritance Without the Knowledge of the Heirs

Question :

My mother died and she had left with me fourteen thousand (14,000) Riyals as a loan in Allah's Cause. I request you to guide me as to how I should deal with it and how to divide it among the heirs: The number of males is three, all of them men and the number of females is one. She died when she was in the care of her husband - that is, not divorced. So how should I distribute the money between the heirs when they are as stated above: A husband, three sons and one daughter? And may I give anything of it in charity without the agreement of the heirs, or with their knowledge? Advise me and may Allah reward you with goodness.

Answer:

You must pay the money to the heirs and you are one of them. For the husband is a quarter of it, three-thousand five-hundred, and the rest is divided between the three sons and the daughter: One-thousand five-hundred for the daughter and three-thousand for each son. It is not permissible for you to give anything of it in charity without the agreement of the heirs, unless your mother bequeathed something. It is obligatory to implement her bequest, if it was witnessed by two just persons and it was for a third of the estate or less. And Allah is the Granter of success.

Source:
Ibn Baz
Fatawa Islamiyah, Vol. 5 Page 83