Who inherits without a will in Brunei?
In Brunei family and inheritance law is based on Islamic law, which gives fixed shares to the spouse, the children, the parents and others.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
A general outline, not a checked profile
We have not yet researched Brunei line by line. This page describes how countries with the same legal tradition usually work, so that the map is not blank, and it can differ from the law in Brunei. Reliable, current information is hard to find for many African countries: laws are often not published online or not translated, customary and religious rules are unwritten or differ from one community to the next, and reforms are not always reported.
Can you help? If you know the rule in Brunei, or you work with its law, please email us what it says and where it is written. We will check it and update the page, with credit if you wish.
A spouse and children survive
A wife takes one eighth and a husband one quarter. The children take the rest, a son twice the share of a daughter.
A spouse survives, but no children
With no children a wife takes one quarter and a husband one half. The parents and the siblings have their own fixed shares.
No spouse: who comes next
Children, the parents, the siblings and other relatives have fixed shares, and the nearest male relatives take the remainder.
A partner who is not married
An unmarried partner does not inherit.
What a will cannot take away
A Muslim can freely will away only up to a third of the estate, and not to an heir without the others' consent.
If the person or the property is abroad
The law of the place where land lies usually governs the land, and the law of the person's last home usually governs the rest. An estate with a foreign element needs advice in the country.
What to watch for
- Non-Muslim residents are usually subject to the rules of their own community or to the general civil law.
Understand the legal system first
Brunei belongs to the Religious (Islamic) law is a leading source family. Succession law grows out of the legal tradition, so it helps to know how the system works.
Read the Brunei legal-system profile in the Legal Families Atlas →
Who owns what in a marriage in Brunei? →
Official sources
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TheLawToKnow Tools’s inheritance guide is an educational overview of general rules. It is not legal advice, and it does not replace the official source or a lawyer in the country. Report a mistake.
