Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937 provides that, notwithstanding any custom or usage to the contrary, the rule of decision in questions of intestate succession where the parties are Muslims is the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat). The section excludes questions relating to agricultural land from its own wording, so land matters should be checked separately. Most Muslims in Bangladesh are Sunni and follow the Hanafi school, which is the school this calculator applies.

Yes, in Bangladesh. Section 4 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 provides that where a son or daughter of the deceased dies before the succession opens, that child's children who are alive when it opens receive, per stirpes, a share equal to the share their parent would have received if alive. Under classical Hanafi law an orphaned grandchild could be excluded by a living uncle; section 4 changed that. The calculator treats the predeceased child as alive, works out that child's share and divides it among his or her children, a son taking twice a daughter's share.

The Quran (4:11) provides that a son takes the portion of two daughters. Sons and daughters inherit together as residuaries, so the residue is divided in units of two for each son and one for each daughter. Where there is no son, daughters are Quranic sharers instead: one daughter takes 1/2 and two or more share 2/3, and they can receive more through the return (radd) where there is no residuary.

Funeral expenses are paid first, then the deceased's debts. A bequest (wasiyyah) is then paid, but only up to one third of what remains unless the heirs consent to more after the death. Under Hanafi law a bequest to someone who is already an heir needs the other heirs' consent. Only the balance is divided among the heirs, and the calculator applies these steps in that order.

If the fixed shares exceed the estate, every share is reduced in proportion. This is called awl: for example, a wife, two daughters and both parents have shares of 3, 16, 4 and 4 parts out of 24, which add up to 27, so the estate is divided into 27 parts instead. If the shares come to less than the estate and there is no residuary, the surplus is returned (radd) to the sharers in proportion to their shares. Under Hanafi law a husband or wife does not share in the return while any other sharer is alive.

No. The calculator applies Hanafi Sunni rules. Shia (Ithna Ashari) law ranks heirs differently and treats matters such as the return to a spouse and the grandfather's position in another way. Hindus, Buddhists and Christians in Bangladesh are governed by their own personal laws. Complex estates, including those with distant kindred, missing persons, unborn children or disputes over who is an heir, also need individual advice.