Your father said the plot is yours. That is not a will.
He said it at dinner. He said it again when your uncle visited. But he never wrote it down or signed anything. When he died, the courts did not ask what he said. They asked what he left in writing.
In Pakistan, a will has rules. Break them and it means nothing. Here is how to make one that holds up.
What a will can and cannot do
A will, called a wasiyat, lets you decide who gets part of what you leave behind and who carries out your wishes.
But a will does not override Islamic inheritance law. For Muslims, the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1962 makes Shariat the rule of decision for succession and wills. The shares fixed in the Quran stay fixed. A will works around the edges, not against the middle.
Two limits catch most people:
- You can give away at most one third of your estate by will. The rest goes to your heirs in their fixed shares.
- You cannot give to someone who is already your legal heir, unless the other heirs agree after your death.
A real case shows how serious this is. In Bahadur v Qaimuddin (2025), a registered will gave an entire estate to one son. The other heirs never agreed, and the Sindh High Court cancelled the will and ordered partition.
Who can make a will
Any person of sound mind who is not a minor can make a will. That is section 59 of the Succession Act 1925, and Pakistani courts apply the same test.
A married woman can make a will, and so can a deaf, dumb or blind person who understands what they are doing. Someone who does not know what they are doing, because of illness or any other cause, cannot.
The one third rule
Your estate is everything you own, minus debts and funeral costs. A Muslim can give away up to one third of it by will. The remaining two thirds go to the heirs in their fixed shares.
Why one third? A companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him) once wanted to give everything away. He was told that one third is plenty.
Two things need the other heirs' consent after death:
- A bequest that is more than one third.
- A bequest to a person who is already an heir, even a small one.
Consent before death does not count. This system protects daughters. Many families try to write women out with a will. It does not work. Read more about women's inheritance rights in Pakistan.
Does a will need to be in writing?
Muslim law accepts an oral will. In theory. After death, one person says you said it, another says you did not. Courts need proof, and words are the weakest proof there is. Write it down, sign it, and get witnesses.
The witnesses
The Qanun e Shahadat 1984 sets the rule. Article 17 says an instrument about financial or future obligations, if in writing, must be attested by two men, or one man and two women.
A will is exactly that. Use two men, or one man and two women.
Choose witnesses who are not beneficiaries. If the person who inherits also witnessed the will, the family can argue it was made under pressure.
What the will should say
Plain language. No vague lines. A sentence like "my house should go to whoever took care of me" is a gift to lawyers, not to your family.
A sound will in Pakistan should carry:
- Your full name, CNIC number and address
- A line that cancels every earlier will, so only this one stands
- A clear list of assets and who gets each one
- The name of your executor, called the wasi, plus a backup
- Your signature and the date
- Signatures of at least two witnesses
You can change or cancel a will any time you are still able to make one. That is section 62 of the Succession Act. The clean way is a new will that cancels the old one.
If you have minor children, a father can use the will to name who should look after them. See how guardianship of a minor child in Pakistan works.
Should you register the will?
Registration is optional. The Registration Act 1908 does not make it compulsory, and a will can be presented at any time.
But registration has one big benefit. A registered will is very hard to call a forgery. The sub registrar keeps an official record and you sign before a public officer. Registration kills the forgery argument early.
What happens after death
The executor first pays debts and funeral costs. Then the shares are distributed.
For land, the family goes through a mutation in the revenue record so each heir's share is shown.
For money in banks, the family usually needs a succession certificate in Pakistan, which lets them collect the funds.
For non Muslims, the executor needs probate before the court recognises the will. That is section 213 of the Succession Act. Section 213(2) exempts Muslim wills.
If heirs cannot agree on splitting the estate, any of them can file a partition suit. See how dividing inherited property in Pakistan works.
What makes a will worthless
- Fraud, coercion, or pressure that takes away free will. The will is void. That is section 61 of the Succession Act.
- Mental incapacity. If you did not understand what you were signing, the will fails.
- Changes made after signing. An alteration does not count unless it is signed and witnessed again. That is section 71.
- An old will that was never cancelled. The new will must cancel the old one, or the family fights over which wins.
The checklist
- Write it, sign it, date it
- Two men, or one man and two women, as witnesses
- Witnesses who are not beneficiaries
- Stay inside the one third
- No bequest to an heir without the other heirs' consent
- Name an executor and a backup
- Cancel all earlier wills in the new will
- Keep the original safe and tell your executor where it is
A will is not the only way to pass property. A lifetime gift, hiba, can do what a will cannot. For most people, a simple written will inside the one third rule is enough.
Do it while you are healthy. A will made in a hurry, under pressure, gets challenged. Raising a child who is not your own? The one third rule is how you provide for them. Our adoption law in Pakistan guide explains why.
More plain language guides on Pakistani law live on the Lexiber blog, and Lexiber itself is at lexiber.com.
Ask Lexiber free in English or Urdu. It shows you the exact section behind every answer.
