Question: Since according to the Torah’s laws, a man’s daughters do not inherit any of his possessions after his passing when the deceased has sons whereas according to civil law in most modern countries, daughters inherit equally alongside sons, when the sons wish to collect the inheritance, they are forced to request that their sisters sign a release of the inheritance on their behalf. Are the brothers halachically able to obligate their sisters to sign this waiver or may the sisters request monetary compensation for their signature on this waiver?
Answer: This issue is subject to a great disagreement among the Poskim; a tremendous amount has been written on this topic and many of the difficult rationale cannot be discussed in the forum of this Halacha. We will merely discuss the general aspects of this disagreement and the final halachic conclusion.
Forcing One Against Behavior of Sedom
The Gemara (Baba Batra 12b) states that “we force against behavior of Sedom” which means that in any situation where one does not lose anything by benefitting another, we force the individual to benefit the other party. For instance, if two brothers, Reuven and Shimon, wish to split a plot of land that they jointly owned beforehand and both parts of the land are equal in quality and the like such that there is no reason for one of them to favor one part of the land over the other, and Reuven’s field borders this land on one side and he therefore requests from Shimon that he give him that part of the land which already borders his own so that he will now have a more continuous plot of land, the Gemara state that Shimon is forced to comply with Reuven’s request for Reuven benefits from receiving the part that borders his field and Shimon has no priority for one part of the land over the other. Thus, we “force against behavior of Sedom” and Shimon cannot prevent his brother from receiving the part of the land that benefits him.
Based on this, it would seem regarding our case that since daughters do not inherit their father’s estate according to Torah law (when there are sons), a daughter should be forced not to behave like Sedom and sign the release so that her brothers can execute collection of their deceased parents’ estate. Many great Poskim rule likewise, including Rabbeinu Yosef Tarani (son of Rabbeinu Moshe Tarani, friend and colleague of Maran Ha’Shulchan Aruch) who rules that the daughter is obligated to sign the waiver because of the law of “returning a lost object”, for the inheritance is considered “lost” by the sons since they cannot collect it without their sister’s signature.
The Opinion of Rabbeinu Yechiel Bassan
On the other hand, Rabbeinu Yechiel Bassan (one of the foremost Poskim who lived in Turkey approximately four-hundred years ago) disagrees with the opinion of Rabbeinu Yosef Tarani and writes that the daughter may request compensation for her signature on the inheritance waiver. Rabbeinu Aharon Alfandari explains that this means that the daughter may request approximately ten percent of the amount she would have received from her share of the inheritance as compensation for her signature. Thus, if there are five brothers and sisters in all, the daughters may request the amount of two percent of the estate as compensation for their signature (this applies only when there is no firstborn son who collects a double-portion of the inheritance).
Similarly, Hagaon Harav Chaim Palagi (one of the foremost Poskim who lived in Turkey approximately two-hundred years ago) writes that the custom in the city of Istanbul is to obligate the brothers to pay their sisters ten percent of the amount they would have received from the inheritance in order for them to sign the waiver. This was the agreement reached by the entire Jewish community of Istanbul based on the rulings of Rabbeinu Yechiel Bassan and Rabbeinu Aharon Alfandari.
Halachically speaking, although many Poskim do rule in accordance with the opinion of Rabbeinu Yosef Tarani that the daughter may not demand payment for her signature on the release and the Halacha should have followed this opinion since they are the majority, nevertheless, Maran Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef zt”l rules that since the daughters are considered to be “holding on” to the inheritance (since they can prevent the collection of the estate) they do indeed have the right to demand payment for their signatures on this waiver in accordance with the ruling of Rabbeinu Yechiel Bassan.
Being Intelligent
Nevertheless, we must point out that one should act intelligently and it is therefore an age-old custom among many that while the father is still alive, he drafts a document referred to by Halacha as “Chatzi-Zachar” (which cannot delve into deeply at this point) for his daughters thus entitling them to a portion of his estate. One who wishes to do so should consult with a prominent Torah scholar who is an expert in these matters in order to seek guidance regarding the correct drafting of this document and the process of transferring a portion of one’s estate to one’s daughters. This is especially a worthy thing to do if one sees that one’s daughter has built her household on the tenets of Torah and Mitzvot observance and her family is going through a difficult financial time in which case it is a Mitzvah to help one’s daughter and son-in-law to continue in their service of Hashem with some financial respite.
Summary: If a daughter so wishes, she may demand financial compensation from her brothers of up to ten percent of the portion of the inheritance she would have received according to civil law for her signature on the inheritance waiver. If she signs the release without requesting compensation, she is especially praiseworthy. Similarly, if the brothers wish, they may transfer a portion of their father’s estate to their sisters.
