Which court issues the hasr irth in Lebanon: the Sharia court or the civil court?

Also asked as: “Where do I get a hasr irth in Lebanon?” · “Sharia court or civil court for inheritance in Lebanon” · “Which court issues the probate decision in Lebanon?”

Why the community decides the court#

Lebanon has no single civil code of inheritance. Succession follows the religious community of the deceased: Islamic law for Muslims, a civil statute for non-Muslims^[1,2]. PBL says Lebanon recognises 18 religious communities, and that a person's affiliation decides both the inheritance law and the court. For Christians of all denominations and for Jews, the law is the Law of 23 June 1959^[1,2,5].

No source we read covers mixed-sect families, conversions or civil marriages abroad^[1,2]. If any of these apply to your family, talk to a lawyer before you file anything. The rules themselves are in which inheritance law applies to your family.

The hasr irth matters because nothing in the estate can be moved into the heirs' names until it exists: no land, no flat, no bank account^[1,2,4]. Here is what a hasr irth is and how to get one.

Non-Muslim estates: the civil first-instance court#

According to PBL, where no religious court has jurisdiction, the hasr irth is a judgment issued by a single judge of the first-instance court of the last residence^[2,3], meaning the deceased's last civil residence. Mattar agrees that the first-instance civil courts are competent. Mattar also says the estate opens at the deceased's last domicile^[3], wherever the property is, though it does not say which law it is citing.

For a non-Muslim estate, then, the court is picked by where the deceased last lived, even if the land is in another district^[2,3]. The property is transferred later, at the Land Registry office of the property's location^[2,4]. How the shares are split is in how an estate is divided under the law for non-Muslims.

Muslim and Druze estates: where the sources disagree#

Kallas says Muslim estates go to the Sunni and Jaafari Sharia courts, and Druze estates to the Druze courts. PBL says a religious court conducts the proceedings where personal status falls under one. Mattar says only that the first-instance civil courts are competent for inheritance, without distinguishing by community, and may mean civil-law estates only^[1,2,3].

Two further points lean towards the religious court. PBL says that for real estate registration, the probate comes from a religious court for Muslims and a civil court for non-Muslims^[2,3]. And in a Norwegian Refugee Council test case in Beirut, completed in 2015, a Sunni Sharia court decision determined the heirs^[6]. NRC says that result is specific to Beirut and a Sunni Sharia court, and nothing we read shows how Druze courts handle this in practice. Ask the registry of the religious court of the deceased's community, or a lawyer.

What the court needs from you#

The preliminary estate declaration to the Ministry of Finance comes first, because the licence it produces is one of the documents the court asks for^[1,4]. It is due within 90 days of the death^[4,7,8]. Kallas lists five documents for the Probate Decision and PBL gives a different list, so confirm the exact list with the court registry^[1,2,4]. The details are in documents for the hasr irth.

If you live abroad, Kallas says documents executed abroad, such as a death certificate, generally pass through the Lebanese embassy or consulate and then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before they can be used in Lebanon^[1,9]. The mission pages we read stop at consular legalisation, so ask the office that will use the document whether the ministry step is needed. According to Kallas, heirs who cannot travel can act through a power of attorney covering every step from the declaration to the transfer, but selling a property needs an express special power of attorney, not a general one^[1]. See acting for an heir who lives abroad.