Court upholds Muslim convert’s right to inherit from non-Muslim father

The Court of Appeal ruled that the laws governing estate distribution do not bar Amira Umaira Teng Abdullah from inheriting her non-Muslim biological father’s estate.PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal upheld a ruling affirming the right of a Muslim woman to inherit from her late non-Muslim father’s estate.A three-member panel led by Justice Supang Lian last week held that the relevant laws — the Distribution Act, and the Small Estates (Distribution) Act — do not prohibit Amira Umaira Teng Abdullah from inheriting part of her biological father’s estate.The other judges on the panel were Justices Amarjeet Singh and Shahnaz Sulaiman.The court also ordered Amira’s non-Muslim mother, Wee Ku Wing, who challenged her daughter’s inheritance rights, to pay RM30,000 in costs.According to the facts of the case, Amira converted to Islam and married a Muslim man in 2008. She is the fourth of seven children born to Teng Guan Chai and Wee.After Teng died in 2020, Wee filed a petition with the Kelantan land and mines office to distribute his estate equally among his heirs.However, Wee excluded Amira from the list of Teng’s seven children.After discovering the petition, Amira applied to the High Court to quash the estate distribution order and Wee’s appointment as the estate administrator.The High Court ruled in Amira’s favour, finding that Parliament, when enacting the Distribution Act, never intended to prevent a child who had converted to another religion from inheriting a deceased parent’s estate.“The law does not differentiate between a child’s religious status in the distribution of an estate,” it said.Lawyers Adib Saat and Zulhafiz Zahid represented Amira, while Lua Kok Hiyong appeared for Wee.