Obtain Legacy from Parents without Official Mail

Question:
I lived in my parents' house because they said that I had inherited the house to me. But until my parents died, there was no black and white over the inheritance. Later my siblings (who already had their own homes) asked me to leave the house. The reason is that the house will be sold and shared equally with my other siblings. Incidentally we are 4 brothers. Can I refuse to leave the house? If forced, do I have the right to sue the law?

Marding, Mamuju

Answer:
Thank you for your question.
From your question, we conclude that the problem you face is inheritance. In Indonesia, in general there are two sources of law that apply if speaking of inheritance settlement. First is inheritance law according to the Civil Code (KUH Perdata), second is Islamic law which has been compiled into a Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI). In the practice of inheritance law, if someone is Muslim, what applies to him is the Compilation of Islamic Law. If someone is non-Muslim, then the Civil Code is used. But this time, I will outline the two norms in general.

Article 171 letter a KHI states that Inheritance Law is a law that regulates the transfer of ownership rights to the heirs (tirkah), determining who is entitled to be an heir and what their respective shares are. In this norm, the ins and outs of inheritance are regulated in inheritance law. While in Article 830 of the Civil Code it is stated, "inheritance only occurs because of death". Thus, inheritance can only occur if there is death (in this case called the heir) and leaves an inheritance to be shared with his heirs.

In determining who the heirs are, there is little difference between the two norms. In the Civil Code for example, heirs are generally divided into 4 groups. In Article 852 of the Civil Code, the first group that receives the inheritance of the heir is the heir's child and the husband or wife who lives longer. The second group and this is regulated in Article 854 of the Civil Code, is the father or mother and heir siblings. The third group is the grandfather and grandmother of the heir, both from the line of the mother and the father of the heir. The fourth group is the heir and aunt of both the father and the heir mother and their descendants.

The second group can only get inheritance if the heir does not have the heir of the first class. Likewise, the third group can only get inheritance from the heir when the heirs of the first and second groups are absent. And so on until the fourth class heirs. While the distribution of inheritance according to Article 1079 of the Civil Code, is generally divided equally into each heir.

In Article 174 numbers (1) letters a and b b KHI, the heirs are generally divided into two parts. First, according to the relationship of blood that is divided back into male groups, namely: father, son, brother, uncle and grandfather. Whereas the female group is: Mother, daughter, sister and grandmother. Both heirs according to marital relations, namely widows or widowers. If all heirs are still alive as mentioned above, then those who are entitled to inheritance are children, fathers, mothers and widows or widowers. In the distribution, in general boys get two parts, while girls get one part. The father gets a third part inheritance if the heir does not leave the child. If the testator leaves the child, the father gets one sixth part. While the inheritor mother gets one sixth part if the heir leaves the child or two siblings or more. If the heir does not leave the child and two siblings or more, then the mother gets a third part.

The inheritance rights of the heir, both in terms of civil law and in terms of Islamic law, basically cannot be reduced or even eliminated, except for a number of reasons, for example one of the heirs rejects the inheritance that falls to him (Article 1057 KUHPer). Whereas in Islamic law there is no known name for refusing inheritance. In Islamic law there is an element of "force" (ijbari = compulsory) in Islamic inheritance law that is seen, especially, from the obligation of the heir to accept the transfer of inheritance inheritance to him in accordance with the amount determined by Allah SWT. In addition, Article 187 paragraph (2) of KHI states that the remaining assets left after the zakat is issued, are paid as long as debt (what if there is a debt), then the remaining assets are inheritance that must be distributed to the heir. In general, a person is prevented from being an heir if he refuses to be an heir, is blamed for killing, or tries to kill the heirs, or slander the heir has committed a crime that is punishable by a sentence of 5 years or more.

Based on your question, the house left by the heir who you currently occupy is inheritance which, according to the heir, has been inherited to you verbally. However, even though the heir has told you that you inherited the house, it does not eliminate the inheritance rights of the other heirs. Moreover, when referring to Islamic law the heirs you mentioned are included in the furud zawil group or heirs who get inheritance based on a certain part of the inheritance that has been determined by Al Quran and Hadith. This group is the first party to get the inheritance after the heir dies. Based on the rules both in the KUH Perdata and KHI, your brother still has the right to the inheritance. Because the inheritance rights of the heirs should not be reduced let alone removed. So we suggest that it would be wise if the house is still shared with other heirs even though they already have their own place of residence.
Thus our answer, hopefully could be useful.

Marwan Fadhel, S.H.I., M.H. (Legal practitioners)