E SULAM A201 [G5]
RIGHT OF ADOPTED CHILD TO INHERITANCE
ONLINE SURVEY
At the investigation stage, our group conducted an online survey to gather the understanding of the public regards our assigned topic, which is right of adopted child to inheritance. The online survey had been created through Google Forms and being distributed through various communication applications. The survey was conducted from 16 to 18 October 2020, and we had received a total of 70 responses. The survey form consists of four sections, namely personal information of the respondent; general questions regarding law of inheritance; right of adopted child to inheritance under civil law and right of adopted child under Islamic Law.
LINK TO GOOGLE FORM
DATA ANALYSIS
PART A: PERSONAL INFORMATION
This section of survey containing four questions, namely gender, age, race, and religion.
Throughout the online survey, we had collected feedback from 45 female respondents (equivalent to 64.3% of the total respondents) and 25 male respondents (equivalent to 35.7% of the total respondents).
From the figure, we can see that 64 respondents (equivalent to 91.4% of the total respondents) are aged from 18 to 25 years old. This is because we mainly distributed the survey among our peers who fall under this age group. In addition, the respondents in this group of ages are more familiar with online mode of survey as compared to the others. Besides that, there are 4 respondents from group aged above 35 (5.7%) and 2 respondents aged from 25 to 35 years old (2.9%) had responded to this survey.
We had gathered 70 respondents from 6 different ethnic groups and races, including Malay, Chinese, Indian, Natives of Sabah and Sarawak, Siamese and Bugis. The main group of races in Malaysia made up a dominant portion of respondents of this survey, which consists of 28 Malays, 24 Indians and 13 Chinese. They comprised 40%, 34.3% and 18.6% of the total respondents, respectively. The remaining 7.1% are three Natives of Sabah and Sarawak, one Siamese and one Bugis.
Out of a total of 70 responses, 40 non-Muslim respondents (equivalent to 57.1% of the total respondents) and 30 Muslim respondents (equivalent to 42.9% of the total respondents) participated in this online survey.
PART B: GENERAL
In Malaysia, there are specific laws regulating the distribution of property for both Muslims and non-Muslims. For Muslims, the laws regulating inheritance are the law of Mirath and various State Enactments. In the case of non-Muslims, the distribution of estates is regulated primarily by the Distribution Act 1958 and the Wills Act 1959.
The survey itself indicates that the majority of respondents (53 out of 70 respondents) are aware of the existence of inheritance law for Muslims and non-Muslims. However, there are still 17 respondents (equivalent to 24.3% of the total respondents) who are not aware of the existence of inheritance law.
As a follow-up to the previous question, we also asked the respondents if they were aware that there are two separate laws regulating the inheritance of Muslims and non-Muslims.
From the figure, we found that most of the respondents were aware that the law of inheritance for Muslims varies from that for non-Muslims. Meanwhile, while some respondents are aware of the existence of inheritance law, they are not aware that the laws regulating the inheritance of Muslims and non-Muslims differ from one another. 52 respondents (equivalent to 74.3% of the total respondents) answered “yes” while the rest of 17 respondents (equivalent to 25.7% of the total respondents) answered “no” for this question.
It is undisputed that the law of inheritance is directly connected to our life. If there are conflicts resulting from the distribution of the estate, the law of inheritance will come into the frame. For example, when a Muslim dies intestate, his estates will be divided according to Faraid law. The public should therefore at least have a fair understanding of the law on inheritance, so that they can manage their estates well. This was reflected in the outcomes of the survey that we carried out. All of the respondents (100%) had agreed that the law of inheritance is important and should be taught to the public.
PART C:RIGHT OF ADOPTED CHILD UNDER CIVIL LAW
The statistics given by the Ministry of Family and Community Development in 2016 show that while there are approximately 410,000 orphans in Malaysia, only 1927 applications for adoption have been recorded. As a result, we could see that the rate of adoption is much lower than that of the number of orphans in Malaysia.
Somehow, this is mirrored in our online survey. There are only 32 respondents (equivalent to 45.7% of the total respondents) who happen to meet any non-Muslim friend or relative who lives in an adopted family. Unsurprisingly, the number of 'yes' responses is lower than the 'no' answer. There are 38 respondents (equivalent to 54.3% of the total respondents) who do not know a non-Muslim friend or relative who lives in an adopted family.
As provided for in section 9 of the Adoption Act 1952, the adopted child was considered to be a child in the lawful wedlock of the adoptive parents, so the status of the adopted children was the same as that of the biological children. Subsequently, in the context of non-Muslims, the same laws of inheritance apply to both biological children and adopted children if the adoptive parents die intestate.
However, we noticed that most of the respondents had no knowledge of this, as 44 respondents (equivalent to 62.9% of the total respondents) responded that they did not know that the same laws applied to the biological and adopted child when the parents died intestate. Only 26 respondents (equivalent to 37.1% of the total respondents) confirmed their knowledge of this matter.
Under section 2 of Wills Act, a will being defined as “a declaration intended to have legal effect of the intentions of a testator with respect of his property or other matters which desires to be carried into effect after his death”. In other words, after the testator dies, his estates will be divided according to his will. Thus, in the case of non-Muslims, the biological parent may allocate his estates to his biological child, who has been adopted by another, by stating so in his will.
From the survey itself, it can be seen that only 32 respondents (equivalent to 45.7% of the total respondents) are aware that biological parents can provide for their adopted child, while the remaining 38 respondents (equivalent to 54.3% of the total respondents) are not aware of this. Although we agree that the ratio of respondents to "yes" or "no" is quite similar, we are of the opinion that the higher number of "no" responses is due to less exposure as to this matter.
As previously mentioned, the adopted non-Muslim child adopted under the Adoption Act 1952 was considered as a child in a lawful wedlock, hence the right of the adopted non-Muslim child to an adoptive parent is the same as that of a biological child. In pursuant to the Distribution Act 1958, both the adopted child and the biological child of the adoptive parent are entitled to the same part of the estate if the adoptive parent dies intestate.
In this regard, 54 respondents (equivalent to 77.1% of the total respondents) agreed that the property should be divided equally between biological children and the adopted child, while the remaining 16 respondents (equivalent to 22.9% of the total respondents) took the view to the contrary.
PART D:RIGHT OF ADOPTED CHILD UNDER ISLAMIC LAW
An almost identical issue for civil law was posed in the previous section. Notably, we have not seen any difference between the two findings when the ratio of the respondent who answered "yes" is still lower than that of those who answered "no" in the context of Islamic law.
Out of 70 respondents, 42 respondents (equivalent to 60% of the total respondents) do not know any Muslim friend or relative who lives in an adopted family, whereas only 28 of the respondents (equivalent to 40% of the total respondents) know someone around them who lives in an adopted family.
In the event of intestacy, the estate of a Muslim shall be distributed to his legal heirs in accordance with the Faraid law, and only those who have a legitimate blood relationship with the deceased shall have the right to inherit his estate. That being said, the adopted child does not come into this category. Thus, in general, the Muslim adopted child has no right of inheritance like a biological child.
From the survey, there are 36 respondents (equivalent to 51.4% of the total respondents) who know that a Muslim adopted child has no right of inheritance just like a biological child, while the remaining 34 respondents (equivalent to 48.6% of the total respondents) have no knowledge of it.
In Islamic law, although adopted child had no right to inheritance under law of faraid, the Holy Quran, however, does not prohibit a Muslim from leaving his will (wasiat). Thus, in practice, a Muslim adoptive parent may transfer their property to the adopted child by leaving a will (wasiat). Another way to transfer property to adopted child is through hibah, in which the adoptive parent may transfer the property during his lifetime to the adopted child.
As a follow-up to the previous question, we asked the respondents if they knew that Islamic law allows the adoptive parent to pass property to his adopted children via hibah or wasiat. From the result of the survey, we can observe that 41 respondents (equivalent to 58.6% of the total respondents) were aware of this matter, while the remaining of the 29 respondents (equivalent to 41.1% of the total respondents) were not aware of this.
CONCLUSION
In summary, we can safely say that public knowledge of the right of the adopted child to an inheritance is not yet satisfactory. This further reinforces our motivation to continue our efforts to introduce the public to some basic knowledge of the adopted child's right to inheritance.