Unable to locate creditors of the deceased

Question

My father passed away a few months ago. He left behind some debts which we cleared but there are two people who he owed money to and we cannot locate them. These are 15 year-old debts. The one is a Muslim lady who might have passed on, but despite trying, we cannot locate her as we do not have any idea as to who she was. We just know where she worked and the company has closed down some years ago. The second is a non-Muslim who is a foreigner and again, we have no contact details for him, nor do we know anyone that knows him.

My father didn’t write this in his will however, as his children, we have decided to pay his debts.

My questions are:

- How long must we continue looking for them?

- Do we need to give the money out in charity?

- Can we give the money to some family members who also have debts to pay, thus helping them?

- When should we decide to stop looking for these two people?

Mufti Mohammed Desai · Accepted Answer

- If the debts are more than R400.00 in value, then you should try locating the actual owners, or their heirs (in the case of them being deceased), for at least a year. You should try to use social media, printed media etc. in trying to locate them, as these are most convenient.

- If you fail to locate them within a year (since his demise) and there is no hope whatsoever of locating them in the future, then the funds may be given out in charity (to poor Muslims that are eligible to receive Zakaat) on behalf of the owners.

- Yes, if they are eligible to receive Zakaat, then they may be assisted with the funds.

- This has already been answered above in #2.

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