Multiple wills

Fatwa no. 2276 The Committee examined the question submitted by His Eminence Shaykh Sulayman stating: My uncle Muhammad ibn Sulayman died leaving behind a son and a daughter as his only heirs. In terms of wealth, he left behind his share of two fields of date-palms located in Al-Qarinah at the defile, one of which is called Umm Saqy, (Part No. 16; Page No. 275) containing 39 date-palms only, and the other called Al-Naq`ah containing 90 date-palms. His share in Al-Naq`ah includes a plot of arable land. He bequeathed one-third of his wealth appointing me as his executor. His heirs wanted to estimate the third of his wealth and thus, submitted the case to the defile's court at Huraymila'. The court charged an authority with the matter. The authority decided that the third would be in Al-Naq`ah as his share in Umm Saqy is less than one-third and that dividing it will harm both him and the heirs. Consulting the will, we found a previous will differing with the latter in wording while consistent with it in meaning. As the executor, I view that it is better to consider the one-third in Al-Naq`ah on the basis of the same reasons that were mentioned by the authority along with the fact that Al-Naq`ah has better soil and palms and that the date-palms in Al-Naq`ah are young while those of Umm Saqy are old. However, the provisions of the first will that are not provided for in the second may be taken out of the one-third. Please, examine the two wills and give us a fatwa regarding which should be enforced, because the judge asked us to request a fatwa on the issue. Therefore, we submitted it to Your Eminence bearing in mind that the one bequeathing only lived for ten years offering one Ud-hiyah (sacrificial animal offered by non-pilgrims) on behalf of himself and another on behalf of his parents.