Submitting the dues of the deceased to his Shar`y attorney

Q: I have employed an Egyptian driver for a fixed monthly salary. He has worked for three months on a refrigerator car. Feeling that he was diligent and wishing to help him get more than the fixed monthly salary, I rented him the refrigerator car for seven thousand riyals per month. In fact, he already benefitted from the rent revenue for three months and twenty days. Late during the last month of Ramadan, 1413 A.H., namely on the 27th night thereof, he died in an accident. The only passenger who was with him was unharmed, but the car was completely destroyed. Anyway, I fulfilled my obligations toward his dead body fulfilling his family's request to send it to Egypt. In fact, I made the necessary procedures and sent his remains at my expense, although he owes me a certain sum of the car rental. I hope that Your Eminence will inform me of my Shar`y (Islamic legal) responsibility toward the deceased, so that I might be free from accountability before Allah. Actually, the incident as I described is based on the traffic's report as it took place near `Afif.

A: Your obligation toward this dead man is to submit his dues to his Shar`y attorney through a document from the Shari`ah (Islamic law) court to this effect in order to be free from accountability. As for your rights on him, you have the option to waive them or demand them from his family either through the court or a mediator. (Part No. 7; Page No. 224) May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.