The acceptance or rejection of bequests is not determined until after the death of the testator.
The legatee becomes proprietor of the legacy by his acceptance of it, which may be either expressed or implied.
A bequest by an insolvent person is void, as also that of an infant, or a mukātab (a slave who has ransomed himself). A bequest in favour of a fœtus in the womb is also invalid; but ash-Shāfiʿī says it is valid.
A female slave may be bequeathed, with the exception of her progeny. To bequeath the offspring of a female slave is unlawful.
A bequest is rescinded by the express declaration of the testator, or by any act on his part implying his retractation, or which extinguishes his property in the legacy. But the testator’s denying his bequest is not a retractation of it, nor his declaring it unlawful or usurious, nor his desiring the execution of it to be deferred. A bequest to one person is annulled by a subsequent bequest of the same article to another, unless that other be not then alive.
A legacy after being divided off by the magistrate, descends to the legatee’s heirs in case of his decease.
Concerning the Bequest of a Third of the Estates.
If a person leave a third of his property to one man and a third to another, and the heirs refuse their consent to the execution of the whole, it is then restricted to one third.
If a person bequeath the third of his estate to one, and then a sixth of it to another, and the heirs refuse their consent, in that case one-third of his estate is divided into three shares, of which two are given to the legatee of the third and one to the legatee of the sixth.
A bequest of a son’s portion of inheritance is void, but not the bequest of an equivalent to it. For example: If a person say, “I bequeath my son’s portion,” such a bequest is null; but the bequest will be valid if he say, “I bequeath an equivalent to my son’s portion.”