Will her deceased husband be punished because his mother delayed giving his wife her due share of the inheritance?
Question

                My husband died before the marriage was consummated, and I have an inheritance with his mother, but she is depriving me of it and will not give me the value of that share. Almost one year has passed; am I obliged to give zakaah on it? I do not know how much it is. 

Also, will my husband be punished or kept from being granted bliss in his grave because of the delay in sharing out of the inheritance? In order for him not to be punished, do I have to let him off with regard to my mahr and my inheritance?
Praise be to Allah.
      Taking possession and gaining ownership of the wealth is one of the 
      conditions of zakaah being obligatory; there is no zakaah on wealth when 
      possession and ownership thereof is not established, because when 
      possession and ownership are not established, the owner of the wealth 
      cannot dispose of it in his own interests, so it is more appropriate that 
      no one else should be entitled to any rights over it before possession and 
      ownership are established. 

    The scholars of the Standing Committee were asked: 
My 
    father died – may Allah have mercy on him – and he left behind in his estate 
    some money that was deposited in bank accounts. Because the division of this 
    money to the heirs was not completed until after more than two years had 
    passed since the death of our father for a number of reasons, some of which 
    were beyond our control and others were due to the fact that some of the 
    heirs live abroad and were late in appointing someone to attend court, and 
    it took some time for those banks to decide about division of the estate, no 
    zakaah has been paid on that money since the death of our father, may Allah 
    have mercy on him. As a little more than two years have passed since then, 
    should the zakaah be paid on the shares of all the heirs put together or 
    should it be paid on each share on its own, and what is the rate of zakaah? 

    The committee replied: 
If 
    the situation is as described, then no zakaah is due on the wealth of your 
    father for the two years during which the estate was not divided, because it 
    was not possible for each of the heirs to take possession of his share, for 
    reasons that were beyond the control of the heirs, and because some of the 
    heirs were far away and they were scattered, which was a cause of the delay 
    in the division of the estate being carried out, as you mentioned. So the 
    share of each heir comes under the ruling on wealth the ownership of which 
    is not established, and one of the conditions of zakaah being valid is that 
    possession and ownership should be established. But when each heir has taken 
    his share of the estate, if one full year passes and it reaches the minimum 
    threshold (nisaab), then zakaah becomes due at the rate of one quarter of 
    one tenth (2.5%). End quote. 

    Based on that, you do not have to pay zakaah on any inheritance which you 
    have not been able to take possession of or have it at your disposal, or 
    know the value thereof, because your ownership is not established and you 
    are not able to dispose of it in your own interests or in the interests of 
    anyone else. If you do become able to take possession of it or dispose of 
    it, then you must pay zakaah on it from the time when you become able to 
    dispose of it, if it reaches the minimum threshold, when one full year has 
    passed. 

    Secondly: 

    Your husband will not be punished for what his mother does of delaying your 
    inheritance or depriving you of the inheritance to which you are entitled, 
    so long as he did not leave instructions to that effect or ask his mother to 
    deprive you of the inheritance, and he did not approve of that during his 
    lifetime, because he has no control over this wealth after his death. When 
    he died, it passed to his heirs and it is now the property of his heirs, and 
    is not his property. So he will not be accountable for what others do with 
    his wealth. Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
    “On no soul does Allah place a burden greater than it can bear. He gets 
    reward for that (good) which he has earned, and he is punished for that 
    (evil) which he has earned” [al-Baqarah 2:286]. 

    Al-Bukhaari (6442) narrated that Ibn Mas‘ood said: The Prophet (blessings 
    and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Which of you loves the wealth of his 
    heir more than his own wealth?” They said: O Messenger of Allah, there is no 
    one among us but his own wealth is dearer to him than that of his heir. He 
    said: “Verily his wealth is that which he has sent on ahead (by spending it 
    in charity and good causes, so the reward for it is stored up for him), and 
    the wealth of his heir is that which he has kept back.” 

    After his death it is described as his heir’s wealth. 

    Al-Haafiz (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

    Everything that the deceased leaves behind becomes the property of the heir.

    End quote from Fath al-Baari (11/260) 

    Please see also question no. 117209 

    And Allah knows best.