Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 920

The rule that there is no estate until debts have been paid. Its import. Upon death, the estate remains encumbered by an accessory right in rem in favor of the deceased's creditors, enabling them to recover their debts from it in the hands of any heir or any person to whom the heir has disposed of it. Its condition. That the debt subsists, necessarily entailing that the heir is liable for the deceased's debts within the limits of the estate devolving upon him from the deceased. - The allegation that the deceased "debtor" left no estate. Does not negate the creditor's legal interest in claiming against the heirs the right for which the action was brought, whatever the outcome of enforcement of the judgment rendered therein. The reason for this. Establishing whether or not an estate exists is a fact unrelated to the action claiming the debt owed by the deceased; rather, it concerns a matter subsequent to the issuance of the judgment obligating the heirs within the limits of the estate of that deceased devolving upon them. The judgment dismissing the action on the ground that the appellant failed to prove that the respondents' deceased predecessor had left an estate that devolved upon the latter. An error in the application of the law requiring its cassation.