Yahya said that Malik spoke about a man who died and had a debtowing to him and there was one witness, and some people had a debtagainst him and they had only one witness, and his heirs refused totake an oath on their rights with their witness. He said, "Thecreditors take an oath and take their rights. If there is anythingleft over, the heirs do not take any of it. That is because the oathswere offered to them before and they abandoned them, unless they say,'We did not know that our companion had extra,' and it is known thatthey only abandoned the oaths because of that. I think that theyshould take an oath and take what remains after his debt."
USC-MSA web (English) reference: Book 36, Hadith 7