Zakat in individual amounts will not reach the level of nisaab

I put some money in my young children’s name into shares of an investment company. Should I put it all together when calculating zakaat, or should I work it out individually, knowing that if I do not put it all together, the individual amounts will not reach the level of nisaab?

Praise be to Allaah.

We put this question to Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah preserve him) and he answered as follows: “Every person has his own money, so if it reaches the level of nisaab, he should pay zakaat, otherwise he should not. But does he have other children to whom he has given the same? If he has other children then let him fear Allaah and treat them fairly, “to the male, a portion equal to that of two females” [al-Nisa’ 4:11 – interpretation of the meaning]. If he does not have other children, then the matter is clear. If he has other children and he gives them the same as he has given to these, then he has treated them fairly and he does not have to do anything more… And Allaah knows best.”