Often, the legal issues pertaining to property can feel extremely complicated. For instance, many people do not know what to do when they are the next of kin to a property. This guide is meant to help you navigate through the process.
According to Mr. Gul Hassan Khan, a lawyer from Pak Lawyer Associates and Advocate Iqbal from Iqbal International Law there isn’t any precise law concerning the ‘next of kin’, even though one comes across this term for every bank account opened and property purchased. The ‘next of kin’ has to keep in mind that the property has to be divided amongst all legal heirs, irrespective of whoever the next of kin is, unless foregone. This is essentially because of the lack of any law that recognises the next of kin and also because all the property left behind by a deceased person is for all legal heirs to inherit, by law.
Mr. Khan further goes on to describe that even in matters of a deceased person’s Will there is a detailed procedure that has to be followed. All legal heirs have to appear before court to claim their portion of property or forego it in favor of the ‘next of kin’.
Here are five easy steps according to Mr. Khan and Adv. Iqbal that every ‘next of kin’ has to follow in order to make assets (im/movable) legally inheritable:
Get a Death Certificate of the deceased person from General Council. This is a legal document, confirming the death of the individual and thus, is the first step in declaring the need to starting all legal processes regarding inheritance.
The Civil Court with whom the case is being discussed then puts out a Suit for Declaration of Rights which is essentially a newspaper advertisement declaring the death of the particular individual. This newspaper advertisement along with a general declaration of death, declares all the assets of the deceased and the names of the legal heirs who are next in line to inherit property. The advertisement is supposed to be a declaration for Public At Large and according to Mr. Hassan the reason why most family feuds relating to property ensue are because people publish this advertisement in newspapers that don’t have a strong distribution and the news to any other legal heirs doesn’t reach in time.
A Succession Certificate is issued by the courts to the legal heirs for movable property such as car, money in bank account, jewelry etc. For immovable Property Letters of Administration are issued by the Civil Court and no Succession Certificate is needed.
After a certain period of time the court then calls on the legal heirs, along with two witnesses (not amongst the heirs) to testify the legal heirs as solely the only heirs to inherit property (immovable and movable).
The Court then finds a Surety for the agreement who agrees to compensate any other legal heir who might approach the court or is discovered later.
After all legal obligations are done, the assets are divided according to the law (In most cases Shariah Law is used).
While this process may seem tedious and time-consuming, provincial governments are continuously aiming to make the inheritance by legal heirs much easier. According to Mr. Hassan, Punjab Assembly has notified the Civil Courts to issue Succession Certificates on their own a practice he observes, is widely done by housing societies like Bahria Town, Defence Housing Authority etc. all around Pakistan.
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Remshay Ahmed
Remshay Ahmed is a journalist. Amongst many, her most recent interest includes dissecting Pakistan's economy and trailing the growth of the realty sector.
