Parental Consent to Become Mandatory for Selling Gifted Property

Parents in Bangladesh will retain lifelong control over properties gifted to their children under a proposed amendment to the Transfer of Property Act Law Minister Md. Asaduzzaman announced Thursday.

Speaking at the Secretariat the minister explained that introducing "usufruct rights" (life ownership) aims to protect aging parents from abandonment and will significantly reduce property-related civil disputes in the courts.

Currently, under systems like the Islamic Heba or standard deed gifts, parents immediately lose legal control over transferred assets. "They become entirely dependent on their children. If the children neglect them the parents are left helpless," Asaduzzaman said.

Under the proposed reform neither the parent nor the child can sell the gifted property independently while the parents are alive; mutual consent will be mandatory.

The law also includes a safeguard for medical or financial emergencies. If a parent urgently needs funds for medical treatment but the child refuses to consent to the sale a district judge will have the legal authority to intervene and approve the transaction.

"We are enacting these changes for the welfare of the people. This amendment will resolve numerous family crises" the minister stated noting the reform draws on a 1963 judicial precedent.

In a separate briefing note Asaduzzaman also confirmed that the government will launch an impartial investigation into allegations of enforced disappearances involving the Coast Guard in Bagerhat.