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August 29, 2004 

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Your Advocate

Q: My query pertaining to "Will" is that, once it is written in Taka 150/- Non-Judicial Stamp Paper, is it mandatory to have it Registered in the Court of Law? I do vaguely recall that, you already stated once to a query that, Registry is not essential!
Thanking you very much in anticipation, I remain, Sincerely,
Jamal, on email.

Your Advocate: Will is something to do with secrecy. The testator may want the will to be public after his death and therefore, may not disclose anything about it. Since will takes effect after death of the testator its disclosure during his or her lifetime may entail various complications. The persons who feel deprived may create problems. Again the persons who are given the property are not always unlikely to wish earlier death of the testator. So on both the counts disclosure is not wise. Therefore, a document, which is related to secrecy, cannot be made compulsorily registrable. But that does not mean that a will must be secret and cannot be registered at all. The testator may well have open talk about his intention with the prospective legatees and others to settle own the shares he wants to give to each of them and get the deed registered. The mere registration of will does not create any binding on the testator. He can ignore the will created earlier and make a fresh will in the names of fresh set of people. Law says that the latest amongst the wills made by the testators will be treated as valid.

In view of the above mere putting the will into black and white on any paper does not create a legal obligation to get the same registered.

Q: Dear Sir, I have a legal question and was wondering whether I could get an answer for it. The scenario is : I own a factory, which has fixed assets and incorporated under company law. I am the MD and my son and wife are directors of the company. My father passed away and mother is still alive. Suppose, if I pass away with the above scenario, who will get the shares of the company and what percentages under Muslim law. Will my mother be entitled to get shares even though she is not part of the board of directors. Could you please explain. Looking forward to your reply. Best wishes and thanks.
Masroor, Dhaka.

Your Advocate: You have possibly missed my interest-area routinely mentioned about me in this column. Any issue touching upon company matters does not fall within my interest area. Nonetheless I can possibly give you the answer. In case of your death your shares in the company shall devolve upon your son, wife as well as upon your mother according to the Muslim law of inheritance of course after satisfying the debt, if any. Your mother, though not a part of the Board of Directors of the company, is entitled to inherit the share left behind by you. As per law your wife and mother as Quranic sharers will take 1/6th and 1/8th of the shares respectively. And your son will take the rest. The shares do not make any difference and are heritable in the same way in accordance with Muslim law of inheritance as other property of the deceased are.

Your advocate M. Moazzam Husain is a lawyer of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. His professional interests include civil law, criminal law and constitutional law.


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