Buying and Selling: Ruling on Managing the Property of a Mentally Incapacitated Parent

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Buying and Selling: Ruling on Managing the Property of a Mentally Incapacitated Parent

English:

Question #1478:

A person is incapacitated with mental disability after suffering a stroke. How should his children behave vis-à-vis his property? And what is the ruling in the matter of one of the children making use of his father’s property without the permission of the authorised religious authority, nor that of the rest of the children?

Answer #1478:

Should the incapacity, in the eyes of the common people, be regarded as insanity, the guardianship over his property belongs to the authorised religious authority. No one is authorised to make use of his property without the permission of the authorised religious authority. However, if this has happened, i.e. without such permission, it will amount to usurpation which would eventually entail compensation. Furthermore, the transactions are fuḍūlī and should be contingent upon obtaining such permission.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Buying and Selling