Usurpation: Claiming Property Registered in a Minor’s Name for Tax Purposes

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Usurpation: Claiming Property Registered in a Minor’s Name for Tax Purposes

English:

Question #1866:

In order to minimize the amount of tax levied on the property, the father made arrangements to put the name of his minor son as the owner in the official document. After his shar‘ī puberty, the son is now claiming that the property is his. It is a fact that, all along, the property has been at the disposal of the father and he says he has bought the land for himself with his own money. If the son takes control of the property and exercises the right of ownership over it without the permission of the father, would he be deemed a usurper?

Answer #1866:

If the father, who bought the property with his own money, still has the property at his disposal, i.e. even after the son became mature according to shar‘, the latter should have no right to contest the right of ownership of the property of his father, nor should he have it at his disposal. That is unless the son establishes that his father gave him the property by way of gift and transferred its ownership to him, for the presence of his name in the property deed per se is not a sufficient proof of ownership.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Usurpation