Estate Administration

What this covers

Estate administration is the practical work of finding, collecting and transferring everything a person left: bank accounts and FDRs, National Savings certificates and Wage Earner Development Bonds, BO accounts and shares, provident fund and gratuity, insurance policies, vehicles, land and flats, and any money owed to them. It also means paying funeral costs, debts and unpaid dower before the heirs divide the rest. We act for one heir or for the whole family, keep a written estate schedule, and step in when heirs disagree or one heir is collecting without accounting to the others.

Bank deposits, savings certificates and nominees

Where a valid nominee is recorded on a bank account, FDR or savings certificate, the institution will usually pay the nominee on proof of death and identity. The nominee’s position against the other heirs is not settled clearly in statute, and heirs have obtained succession certificates for their shares even where a nominee existed, so a nominee should treat the money as part of the estate unless the law of their faith and the facts say otherwise. Where there is no nominee, or the nominee has also died, banks and the National Savings Directorate usually ask for a succession certificate once the amount is above their internal limits.

Shares, provident fund, gratuity and vehicles

Shares in a BO account are moved to the nominee or heirs by transmission through the depository participant under the CDBL Bye Laws, using the transmission request form, a death certificate and, where there is no nominee or there is a dispute, a succession certificate. Provident fund and gratuity are paid under the fund’s rules or service rules, usually to the recorded nominee; for workers covered by the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006, dues on death go to nominees or dependants under the Act and the fund rules. A vehicle registered with BRTA is transferred to the heirs through an ownership transfer application supported by heirship documents and, commonly, consents from the other heirs.

Land and flats after death, and heirs’ disputes

Land does not need a succession certificate. Each heir should apply for mutation by inheritance (ওয়ারিশ সূত্রে নামজারি) through the online e-mutation system to the Assistant Commissioner (Land), using the warish certificate and the deceased’s khatian, and pay land development tax in the new names. A flat in a developer’s project may also need the developer’s or society’s transfer in its records. Where heirs cannot agree who collects what, the tools are a succession certificate with security, a partition deed, mediation and, if necessary, a partition or accounts suit.

What helps

• Death certificate, warish certificate and NIDs of all heirs
• Bank passbooks, FDR receipts, savings certificate numbers and nominee details
• BO account number and depository participant name, and insurance policy numbers
• Employer contact and provident fund or gratuity statements
• Vehicle registration papers, land deeds, khatians and latest land tax receipts

Where it is handled, and how long it takes

Most of the work is with institutions, not courts: banks, the National Savings office, depository participants, employers, BRTA and the AC Land office. Nominee claims are often paid within weeks; mutation commonly takes one to two months online; a succession certificate, if needed, usually adds a few months. Disputes that reach court take considerably longer.