Placing Under Guardianship

The following are reasons to place certain persons under guardianship. (a) To be a minor; a minor is not allowed to use his properties until maturity. The signs of maturity are growing of thick pubic hair, experiencing semen discharge in one's dreams, or menses or becoming fifteen years old for a male and nine for female. A child handling of his affairs is not effective, thus, it is not valid to buy from or sell to him on credit or as loan or borrow from him even if the payment time coincides with his maturity; affairs like their marriage and divorce, leasing, renting, hiring themselves, work in Mudarabah and farming etc. (b) Mental-illness; handling of properties by such persons themselves is not effective except at times when they recover.

(c) Suffering from foolishness; such persons are placed under guardianship about their properties according to well-known views. Such people's recovery is when they deal with their property reasonably, when they are judged they are proved to be guarding against losses and their activities are reasonable. They remain under guardianship if they are not reasonable. Maturity is proved in men by the testimony of other men, and in females by the testimony of men and also women with some degree of objection.

(d) Bankruptcy with the presence of the following four conditions.

(a) His indebtedness must be proved to the high shar'i authority and (b) that they all are due for payment and (c) his property is not enough for payment to cover the debts and (d) the creditors demand for placing him under guardianship.

When the high authority places him under guardianship his handling of his properties become void and ineffective if it is without the permission of creditors as long as he is under guardianship.

Rule (835) If a bankrupt loans after being placed under guardianship or buys some thing on credit, this creditor and seller do not share other creditors in the property guarded. If he destroys some one's properties, apparently, the owner is not entitled to share the other creditors in the guarded property. The same rule applies if he acknowledges a debt as prior to his going under guardianship or some existing substance.

Rule (836) A bankrupt can allow to sell the right of having the choice to annul a contract, and the lawfulness of his annulling a contract is objectionable.

Rule (837) If one finds the very substance of his property among the property of a bankrupt, he can take it without its separable profits, but the inseparable profits, like growth of animal and plants and ripening of fruits etc. which cannot be separated, go with the substance. Whatever can be separated, like wool and fruits etc., taking of such things is objectionable, apparently, they are not considered subordinate.

Rule (838) If one finds the substance of his property in the property of the bankrupt who has mixed it with its kind, he can have the substance of his property (in all cases) even if it is mixed with a better quality, the same rule applies if it is mixed with some thing other than its kind as long as it is not considered as destroyed.

Rule (839) The substance of the property of the lender present in the legacy cannot be taken out when the legacy is not enough to pay liabilities.

Rule (840) Seeds for planting and eggs for hatching are taken out of legacy as special case.

Rule (842) If in the legacy there is a property subject to Zakat, Zakat is taken out before other liabilities, so is khums, if they are payable by the deceased they are treated like all the other liabilities.

Rule (843) It is not lawful to demand payment from one who cannot pay or force him to work and earn if he usually does not do and it is

difficult for him, nor he has to sell the house where he lives and it is not above his status or cut off the services of his employees, etc., which cause him hardships as mentioned in the chapter on loan.

Rule (844) The loan not yet due for payment does not become due because of one's being taken under supervision of court, but if the debtor dies, payment becomes due but a loan does not become due because of the death of the creditor.

Rule (845) The bankrupt recovers his and his dependent's expenses from his own property until the day it is divided among creditors, if he dies, first the burial expenses like shroud etc., are taken from his property.

Rule (846) The property is divided upon the loans due for payment if a loan is reported due after division, its share is deducted from the other's shares; with division he is freed and when payments are made supervision also is removed.