sale of property of mentally ill person in India

65 votes

In India, if a mentally challenged person owns property, they are generally not considered legally competent to manage or transfer it. In such cases, a relative can petition the district court for a mental assessment. If the court confirms mental incapacity, it may appoint a guardian or manager under the Mental Health Care Act, 2017 or the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, depending on the circumstances.
Once appointed, the guardian has authority similar to the owner, but any sale, transfer, or major decision involving the property must have prior approval from the court. This safeguard exists to protect the rights and interests of the mentally ill person.

LawRato LawRato

994 votes

You can apply for appointment as manager for management of property of your father before District Court where your father ordinarily resides. The district court then order for investigation regarding mental status of your father and after obtaining investigation report the district court I appoint you as manager to manage the property of your father. However for the purpose of sale the permission of district court is necessary. After obtaining requisite permission you can sell the property of person who is unsound mind

Advocate Rajeev Srivastava LawRato

521 votes

if the property is transferred in father's name then without his consent the property cannot be sold until and unless you obtain a certificate from competent medical authority to issue a certificate of his unsoundness. Chief medical officer can issue such certificate. if your father has any other Class-I legal heir then there consent/no objection will also be required for disposing off the father's property.

Advocate Vijyant Nigam LawRato

682 votes

Dear Sir, In a situation like this, where a person enters into a contract to sell the property owned by him and is later unable to fulfil the contract owing to his mental illness; the court may direct the appointed manager to do fulfil such incomplete contract. The manager is bound to act according to the directions of the court that appointed him. However, a manager can only manage the individual property of the mentally challenged person and cannot be appointed for joint family property. To sum up, any sale of property which belongs to a person who has mental illness is per se illegal. The mentally infirm person is unable to understand it and is incapable of forming a rational judgement about how it would affect his interest. Any contract with respect to such a property can be entered into by the manager who has been duly appointed and given directions by the district court for the same. It is mandatory to obtain the order of the concerned district court before anyone enters into any contract with respect to the property owned by a person suffering from mental illness and thus after from the directions of the appropriate court, thus appointed manager can legally manage the property of that mentally ill person. For more information, kindly contact the law rato team for my details of my my office and mail id;s and communication details.

Advocate Padam Lal Sharma LawRato