The term “Power of Attorney” is not something that you will come across every day or at least in handling your normal life which is heavily dictated by a strict routine of a family guy. Unless of course, you are someone who is handling ten different things at the same time and has assets that need to be maintained on a regular basis. Even then you may not need to call your lawyer and instruct them to prepare a Power of Attorney so that you can deal with things without having to be there in person.
However, if you are an NRB who owns multiple properties, have bank accounts, or have other legal dwellings in Bangladesh, you may want to know about what a “foreign power of attorney” is, how it works, and why you need to be aware of its process as such. Because without prior knowledge, you may not be able to deal with any of your possessions remotely. That being said, here is everything your need to know about foreign power of attorney in Bangladesh and more.
What is power of attorney?
Put simply, a power of attorney is a legally upheld document prepared to delegate the authoritative power to deal with things on your behalf. That may include buying a property, selling a property, making executive decisions, and much more depending on the circumstances it was brought into effect.
The person who is authorizing the other person to act on his or her behalf is called a grantor and the person who gets the power is called an agent or attorney-in-fact.
But a foreign power of attorney in Bangladesh, although works similarly as a regular power of attorney in most ways, is required to follow a different set of procedures and protocols in order to be in effect. Because as the name implies, this document is specifically prepared for NRBs or people who don’t live in Bangladesh but want to deal with legally upheld assets through an agent or attorney. And for that reason to verify its authenticity and legitimacy, it needs to go through quite a few legal entities both in Bangladesh and the grantor’s current place of residence for the document to be established properly.
The information it includes
Now that we are familiar with the term, let’s get to know what information does a foreign power of attorney in Bangladesh has in it.
- The purpose and intent of the grantor (the person authorizing the agent to act on their behalf);
- Responsibilities, powers, and limitations of the power recipient, if any;
- The fixed term of power of attorney, if any;
- A clear description of the power to be given if it is conditional;
- A description of the authorization and how things need to be executed, if it is jointly authorized by more than one person, or is authorized individually; Or if it is authorized jointly by more than one person, or authorized individually, or both jointly and individually;
- Details of financial transactions, where applicable;
- Details of immovable or movable property, where applicable;
- Details of the matters mentioned in Section 52 of the Registration Act, where applicable.
Its limitations (what you can’t do as an agent)
Although as an agent of the grantor you will be authorized to do a lot of things, there are few limitations when it comes to making authoritative decisions.
- Execution of a will, or submission of the will that is executed by a donor for the purpose of registration;
- Execution of adoption certificate; or submission of the adoption certificate that is performed by the donor for the purpose of registration;
- Execution of declarations of donations and heba deed;
- Execution of trust deeds; and
- Execution of other types of documents declared by the government, by general or special order
The main process
Your lawyer will prepare a foreign power of attorney and will mail it to you (your place of residence). Then you will have to execute the deal in front of the Consulate General of the Embassy of Bangladesh located in your place of residence. Then you will need to send the deed (foreign power of attorney) back to Bangladesh to your lawyer.
After receiving the documents, your lawyer will need to submit them before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh. Then they will check the authenticity and legitimacy of the deed and will attest the documents once confirmed.
Thereafter these documents will need to be submitted before the Treasury Office and the Treasury Office will send the files to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs again for inspection and the concerned AC Land Office for inspecting the papers and authenticity of the property.
If the Treasury Office is satisfied with the inspection report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the AC Land office, the Treasury officer will stamp the documents with the Treasury Stamp.
Finally, after obtaining permission from the Treasury Office, the foreign power of attorney in Bangladesh must have to be registered from the concerned Sub Registry Office and after completing the registration process your agent is all set to do things (e.g. selling or buying a property) on behalf of you.
Final thoughts
Also, you have to be very careful about the pre-registration process of the foreign power of attorney in Bangladesh. Because it will determine what power you are delegating to your agent. Now if all these processes seems hectic to you, that is because it actually is. The journey to prepare a foreign power of attorney is an arduous task, to say the least. That is why an expert’s opinion, advice, or help is essential to check all the documents. With Bproperty’s Legal Solutions on your side, you don’t have to worry about any of these.
If you have any concerns regarding the process or want to prepare a foreign power of attorney in Bangladesh, don’t hesitate to contact Bproperty.
