Article 1 of the Saudi Minors' Property Guardianship Law

This article is the foundation of the whole Law, since it establishes a specialized government body called the General Authority for Guardianship of the Property of Minors and Those in Their Status, referred to in the rest of the Law as "the Authority".

The article specifies the Authority's main characteristics:

• Seat: the city of Riyadh.
• Branches: it has branches in the other regions and governorates of the Kingdom.
• Legal personality: that is, it is a legal entity standing on its own, not merely a department of another body.
• An independent budget.
• Link: it is linked to the Prime Minister.

The record of amendments shows that the phrase "the Prime Minister" replaced the phrase "the Minister of Justice" at the end of the article, so the Authority's link became to the Prime Minister after it had been to the Minister of Justice.

What the Authority does is detailed in Article 2, including guardianship over the property of minors and unborn children who have no guardian or executor, guardianship over the property of persons with limited or no legal capacity, administering the property of absent and missing persons and of those whose heir is unknown, and supervising the acts of executors, curators, and guardians.

So if your family has a minor with no guardian or executor, or an absent person who has property, this is the body the Law deals with in preserving and administering his property.