Selecting a nominee is an important part while opening a bank account -- individual or joint -- as well as making investments in the form of savings schemes such as a fixed deposit receipt.

Citing the name of the nominee is mandatory in the form. In its absence, legal disputes may bar the heirs to inherit the assets if the main account-holders passes away, and the prospective beneficiaries may have to go through a long legal process to prove themselves as legal heirs.

The nominee can be anyone: spouse, children, parents, siblings, a relative, or a friend. He or she will have to meet one condition: they have to be at least 18 years old.

In the past, it was not mandatory to state the name of the nominee in the bank account.

But in August 2017, the Bangladesh Bank ordered banks to ensure account-holders mention the name of the nominees while opening an account, with a view to avoiding complexity in the case of the demise of the account-holders.

Md Shafiqul Islam, head of a branch of Pubali Bank Ltd in Khulna, says a bank is a custodian of the money, but it can't keep it forever.

"So, bankers cautiously handle the matter so that none can open an account without a nominee," he said.

If the bank finds an old account without a nominee, or the nominee is minor or aged below 18, it has to approach courts. Then, the money is split in line with the succession certificate issued by the court.

An official of a private commercial bank says that they usually encourage depositors to select a nominee aged more than 18 years.

For the nominee aged below the threshold, the main account-holder will have to declare that the nominee will inherit the assets if he or she passes away, and the details of the guardian of the nominee will have to be specified in the nomination form.

If both nominee and depositor expire, the successors of a depositor will get the fund. And the prospective beneficiaries will have to show the succession certificate.

If depositors, nominees and other persons don't claim the fund for 10 years, banks will deposit the money to the national exchequer.

ABM Imdadul Haque Khan, a lawyer of the Supreme Court with vast experience of working with banks, touts the nominee as paperwork, saying there is no value of a nominee during the account-holder's lifetime.

It becomes important when the account-holder dies.

The lawyer cited an example.

An advocate, who used to work as a panel lawyer for a non-government organisation, opened an account with a bank without naming anyone as the nominee.

After the panel lawyer's death, his wife sought to receive the money from the account as she had children. But the siblings of the deceased demanded the money, claiming that their brother had kept their money in the account.

"As a lawyer, we regularly come across such a situation," Khan said.