The lawsuit filed by the son of Dr. Sadiq Afifi, founder and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Taybah Integrated Academy for Sciences and Services Association, seeking a guardianship order against him, has ignited the issue of inheritance among famous Egyptian families, where such cases of filing guardianship petitions against the founder of a famous family have recurred.

Egyptian courts on Wednesday heard the guardianship case filed by the son of educational expert and businessman Sadiq Afifi, according to local media, and photos of the businessman heading to the courtroom with the help of his assistants spread on social media.

Dr. Sadiq Muhammad Afifi Sadiq had previously submitted an official request to the Dispute Resolution Committee of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, challenging two decisions appointing his daughter as chairwoman of the board of directors of the Taybah Higher Institutes for Engineering and Computer Science in Maadi, asserting, according to local media, 'that they were issued based on an invalid general assembly convened by a member without right.'

Local media published statements by Dr. Sadiq Afifi describing his son as 'ungrateful,' and spoke of disputes over millions of pounds in the institutions he heads, which his children tried to oust him from, while they, in turn, file complaints that there are people exploiting the father's health condition and advanced age (84 years) to take over shares of the companies and institutions in which he has stakes.

Family disputes in the family of Dr. Sadiq Afifi, a specialist in education (circulated on X)

The grandson of Dr. Nawal El-Degwi, a pioneer of private education in Egypt, filed a similar case before the Family Court in New Cairo, demanding a guardianship over her property, claiming her health had deteriorated. In the last session, neither party submitted documents indicating a reconciliation, prompting the court to postpone the ruling and give both parties the opportunity to prove their positions. Eventually, the case was dismissed, but the grandson appealed the verdict.

This came after the case known in the media as 'the theft of Nawal El-Degwi's money,' and Nawal El-Degwi dropped the complaint filed against her grandchildren, refusing to direct any accusations against them, in her keenness to maintain family cohesion and protect kinship ties, as stated in the investigations at the time.

Legal expert Heba Adel, head of the Egyptian Women Lawyers' Initiative for Women's Rights, believes that 'the increase in judicial disputes within wealthy families reveals the need for a legal culture to manage property before its transfer.'

Heba Adel adds to Asharq Al-Awsat that 'more important than the incident itself is what it reveals about legal and social challenges related to wealth management within the family.'

Heba Adel explained that 'legally, filing a lawsuit in court does not in itself constitute evidence of the validity of any claim, nor should pending disputes become material for issuing judgments through media or social media, because the final say remains with the judiciary alone, after examining evidence and hearing the defense of all parties.'

Moreover, many disputes described in the media as 'inheritance struggles,' according to Heba, are not actually inheritance disputes in the strict legal sense, but may revolve around ownership, management of family companies, validity of legal transactions, partners' rights, or disposal of assets before their transfer by inheritance.

Nawal El-Degwi (Facebook)

Years ago, Egyptian artist Rashwan Tawfiq entered into a legal dispute with his youngest daughter, who objected to his distribution of his inheritance during his lifetime, considering the division unfair, and demanded the cancellation of two powers of attorney she had given to her father to dispose of her properties without referring to her. When the case came to media attention, Tawfiq denied that it was a 'guardianship case,' but expressed deep sorrow that the disagreement between him and his daughter had reached the courts.

Legal expert Heba Adel considered that 'protecting family wealth does not begin when the dispute arises, but years before that, through good governance of family companies, documenting legal transactions, organizing relationships among family members with clear contracts, and adhering to rules of disclosure and transparency, thereby reducing the likelihood of litigation.'

She called in such cases for 'respecting the confidentiality of litigation and not preempting judicial rulings,' considering them 'a fundamental guarantee for achieving justice, as judicial independence requires courts to be left to perform their role away from media pressure or attempts to influence public opinion,' according to her. Stressing that the growth of this type of lawsuit represents a call to spread legal culture within society, especially among owners of family companies and major investments.

Meanwhile, Dr. Samia Khader Saleh, professor of sociology at Ain Shams University, believes that 'such cases and family disputes remain limited and confined to famous families until they become public when one party wishes to surface in society and turn them into a public issue.'

Samia Saleh adds to Asharq Al-Awsat that 'these famous families, whether educational or otherwise, are supposed to be a role model and exemplar of societal values, and that is not a flaw in the value system through guardianship cases and legal disputes over money and inheritance.' She noted that such cases reflect the absence of important family values in these 'elite' circles, and their impact extends to other segments that rely on such cases to claim the corruption of societal values and attempt to imitate them.