Ancestral property right

The husband being a widower and one of the class I legal heirs along with his children to his children, he is entitled for an equal share at par with the other legal heirs of his deceased wife.

Remember that he is entitled to a share out of his deceased wife's property alone whether it is her own self acquired property or a share inherited out of ancestral property.

Hey,

To answer your query we need to dwell into Section 13 clause (1) of Hindu Succession Act, 1956 which provides general rules of succession in the case of female Hindu if there is self acquired property, then it should devolve as:

A)      Firstly, upon the children and husband of the deceased wife.

B)      Secondly, upon the heir of the husband

C)      Thirdly, upon the mother and father of the deceased

D)      Fourthly, upon the heirs of her father

E)       Lastly, upon heirs of her mother

Now, clause (2) of section 13 Hindu Succession Act, 1956 provides rules for property inherited by female Hindu from her ancestors, it provides that if a woman dies intestate and the property was inherited from her parents, it reverts back to her father’s heirs in the absence of any son or daughter of the deceased (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) and not to the heirs referred to in sub section (1)

Now, we can conclude that if the wife has children then they would inherit the property as per the rules stated in section 13(2) of Hindu Succession Act,1956. As for your question, we can say that no one apart from deceased wife’s sons or daughters (including the children of pre-deceased son or daughter) and her father’s heirs can inherit the property.

Therefore, we can conclude that the husband is not eligible to be a legal heir to his wife’s ancestral property and since you have children who are major, they are the legal heirs of the pre-deceased wife.

Hope this solved your query.

Regards,

Parth Chawla