Can mother write will on ancestral property

Who are the legal heirs of your grandfather?  Only, your mother?  What about her mother and siblings? 

Legal heirs are mother and her two brothers. Her mother died before her father.

if the father of your mother was the absolute owner of the property then the property is not at all ancestral property. to call a property ancestral , the property has to go through 5 generations.
now if I consider your mother does not have any sister or brother and her mother is dead, then your mother is the sole owner of the property now. she can make any will on it. this is applicable for a man also.

you can challenge the will based on merit but to my understanding it will be difficult for you to win the case unless you prove that your mother was not at all good mental condition when the will was made.

If the property held by mother's father is self-acquired, it does not qualify as ancestral assets. So even if he has bequeathed it to her, as it's her own separate property & she can bequeath it to whosoever when pleases as she's its sole owner . You can challenge the will on usual legal grounds of incapacity, coercion etc..

Respected Shruti,

A testator is a person writing a will. Although a will can be made in a straightforward manner by an individual stuck at home, it can be very hard to prove in court if the will is challenged by anyone after the testator's death, especially if the will is unclear.

There's no provision that states that women can write a will and a man can't.

 

Regards,

Anaita Vas

 

 

Talking about this ...

https://hindi.livelaw.in/amp/know-the-law/what-is-ancestral-property-know-the-provisions-191507

Will the above hold if instead of Ramesh, it's Rashmi? Is the law different for men and women?

 

Dear Shruti,

Thank you for your query! I am Aadil and I will try to answer your question.

 

The short answer to your question is NO. Such a will cannot be challenged.

 

Ancestral property laws in India are governed by the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. The definition of an ancestral property as per the same is as follows; any property that has been passed on for four generations by male ancestors, which, during this time, was not divided, partitioned, or sold in any way. If the property is partitioned, sold, or divided during this time, it loses its status as an ancestral property.

The key point to be noted here is that the property must be passed on by male ancestors. This means that ancestral property can exist only from the side of the father, and not from the maternal side.

Another fact that must be noted here, is that your mother inherited this property from her father who died intestate. She did not succeed him, meaning that this property is most probably self acquired and cannot be treated as ancestral. If the property is self acquired, she will have complete ownership over the same and may choose to sell it to whoever she prefers. Her legal heirs cannot raise any objection over this.

Your mother’s argument is also right that it has been mentioned in the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, that any property received by any female, either through inheritance, succession, gift, or any other mode of transaction, shall be treated as absolutely her own property.

Therefore, the property in question is her self acquired property and no objection can be raised if she chooses to include only her son in her will, excluding her daughters.

 

I hope this helps. Thank you for your time and patience!

 

Regards,

Aadil