Claim for share in my mother's property
Deepak
(Querist) 18 September 2012
This query is : Resolved
I would like to know whether my mom can claim for a share in the gifted property my grand ma has got from his brother. My grand mother has expired recently before getting the amount for the property she sold. Now the whole amount of the property sale is with my one of aunt (my mom's eldest sibling) who is not ready to share the amount equally with other daughters of my grandma. In this case In this case can my mom and her other sister's file a case against my aunt
ajay sethi
(Expert) 18 September 2012
it appears your grand mother got a gift from her brother and before her death she sold the property . if she died without leaving her will all her children will have equal shares .
Anish Thakur 7018812737
(Expert) 18 September 2012
your mother is equal share holder alongwith her all brothers and sisters in the said property if your grand mother had died without making any will.
Nadeem Qureshi
(Expert) 18 September 2012
Dear Deepak
the rule is:
14. Property of a female Hindu to be her absolute property.
(1) Any property possessed by a female Hindu, whether acquired before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be held by her as full owner thereof and not as a limited owner. Explanation.- In this sub- section," property" includes both mov- able and immovable property acquired by a female Hindu by inheritance or devise, or at a partition, or in lieu of maintenance or arrears of maintenance, or by gift from any person, whether a relative or not, before, at or after her marriage, or by her own skill or exertion, or by purchase or by prescription, or in any other manner whatsoever, and also any such property held by her as stridhana immediately before the commencement of this Act.
(2) Nothing contained in sub- section (1) shall apply to any pro- perty acquired by way of gift or under a will or any other instrument or under a decree or order of a civil court or under an award where the terms of the gift, will or other instrument or the decree, order or award prescribe a restricted estate in such property.
Nadeem Qureshi
(Expert) 18 September 2012
15. General rules of succession in the case of female Hindus.-
(1) The property of a female Hindu dying intestate shall devolve according to the rules set out in section 16,-
(a) firstly, upon the sons and daughters (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) and the husband.
(b) secondly, upon the heirs of the husband.
(c) thirdly, upon the heirs of the father, and
(d) fourthly, upon the heirs of the father, and
(e) lastly, upon the heirs of the mother.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1),-
(a) any property inherited by a female Hindu from her father or mother shall devolve, in the absence of any son or daughter of the deceased (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) not upon the other heirs referred to in sub-section (1) in the order specified therein, but upon the heirs of the father, and
(b) any property inherited by a female Hindu from her husband or from her father-in-law shall devolve, in the absence of any son or daughter of the deceased (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter ) not upon the other heirs referred to in sub-section (1) in the order specified therein, but upon the heirs of the husband.
COMMENTS
Extent
(i) When a female inherits property from her brother, inheritance to it is governed by section 15(1) of the Act 1956; Balasaheb v. Jaimala, AIR 1978 Bom 44.
(ii) Son and daughter include son and daughter by natural birth legitimate or illegitimate; Gurbachan v. Khichar Singh, AIR 1971 Punj 240.
Succession on death of Hindu female
(i) The object of section 15(2) is to ensure that the property left by a Hindu female does not lose the real source from where the deceased female had inherited the property, one has no option but to hold that son or daughter (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) of such a Hindu female will mean the son or daughter begotten by the Hindu female from the husband whose property she had inherited, and not the son or daughter whom she had begotten from a husband other than the one, whose property she had inherited. If such property is allowed to be drifted away from the source through which the deceased female has actually inherited the property, the object of section 15(2) will be defeated; Dhanistha Kalita v. Ramakanta Kalita, AIR 2003 Gau 92.
(ii) Hindu female inherited property from her deceased husband. If the property is allowed to be inherited by a son or daughter, whom the deceased female had begotten not through her husband, whose property it was, but from some other husband then, section 15(2)(b) will become meaningless and redundant; Dhanistha Kalita v. Ramakanta Kalita, AIR 2003 Gau 92.
(iii) The intent of the Legislature is clear that the property, if originally belonged to the parents of the deceased female, should go to the legal heirs of the father. So also under clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 15, the property inherited by a female Hindu from her husband or her father-in-law, shall also under similar circumstances, devolve upon the heirs of the husband. It is the source from which the property was inherited by the female, which is more important for the purpose of devolution of her property. The fact that a female Hindu originally had a limited right and later acquired the full right, in any way, would not alter the rules of succession given in sub-section (2) of section15; Bhagat Ram (D) by L.Rs. v. Teja Singh (D) by L.Rs., AIR 2002 SC 1.
(iv) The mother became an absolute owner of the property which she inherited from her husband after his death in 1950 but after the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 came in force, before 1956 her interest being limited. Hence, it has been held that the property after the death of the mother shall be inherited by her son and daughter under section 15(1)(a) and not under any other provision of law; Debahari Kumbhar v. Sribatsa Patra, AIR 1994 Ori 86.
Feel free to call
Nadeem Qureshi
(Expert) 18 September 2012
16. Order of succession and manner of distribution among heirs of a female Hindu. The order of succession among the heirs referred to in section 15 shall be, and the distribution of the intestate' s property among those heirs shall take place according to the following rules, namely:- Rule 1.- Among the heirs specified in sub- section (1) of section 15, those in one entry shall be preferred to those in any succeeding entry, and those included in the same entry shall take simultaneously. Rule 2.- If any son or daughter of the intestate had pre- deceased the intestate leaving his or her own children alive at the time of the intestate' s death, the children of such son or daughter shall take between them the share which such son or daughter would have taken if living at the intestate' s death. Rule 3.- The devolution of the property of the intestate on the heirs referred to in clauses (b), (d) and (e) of sub- section. (1) and in
sub- section (2) of section 15 shall be in the same order and according to the same rules as would have applied if the property had been the father' s or the mother' s or the husband' s as the case may be, and such person had died intestate in respect thereof immediately after the intestate' s death.
Ashimta Lekhi Malhotra
(Expert) 22 September 2012
If your grandmother did not make a will your mother will get an equal share in her property.
