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Grandmother absolute property

(Querist) 27 January 2021 This query is : Resolved 
Sir
The property is the ancestrol property of my Grandfather who died in 1955 leaving behind his Wife(Grandmother),my mother and my aunt.We don't have title document of the property.After my grandfather death revenue record got changed to his Wife name.
My mother died in 1976 leaving me as legal heir.My father had done a 2nd marriage after it.
My grandmother died in 1992.
After death of my grandmother ,myself and my aunt made a partition suit in court and divided the property during 2012.
My problem is My fathers second wife family is threatening me that my father have share in property .
Since all revenue records got mutated in my grandmother name and moreover after 1956 Hindu sucessuion act ,the property became absolute property of my grandmother.
As my mother died before my grandmother do my father claim share in property?
I'm totally stressed out of it.
In partition suit we mentioned about my grandfather death roughly as 60years before and haven't mentioned the exact year of death as no death certificate was available at those dates.

Kindly clarify.
Guest (Expert) 27 January 2021
Legally the Husband would have Rights in the Wife's Property after her demise.
Guest (Expert) 27 January 2021
What is the Status and opinion of your Father. If he is also in favor of the Second Wife's Family Discuss with an Local Advocate in detail with out hiding any facts and make efforts to defend your self as certain things will not be Ethical to discuss openly.
Prajesh Jehan (Querist) 27 January 2021
Sir
He is neutral .Even while applying for legal heir certificate of my grandmother ,I included my father name.But thashildar removed my father name stating that son in law cannot be legal heir for mother in law.He certified my aunt and Son of predeceased daughter(i.e.Myself) as legal heir.

My grandfather had no son.He had only two daughters and wife.He died prior to hindu sucession act between 1954 to1955.
So as per Womens right to property act 1938 and its amendments in 1947 windows gets equal share same of male child in husband property.My grandfather had no son.So my grandmother became the limited estate owner of the entire property.

1.As per Hindu sucession act 1956 ,the limited estate owned by window before July 1956 will be her absolute property.
2.As per Hindu sucession act when women dies intestate, her absolute property will be inherited by son,daughter or grandchildren of predeceased child, and her husband.
3.my mother died in 1976 before my grandmother. Who died in 1992.So I'm the grandson will be my grandmother legal heir.How the son in law will be her legal heir.
Kindly clarify
Guest (Expert) 27 January 2021
Good Question .Appreciated. Still Properties were partitioned by Court Orders only in 2012 irrespective of other things. Till then Property was in your Grand Mother's Name. After your Mother Expired Legally your Father is an Legal Heir of your Mother besides you. Legally he has a Right in his wife's Share Please ( even if he is not made a party in the suit )
Guest (Expert) 27 January 2021
Tehisldar is Right that Son in Law is not an Legal Heir But Wife the Husband is Class i Legal Heir
Prajesh Jehan (Querist) 27 January 2021
How a female child have a right in fathers ancestrol property who died before the hindu sucession act 1956.
My grandmother became the absolute owner of whole property right.
My mother gets right in property only if she died after my grandmother.But my mother died before by grandmother. I BECAME THE LEGAL HEIR OF MY GRANDMOTHER
Guest (Expert) 27 January 2021
Dear Prajesh Jehan -- Your self had inherited only your Mother's Share for which your Father also could make a Legal Claim. Make your Best Efforts to Convince him so that you could get rid of these Issues. If at all if he writes any Will or Documents the Second Wife's Family would get a Legal hold to make such Legal Claims. My Self is Not discouraging you but only Exposing the Legal Facts.
kavksatyanarayana (Expert) 27 January 2021
Yes. Very preciously advised by the above learned expert. If you have still any doubt consult a local advocate with the material.
K Rajasekharan (Expert) 28 January 2021
It seems, all that the querist says like a learned advocate is right except two dates: the Hindu Women right to property act was enacted in 1937 and amended in 1938.

Your father has no right to the property of your grandmother.

Her property should devolve on to her sons, daughters (including the children of any pre deceased sons & daughters) and her husband, as per Section 15 (1) of the Hindu Succession Act.

Guest (Expert) 28 January 2021
Grand Mother Died in 1992 and the Legal Partition had taken place in 2012
Prajesh Jehan (Querist) 28 January 2021
Sir
My mother died in 1976.
Its absolute property of grandmother who died in 1992.
As per section 15(1),Son in law is not mentioned as legal 1 heir.
My mother predeceased before she was entitled for her share in her mother's property.

Guest (Expert) 28 January 2021
legal Proceedings are already in Process for the Person -- Ex Officer as per his Profile who had made Defamatory Comments about Our Honorable Judges which would be completed in 45 days certainly.. His Statements also confirm the Sort of websites made by him which he is trying to do the Marketing here
Guest (Expert) 28 January 2021
Mr.Prajesh Jehan -- Legally being the Class I Legal Heir of the deceased Woman the husband will also have Equal Right in his Wife's Properties along with her Children in Ancestral and Self Acquired as well ... Discuss with an Local Practicing Advocate and Confirm the Legal Facts Please..
Dr J C Vashista (Expert) 29 January 2021
Which religion i.e., Hindu, Muslim, Christian or any other is professed by deceased ?
It is better to consult a local prudent lawyer for appreciation of facts/ documents and professional advise.
P. Venu (Expert) 29 January 2021
The facts posted suggest the issue allegedly being agitated by the stepmother is limited to the inheritance of the late grandmother's property and the not the title of the property held by the grandmother. As such, to my understanding, the circumstances relating to the vesting of the property with the grandmother is of no relevance to the context of the query.

Admittedly, the grandmother had died in 1992. Unequivocally, the provisions of Section 15 and 16 of the Hindu Succession Act apply -

"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 mother and father;
(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.
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 intestates 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) to 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."

Obviously, the inheritance of the late grandmother's property would be governed by provisions of Section 15(1). The Legislature, in its wisdom, has not included the son-in-law of the pre-deceased daughter among the legal heirs to a female Hindu.

As such, there is no logic or reason for your father cannot re-agitate an issue which has been conclusively settled by Law as well the Court of Law.
Prajesh Jehan (Querist) 30 January 2021
Thank your for your information and taking ur time to read my issue

Actually my grandfather died in 1955.
During partition suit in 2010, myself and my aunt said in court that our grandfather died before 50years .That is before 1958 as we don't have exact date of death.Will it be an issue for.me or loop hole for my grandfather ?
P. Venu (Expert) 30 January 2021
As already suggested, this aspect is a non-issue so far as your father or step-mother is concerned. They are strangers to the late grandmother's property. It is well settled stand strangers cannot maintain any action in a court of law. Any litigant ought to have some standing vis-a-vis the issue taken up before the Court.
K Rajasekharan (Expert) 31 January 2021
If the court, based on the oral statements of both of you, takes 1958 as the year of death of your father, as there is no other record to decisively determine it and the date is so crucial in such a case, then there would be a change in the rights of the descendants in the ancestral property.

In such a case, the ancestral property of your grandfather cannot be considered the absolute property of your grandmother. We considered as it is because of the operation of some other law or provision.

In this situation, the ancestral property of your grandfather will remain as ancestral property under Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, from 1958 to 1976, when the Kerala Hindu Joint Family System (Abolition) Act 1975 came into operation.
Then onwards, all the members of the joint family became tenants in common, with per capita share of property to all its members.

If so, your mother would get a share in your grandfather’s property and a part of it will devolve on to her husband (your father) which his legal heirs can claim.

This analysis is based solely on the year of death hypothetically as 1958. Whether the court will consider it as 1958 or not is not quite sure or one cannot predict it.
T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Expert) 04 June 2021
The law is very clear that if you are entitled to your deceased mother's share in the property as her legal heir, incldentally your father also is one of the legal heirs to your deceased mother to succeed her estates as one of the successors in interest.
Therefore he is entitled to an equal share in the share of property you have inherited as your mother's share out of your deceased grandfather's share in the property.
Even though your deceased mother predeceased her mother, you have been conferred with the status of a legal heir to your grandmother only because of your mother and not a direct legal heir to your grandmother.
In that case your father being another legal heir, is also entitled to a share out of your deceased mother's share in the property she is entitled to inherit from her parents.
Your step mother is absolutely and legally right in her claim about this and your denial to your father's rights, on your own prejudice about the law or misinterpretation of law may not be maintainable.
Your father need not ask you to allot a share out of your mother's share in the property, he can establish his rights through court of law, hence you don not become a reason to deprive your father's rights because your attempts to deprive his rights to a legitimate share in the property will meet failure if the matter is referred before court of law.
P. Venu (Expert) 05 June 2021
With due respect learned expert Mr. T. Kalaiselvan, it is stated that, the querist's mother having predeceased the grandmother, his father could not be legal heir to the intestate property of the grandfather in view of the unequivocal provisions of Section 15(1)(a) of the Hindu Succession Act -

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 predeceased son or daughter) and the husband;

The legislature has never intended the widower to the predeceased daughter (so also, widow of the predeceased son) to be the legal heir to the properties of the female Hindu dying intestate.

In this context the provisions of Section 8 repays study-

8. General rules of succession in the case of males.
The property of a male Hindu dying intestate shall devolve according to the provisions of
this Chapter-
(a) firstly, upon the heirs, being the relatives specified in class I of the Schedule;

And Schedule I does not include "widower to the predeceased daughter" (though widow of the predeceased son is included) -

"THE SCHEDULE
[Section 8]
HEIRS IN CLASS I AND CLASS II
CLASS I
Son; daughter; widow; mother; son of a pre-deceased son; daughter of a pre-deceased son;
son of a pre-deceased daughter; daughter of a pre-deceased daughter; widow of a pre-deceased
son; son of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased son, daughter of a pre-deceased son of a predeceased son; widow of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased son; son of a pre-deceased daughter of a pre-deceased daughter; daughter of a pre-deceased daughter of a predeceased daughter; daughter of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased daughter; daughter of a pre-deceased daughter of a pre-deceased son."
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Put in short, the issue is - whether the widower of the pre-deceased daughter is a legal heir to the female Hindu dying intestate.?
The answer provided by Section 15(!)(a) of the Hindu Succession Act is a definite NO.


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