Family litigation
Anil
(Querist) 06 January 2015
This query is : Resolved
I am in great physical, mental, financial, emotional trauma due to following reasons as I haven’t any friends, paternal relatives, colleagues (as am jobless since I am in India abt 7½ yrs running around courts, police, authorities, etc)!! I will be highly indebted to your Club if you could take-up my matter on Top Priority basis and get me proper legal & professional advise/guidance ASAP as every single day delay is going to cost me my rights, family future, etc and maybe my life too!! You are also requested to kindly abridge my question in your column as you may desire and please use a pseudonym name & place (viz. ‘Anil Kumar-Mumbai’), if possible!!
My grandfather died in 1984 in Mumbai and left a will as above at that time I was 22yrs (my father 44yrs) and been engaged a month before only. My father had several health complications (hypertension, insomnia, hernia, urinary tract infection, etc) such since 1979 he was not helping his father in business and I at the age of 17 had to jump-in to assist apart from my studies. My younger bro is 4 yrs younger to me & mentally not fully developed + mentally unstable as since his birth his head/brain size is too small and also hardly educated.
Extract of my grandfather’s Will: “I have resi house at Z and 2 properties at Y. All properties at Y & Z shall go to A, B, C & D in equal ¼ shares and no one else other than them shall have any right, title or interest of any sort therein. I have certain jewelleries which I bequeath to E. I hereby appoint B as Executor of this Will. I direct B to pay all my liabilities incl. Taxes, if any. I direct my Executor to recover all my assets & properties wherever situate incl above and other found belonging to me on my death and I direct my Executor to give the residue of all my properties & assets after paying all taxes & liabilities & expenses to the H.U.F. of A and no one else other than the said H.U.F. shall have any right, title or interest of any sort therein.”
(A -My Father, B -Myself, C -My younger Brother, D -My Mother, E -My Sister, Y -Mumbai, Z -Rajasthan)
My maternal uncles brain washed my mother to shift to Ahmedabad after my grandpa’s death so that they can properly manage our wealth! I was married later in 84 and my sister in 88. Until than I was forced to shuttle from AMD & BOM to complete all legal formalities and we stayed in 2BHK flat of 90 sq.yds of theirs in AMD and monthly + legal expenses funded by them as we had no source of income (we lost everything during 84 Bhiwandi communal riots) whereas in BOM we had our own house with 400 sq.yds of living area. My 2 Aunts (father’s sis) challenged the will and got stay from court. My wife & my wife life was made miserable (physical, mental, emotional, etc torture) in these 4yrs and thus in 88 was forced to shift to Nepal (my in-laws) for job, living & peace. My only child (son) was born in 86 in Nepal (in 2008, my dad send him abroad for study/job mortgaging this flat with bank under Education Loan, presently he works in an NGO + holds a foreign country citizenship).
In 89 my father convinced his 2 sis for out of court settlement and we entered in a Family Agreement wherein we all 5 as above in Will + 2 sis of my dad had executed and both the BOM properties were sold to a builder who directly paid the settlement amount to my Aunt and rest in 4 equal cheques. I too had come down to BOM and signed it and went back and didn’t take a penny out of it as long-term capital gains & I-T planning had to be done. In 90/91 my mat uncle bought 2 flats in AMD (one in my mother & other in my bro name and NOT in my dad’s/my name) but no investment in my father’s or my own name. As our all bank, I-T file, etc were managed by them and the regd address was of my mat uncles office address.
In 97 our Z ancestral house + land & in 2005 my bro flat in AMD was also sold without my information. Until 2000, I hardly kept relations with my parents, siblings and maternal uncles. My father had called me saying my mat uncles became bankrupt and stopped paying interest to my parents as all our money, bank a/c’s, I-T file, etc was handled by them such dad was in dire crisis of survival. Until 2007 I used to send money to them + visit them every year. In 2007 my father called me to come down as matter was serious and on my arrival handed over everything (flat’s deed & papers, incl the life insurance policies, everything was bought from my grandpa’s assets sale) to me saying it is all mine and I should relieve him so that he can die peacefully as my maternal family used to bully my father and that my mom, sis, bro, bro-in-law all were under their malafide intention/influence. My I-T file was closed down by the them long ago.
My dad died in 2010 and my mom this week (9-Dec-2014) but I & my wife was refrained to meet her in these 3 odd yrs & also perform her last rites. After my dad’s death I got the nominee changed from my father to me in all the LIC & other Life Insurance policies. Abt 3yrs back they convinced my mom & bro to elope from our flat with all the jewelleries & valuables and filed police, court, criminal, collector office, police commissioner office complaints/cases against me & my wife (incl. TV, newspaper too) alleging false & malafide domestic violence, unlawful confinement at home, forcefully domestic work, malnutrition, forgery, swindling, etc charges inorder to grab this last flat alongwith LIC & other policies money which are in my mom & bro name. They couldn’t prove any charges against my wife & me after initial 2-3 hearing (appearing only once in 3-6-12 odd months) neither my mom, bro, mat uncles, their lawyer, etc attended the cases so all cases got closed as ex-parte and the last one a day before my mom passed away (due to brain tumour, paralysis, throat & chest infection, etc).
Now, can you please guide me the following:
1. Isn’t the WILL state that all the money received by selling my grandpa assets goes to HUF that means I too have a right in everything that my mom/bro owned or owns?
2. How can I stop them to file death claim with LIC and grab the money, as my name has been replaced by my cousin (mat uncle’s son) name in nomination? Original policy is with me?
3. How can I stop them in swindling my bro 2 LIC policy which gets matured in 2015 wherein the nomination is same as above?
4. How can I protect my as well as my bro interest (although he under their spell and with them)?
5. Can I claim/recover the money from my maternal uncle, sis, bro-in-law, etc which they took from my dad & mom etc (maybe they had reversed the bank entries, etc in last 3 odd yrs)?
6. All assets purchased and/or sold in my family (after BOM property sale), my maternal uncle’s name + sign are there on the deed as witness and so can this help me legally?
7. Can my mother Will (maybe they had prepared under duress) and gift my maternal uncles/sis families the flat, LIC, deposits, etc?
8. Can my mother sign a sale deed of the immovable prop (flat) under duress to someone?
9. Do I wait for what type of action they are going to take or I file a case (what type) from my side?
10. Any other counselling, advise, suggestion, etc?
FYI, I am barely managing to survive and am paying the EMI Loan to bank, property tax, society charges, electricity bills, etc.
Thanks + Best Regards
Anil
+91-9974462333
ajay sethi
(Expert) 07 January 2015
you have to meet local lawyer with various documents cited by you for advice .
as far as LIc policies are concerned nominee is only trustee for legal heirs .
if your mother will has been executed under duress you can oppose probate of will when notice is issued to you . you can also challenge sale of property made by your mother if it was done under duress .
Rajendra K Goyal
(Expert) 07 January 2015
Consult local lawyer and show him all the documents.
T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate
(Expert) 09 January 2015
Be precise and brief in your query. You may take the help of a local lawyer for all such further steps in this regard.
Anil
(Querist) 11 January 2015
Thanks for your advise but I feel my local lawyer is not giving me proper/professional advise!! And I do not have any contact source of any other lawyer in Ahmedabad!!
Can you atleast advise about the will executed by my grandfather?? Will all the money go to HUF, such anything bought out of the same (LIC, Flat, etc) is of HUF??
Thanks
Anil
