Property sharing
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 13 June 2011
This query is : Resolved
Hello sir,
My grandfather has 2 wives. My grandfather died before 14 years.
First wife is my grandmother. Married in 1954. Alive. Not Divorced. Having one son who is my father.
Second wife is X. Died. Has 5 children.
After my grandfather passed away X got legal hier certificate from taluk office as
my grandmother as firstwife.
and she mentioned her as second wife.
My grandfather and my father jointly sold the ancestral property and my grandfather brought
17 cents of land and given to them. in that time my father argued with him .
My grand father given assurance to my father in front of many that the remaining
ancestral property 20 cents is yours..
Does second wife and their children have rights to fight for it...?
Parveen Kr. Aggarwal
(Expert) 13 June 2011
In case you are Hindu and the second marriage of your grandfather was solemnised after the commencement of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the second wife is not a lawfully married wife and the marriage is void ab initio.
prabhakar singh
(Expert) 13 June 2011
"Second wife is X. Died. Has 5 children. "is your statement,so even if the marriage with second one was void,her children though illegitimate have right to inherit.
2nd wife no more!her children are there and they can fight.
R.Ramachandran
(Expert) 13 June 2011
If it was ancestral property in the hands of your grand father, then the children through the second wife (if the second wife was taken after 1956) are not entitled to any share in the said property.
Only if the property was self-acquired property of your grand father, in spite of the second marriage being void, the children through the second wife are entitled to inherit the property in equal share.
VERY RECENTLY THE DIVISION BENCH OF THE SUPREME COURT WAS OF THE VIEW THAT THE ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN SHOULD GET THEIR SHARE EVEN IN THE ANCESTRAL PROPERTY. BUT, SINCE THEIR VIEW IS CONTRARY TO THE EARLIER CO-ORDINATE BENCH DECISIONS, THE MATTER HAS BEEN PUT UP TO THE CJI TO REFER THE MATTER TO A LARGER BENCH. THAT MATTER IS STILL PENDING AND NO DECISION HAS COME OUT SO FAR.
