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deepak   22 July 2018

Will challenge

Sir,

My mother and father had made a joint WILL which is registered with registrar office.It has two witness (my father friends).My mother is alive and last year there was sad demise of my father.WILL makes me a sole owner of both of their property.

Now my younger brother and one of my three sisters had filed a suit challanging the WILL.They state that " (1) I have forced my parents to register the WILL in my favour (2)  My parents mental condition is not good " . I also have knowledge that one of witness of WILL is supporting them and he will change his statement .

My father property is earned by himself  and not came by heir or by gift and is registrered in his name.

My younger brother is evicted from parents house by public notice in newspaper 4 years back and not staying with us and sister is married in 2003.

Sir please help me to understand

(1) Can WILL be invalid if one of witness says that I have forced my parents to make WILL in my favour (a false statement ,I was not aware of the WILL ,came to know last year only). 

(2) Can I register my father property in my name on basis of WILL even if a civil suit is filed challenging the WILL by my siblings.Brother has submitted a Objection letter to registrar office to put stay on Sale / re- registration of father property on basis of thier civil suit .Are such Notice/letter valid.

I have not recieved any notice from court yet regarding WILL challenge.

Thank you.



Learning

 9 Replies

Adv Deepak Joshi +917017821512 (Advocate)     22 July 2018

Hello,

All the properties you are talking about are joint properties of your father and mother ?

As you said you lost your father and mother is still surviving she can dispose her share the way she want now subject to her mental and physical condition.

When was WILL made and registered is important factor if is made long back or reasonable time then why witness has not objected then.

For detailed discussion feel free to contact at Mb/Whatsapp 9456777600.

1 Like

deepak   25 July 2018

Sir,

WILL was registered in 2014, 4 years back , jointly by my father and mother.

Mother and father property are seperate , not jointly bought , each of which is earned (not gifted and not ancestor)

Can I register  my father property in my name basis on WILL ?

When I went to registrar office they said that I cannot do so since my brother has Objected to WILL via civil suit.

What is the use of regsitered WILL if someone can object to it ?

Sir, Is it possible that my brother has bribed the registrar office person or since the civil suit is filed against the WILL I cannot transfer father property in my name .

What should be my cousre of action , please help.

Thank you.

Aks   26 July 2018

Deepak,

First you need to understand a few basic facts about WILL: (1) Any one can give his self acquired property to anyone by writing a Will . A valid Will must have Name ,Date and Signature of the owner of property , Signatures of atleast two witnesses and which property is being given to who (beneficiary) 

In orde to have leagl validity, A Will needs to be probated. Probate means getting stamp of the Court that the Will is genuine. So, Beneficiary has to file a petition in the court attaching Original Will, Death Certificate and give names and addresses of legal heirs (In your case ,your mother and brothers and sisters) . The Judge is going to send Summons to all legal heirs asking them if they have any objection to the Will.  

There are only 5 main reasons a Will can be challenged (1) The signature Doesnot belong to the owner (2) Owner was mentally so unstable that he didnot understand what he was signing (3) Some One fraudulently made the woner sign the Will (4) The will is Not the last one..but there is another more recent Will.

Now, UNDERSTAND CAREFULLY....the legal heirs can file objections BUT they will have to PROVE the above points in order to get the Will cancelled. If they can not prove, the Will gets probated. in your favor. 

In your case, If one of the attesting Witness is telling lie that it is not his signature, you will have some more difficulty . But if the other Attesting Witness is willing to testify in favor of the Will ,you still have a good chance if you can prove by other evidence that the Will is genuine. 

I donot understand how soemone can file civil suit AGAINST a Will.  A Will can only be proven in a Probate Court. Civil Court doesnot have jurisdiction over deciding whether a Will is genuine or Not.   

You need to consult a lawyer and file a petition to get the Will probated in the Court.

 

1 Like

Aks   26 July 2018

Is it the attesting Witness who is saying that you forced your father to sign the Will ? That is funny.  If you were forcing your father to sign the Will, why the attesting Witness signed the Will himself.. He should have not signed it.   If he says that it is not his signature..then you have to get handwriting anlyst in the court to match his handwriting with his signature. 

Any one who is saying that you forced your father to sign the Will..that person will have to prove it with evidence that you forced your father. How he is going to prove it ? 

1 Like

Aks   26 July 2018

Again, a Will can only be challenged in a probate court after you have produced the Will petition . A civil court doesnot decide whether the Will is genuine or not.

Check the facts..these might just be rumors to scare you to extort money from you.

1 Like

deepak   26 July 2018

Thank you so much Sir,your answer has given me some hope and clearity.

I belong to poor family ,when my father retired he was earning just Rs. 10,000 in which we were 7 members in family , always had financial issues.He invested so much in our education ,thanks to him finally I got government job and staying in different city but sadly my younger brother was in bad habits.When I was in college , he mentally harrased by parents by stealing , taking drugs , scaring them by acting of comiting fake sucides .he once forged my father signature on cheque and took Rs 50,000 of his savings from bank .Finally my parents evicted him and they made a WILL in my name.HE got married to some girl , which came to our knowledge.Younger brother even after staying seperate use to threaten me , my partents on phone.Our mistake was that we didn't filed FIR against him.My father got high blood pressure problem due to tension and died  last year of brain stroke. One of my relative , who happens to be a lawyer , took advantage of the situation . 

We have four properties , 2 in mother name ,2 in ,father name . Mother property was in remote area so my brother and relative captured it .We went to local police , they said its your family issue , dont bother us.We showed them registry in mother name , but they didn't listened .We went to SSP , then DIG , they simply passed the orders to local police station nothing happened , No FIR.currently mother is staying in house which is in father name.One day brother attacked my mother by forcefully entering in house ,she complained at 100 helpline.Finally they captured him . Relative that I mentioned is very cunning.He made a plan , asked brother wife to lodge false complain of rape against me , he also bribed local police .S O threatened my mother . I was not present at home that time. My married sister and his husband came to rescue ,brothers wife asked police to write sisters husband name also . Finally  we were forced to agree demand of my brother .Mother was forced to sign a affidvait that she is giving her proeprty to brother .We also gave 2 lakhs to brother and police also took hefty amount from us. All illegal deed happened in front of police.All my savings were gone. after one month brother asked me I should give him 8 lakhs more .That time I decided to fight back.We filed a civil suit.My mother is currently diagonised with depression I have decided to shift her with me.But my father property is at risk of illegal capturing if she leaves the house.When we went to registrar office to sale father property they said that at said property cannot be sold as there is objection , brother has filed a case of property share hence he had filed a objection on the sale unless the  court case outcome is there. We suffered a lot , our battle is still on . Current development is that brother threatened me that his wife has filed a case of rape in court and I will soon get the sumon .Until I pay him 8 lakh more she wont take back the case. This time his plan may be to get mother property rgister in relatives name. 

deepak   26 July 2018

Sir,

I have knowledge that relative who is supporting brother has somehow persuaded both witness to say that they should say that either my father mental condition was weak at time of WILL or I had forced my father to write WILL in my favour . 

My mother i still alive and can take rational desicion own her own . She is mentally strong and can argue. Only problem is that she suffers from old age problem( knee pain etc) and after father death she is suffering from depression.

In WILL my father , mother , both witness thumb impresson and signature are present.

If I probate the WILL ,

(1) Does WILL be declared false if both witness say that I forced my father or My father was unstable. What action can be taken against them .

(2) Can my mother arguement help since its a joint WILL .I have 3 sister , Also 2 of my sister are in favour that all property should go to me.Only brother and one of sister are challenging the WILL , the relative (lawyer) I mentioned above , that supprots him is my brother in law (husband of sister that challenges the WILL).

Only younger brothet and one of my sister 

 

 

Aks   28 July 2018

What you are going thru is sad and you donot deserve to be treated this badly. But, the reality in life is that there are both good and evil people in the world.  Even in Mahabharat, Pandav had to go to war with their own relatives, Kaurav.  Basically, this was also a property dispute.  If you have to go to War with your dishonest relatives, its not wrong per Hinduism. 

But, to fight these dishonest people ,you need to have a sharp mind and some smart supporters.Some rules are:

(1) Protect yourself FIRST. Donot give the enemy a chance to surround you and succeed in trapping you. Avoid risky people and use caution.  Unless they have proof, just accusation of rape will not work.

(2) Support your mother. Take her to a doctor and if needed, get her on medicine for depression.

(3) If its a joint Will, mother is still alive so her testimony in court will certainly be very  important.   

(4) Unite your other brothers and sisters who are neutral or with you , create a joint force and ask everyone's help in how you can 

fulfill your father's wishes by implementing his Will.  A good ,honest and  smart lawyer is what you need.

I know, fighting with corrupt people in India is a very difficult battle.  People are afraid to fight corrupt people and that is why corrupt people win.  Do your duty and leave the result to God. 

Aks   28 July 2018

Whatever they say doesnot matter UNLESS they can prove it in court that you forced your father . How are they going to prove it ? Why they signed and put their thumb impression on Will if you were forcing your father. ?


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