Grandfather property

As per your query it is understood that you need information regarding the division of the property which your grandmother has inherited from your grandfather.

As you have mentioned that your grandmother inherited the property from your grandfather then she is the official owner of that property.

According to the Hindu law, properties can be classified into two — an ancestral property and a self-acquired property. An ancestral property is, in fact, a self-acquired and undivided property of a person’s grandfather.

If the property is ancestral property i.e., an ancestral property is the one which is inherited up to four generations of male lineage. The right to a share in an ancestral property accrues by birth itself, unlike other forms of inheritance, where legacy opens upon the death of the owner. The ancestral property can equally be divided in all legal heirs.

If it is a self-acquired property then your grandmother has the right to make a will according to her wish and mention everyone’s name who will be entitled to get the share in the property and what is the percentage of the share.

The will shall be honored by the Court of law after her demise and the property will be divided accordingly.

Hope it helps!

Regards,

Anusha Singh

The Hindu Succession Act has been amended in 2005. It was ruled that a daughter has the same rights, provided that both, father and daughter, were alive on September 9, 2005. In 2018, the SC stated that a daughter can inherit her deceased father’s property no matter whether the father was alive on this date or not. Hereon, women were also accepted as coparceners. They can demand a share in the father’s property. According to the Supreme Court judgment, in her father’s ancestral property, a daughter gets an equal right along with her brothers. However, this does not mean the property will be equally divided between a brother and the sister after the demise of the father. Since inheritance laws also confer property rights on other legal heirs of the deceased, the division of the property will be based on the share of each heir according to the applicable inheritance laws. A married daughter having an equal share in her father’s property simply means that whatever share her brother claims, she will get the same share, too.

Dear Archana, 

Is there any other provision applicable in this case in your knowledge?

Regards,

Aryan Raj 

Under Section 6 in The Hindu Succession Act, 1956

3 [ 6 Devolution of interest in coparcenary property. —(1) On and from the commencement of the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005*, in a Joint Hindu family governed by the Mitakshara law, the daughter of a coparcener shall,—(a) by birth become a coparcener in her own right in the same manner as the son;(b) have the same rights in the coparcenary property as she would have had if she had been a son;(c) be subject to the same liabilities in respect of the said coparcenary property as that of a son, and any reference to a Hindu Mitakshara coparcener shall be deemed to include a reference to a daughter of a coparcener: Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall affect or invalidate any disposition or alienation including any partition or testamentary disposition of property which had taken place before the 20th day of December, 2004. (2) Any property to which a female Hindu becomes entitled by virtue of sub­-section (1) shall be held by her with the incidents of coparcenary ownership and shall be regarded, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any other law for the time being in force in, as property capable of being disposed of by her by testamentary disposition. (3) Where a Hindu dies after the commencement of the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005*, his interest in the property of a Joint Hindu family governed by the Mitakshara law, shall devolve by testamentary or intestate succession, as the case may be, under this Act and not by survivorship, and the coparcenary property shall be deemed to have been divided as if a partition had taken place and,—

(a) the daughter is allotted the same share as is allotted to a son;

(b) the share of the pre-deceased son or a pre-deceased daughter, as they would have got had they been alive at the time of partition, shall be allotted to the surviving child of such pre-deceased son or of such pre-deceased daughter; and

(c) the share of the pre-deceased child of a pre-deceased son or of a pre­-deceased daughter, as such child would have got had he or she been alive at the time of the partition, shall be allotted to the child of such pre-deceased child of the pre-deceased son or a pre-deceased daughter, as the case may be.

Succession to Property of a Male:

Section 8 of the Act lays down a new scheme of succession to the property of a male Hindu who dies intestate after the commencement of the Act.

The rules provided in this section and subsequent sections i.e. Sections 9 to 13 are definite and have to be read along with the Schedule. Section 8 divides the heirs of a male, for the purposes of inheriting the property into four classes.

These are:—

(1) Relatives mentioned in class I of the Schedule

(2) Relatives mentioned in class II of the Schedule

(3) Agnates of the deceased

(4) Cognates of the deceased.

In absence of the heirs qualified to succeed under the Act the property of the intestate shall devolve on the Government by escheat. The Government cannot be classified as an heir entitled to succeed under the Act. Section 8 which runs as under mentions only four classes of heir:—

The property of a male Hindu dying intestate devolve according to the provisions of this chapter—

(a) Firstly, upon the heirs being the relatives specified in class I of the Schedule;

(b) Secondly, if there is no heir in class I, then upon the heirs, being the relatives specified in class II of the Schedule;

(c) Thirdly, if there is no heir of any of the two classes, then upon the agnates of the deceased;

(d) Lastly, if there are no agnates, then upon the cognates of the deceased.

The words “dying intestate” would apply where a male Hindu dies intestate not having made any will or having made an invalid will. The term ‘property’ in this section includes not only the separate or self acquired property but his interest in the coparcenary property after the partition thereof has been effected among all the coparceners.

The section is prospective in its operation, that is to say that the section applies where on the death of a male intestate devolution of his property takes place after the commencement of the Act and does not govern succession to the property of a male Hindu whose death took place before the commencement of the Act.

Chapter II contains a number of provisions which supplement section 8 of the Act. The order of succession in class I and class II of the Schedule has been given in Section 9. The order of succession amongst agnates and cognates has been given in Sections 12 and 13. The computation of shares of the various heirs in the four classes is regulated by the rules laid down in Sections 9 to 13.

The Madras High Court in the Additional Commissioner of I.T. v. P.L. Karuhban Chettiar has laid down that on the death of a male Hindu, his property will devolve, first of all, on the relatives mentioned in class I of the Schedule.

The heirs of this class will inherit simultaneously and they will exclude Class II heirs altogether. In case of class II heirs of the Schedule those in the first entry of class II shall be preferred to those in the second entry; those in the second entry shall be preferred to those in the third entry; and so on in succession.

The relatives specified in class II will get a chance only if there is no heir of class I, and if there is no heir of two classes, the agnates of the deceased will get the chance and lastly, if there is no agnates, the cognates of the deceased will take the property.

Thus according to Section 9, heirs in class I of the Schedule will succeed simultaneously; in other words, they form one group of heirs and succeed as a body. Heirs of class II are excluded so long there is a single heir mentioned in class I. He or she succeeds in preference to all others mentioned in class II. For instance A dies leaving behind his predeceased son’s daughter D1 and a daughter of predeceased daughter D2. Since D1 and D2 are heirs of class I, both of them will inherit simultaneously to the exclusion of all the heirs mentioned in class II.

In Bliagwat Prasad Bhagat & others v. Sanker Bhagat & others, the court observed that in case of self acquired property of male Hindu dying intestate, the inheritance after his death cannot legally be governed by Section 6 of Hindu Succession Act or its explanation. If would be governed only by rule of succession as provided under Section 8 of Hindu Succession Act, so that the widow, sons and daughters would inherit property in equal shares.