sana (lawyer) 12 October 2012

Property obtained through coercion

One of my clients has come to me with following problem.

My client’s parents have 4 children including her (2 sons and 2 daughters). Her father(Y) expired on July 2012. On October 1^st 2012, her mother(X) informed her that, her father (Y) had 4 houses in her mother’s(X’s) name. Somewhere in June 2008, both her brothers went to their parents and threatened them and got the houses registered in their name through settlement deed. 2 houses for first son and another 2 houses for second son. They also threatened the mother(X) that if she reveals the same to their daughters they will kill their father(Y)

Now as father(Y) is dead, her mother(X) is saying she wants to give one house for elder daughter and one house for the younger daughter which is registered in her 2 son’s name but the 2 sons are not willing for the same. Can mother (X) challenge that both the sons got the property though coerce and get one house each for her daughters?

Please advise

Thank you

Reply Follow

1 Replies

S Jadhav 98336 98330 (Jadhav & Associates) 12 October 2012

It would be difficult to prove co-ercion after so much time has elapsed.

The fact that the transfer was done through registered deeds and no complaint was made by the mother soon enough will go against the case.

However, the daughters have equal rights on the property of the parents.

Also, you have mentioned registered deeds, can you clarify if they were gift deeds or what? Also how much stamp duty was paid for the same? Was the property ancestral or whether the father had bought it from his own earnings?

There could be a basis that since the property belonged to the parents and as members of the family each sibling had equal rights and their rights cannot be extinguished just because the property title was transferred in the name of the brother.

S Jadhav