Dear Experts,
I was gifted with a house property in Uttrakhand by my meternal uncle through an undated will. He had no children. The will was not registered, but his wife and one unmarried sister had signed it as witness. The property was purchased by him out of his own earnings. He had put a clause in the will that I had no right to sell the property till his wife and the unmarried sister were alive. They had the right to stay in that house for their lifetime and could not sell it. My uncle expired in 2007 and I got the property transferred in my name, after obtaining the NOC from his wife and unmarried sister. Everyone in the family knew that the property belonged to me and there appeared no dispute. I have been regularly paying property tax also.
Both the ladies (my mamiji and mausiji) passed away subsequently. Now one of my cousin (son of my another meternal uncle) has staked the claim to that property. He has also produced a will dated one month before the death of my mamaji. The Will is signed by two of our relatives, who had approached me earlier for a share in the property. It is notorised and not registered. I am told that Will in Uttrakhand after 2005 have to be mendatorily registered.
To me it appears a fake Will. The reason for this is that this cousin of mine alongwith few other relatives were trying to persuade me to sell the property and share the proceeds with them. Secondly, in normal circumstances if he had the genuine Will, he would have produced it much earlier, at the time of death of my meternal uncle. As per the procedure, when the property was transferred in my name, he did not raise any objection. He is still persuing me through some relatives, to let the property transfer in his name and then he will share the proceeds with me. They being local residents and I being staying in Delhi, I do not have much access to the property as of now.
He had approached municipal corporation for transfer of property in his name, to which I had objected. The authorities told me that now the case will be decided in the court. More than eight months have passed but so far the case has not been listed in any court. I have following questions.
1. Who is required to go to the Court? (Me, he or the municiple corporation)
2. Can he get the property transferred without me knowing about it? I do not have any local contact to monitor the case on day to day basis.
3. Can he sell the property, without being in his name.
4. Presently, he has virtually shunted us out of that property. We gave keys to one relative, who turned out to be his man and handed over the keys to him. Can we claim possession on the property?
5. I was emotionally attached to my meternal uncle and have no desire to sell the property. Can I transfer this to some cheritable trust? Will they be able to reclaim the possession.
6. Can I mortgage the property?
I understand the best way to resolve a dispute is by mediation. But I know for sure that he is playing dirty and as a good law abiding citizen I do not wish to compromise on principles.
Your guidance will help me in making up my mind as to how should I proceed.
Thanks
