Can a deceased daughter's family claim her share in father’s property?

Can a daughter's family claim share in father’s property years after his death?

• Sister's husband and son can claim partition under Hindu Succession Act.
• Mother could only gift her own share, not the entire property
• Property inherited after 1956 is treated as individual, not ancestral

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Can the heirs of a deceased sister step into her shoes and demand their share years later? Today's Ask Wallet Wise query decodes how the law treats inheritance among siblings.

The Ask Wallet-Wise initiative offers expert advice on personal finance and money-related queries. You can email your queries to askwalletwise@nw18.com, and we will try to get a top financial expert to address them.

The property in question was inherited by my father from his father in 1961. My father passed away without making any will during 1977 leaving behind me his son, my mother and my elder sister as legal heirs. My married sister passed away in 1999 leaving behind her husband and one son.

My mother gifted the property to me before passing away in 2016 through a registered gift deed. My sister’s husband and son are now demanding partition of the same property. Do they have a right to demand partition of the property as this is an ancestral property ?

Expert's Advice: Under the old Hindu law any asset inherited by a person from his forefathers was treated as ancestral property and formed part of the corpus of his Hindu Undivided Family. The concept of ancestral property is no longer valid for the assets inherited on or after 17th June when the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 came into effect. Under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956  on the death of a person without making a will his assets are inherited by the legal heirs mentioned in schedule to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 as their individual asset.

Since the property was inherited by your father after the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 came into effect, it became his individual property. On the death of your father without a valid will it passed on to you, your mother and your sister in equal part as legal heirs under schedule of the Hindu Succession Act.  So your sister inherited 1/3rd share in the property after the death of your father and which passed on to her legal heirs after her death.

The act of making gift of the entire property by your mother is not correct. At the most she could have gifted her share in the property. The claim for partition by your brother in law and nephew is valid under the law.

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