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Narasimhan (SOFTWARE ENGINEER)     16 May 2012

Is it possible to contest against a will

My father has a property in Coimbatore worth 1 Crore. He wrote a WILL in 1990 stating that my 2 brothers would take the house and for the rest of 4 sisters, each would be given 10,000 RS. All my sisters including myself have decided to ask our brothers to give 5 lakhs (both together). But they are not ready to give and they are willing to give only 50,000. 

Both my father and mother have expired and brothers are trying to sell the property without getting signature from sisters. 

1)  Is it possible to sell a property without all Legal Heir Signatures even if WILL is written.

2)  Is it possible to contest against the WILL or is it possible for us to block them from selling the property?

3) Brothers are taking rent from the property for the past 10 years. Is it possible to stop them from getting the rent by giving a notice that the property is under dispute.

4) In court of Law, is there a possibility to contest saying that all daughters should have equal share, so the WILL is invalid. - My simple question is - How to make the WILL Invalid?

5) Is it acceptable that 10,000 Rs in 1990 is equivalent to just 50,000 now?

- Latha



Learning

 13 Replies

Krish (unavailable)     17 May 2012

If this was your father's wishes then the law has to abide by them as noted in his will. You cannot contest it unless you have legitimate grounds for it such as you can provide proof that your father was not of sound mind when he made that will or that he was coerced into making such a will. But you would need valid proof to contest his wishes.

1 Like

Narasimhan (SOFTWARE ENGINEER)     17 May 2012

Thank you very much Krish, but I want to know this in particular

 

1)  Is it possible to sell a property without all Legal Heir Signatures even if WILL is written. The Property is in my father's name and it is not transferred yet to my brothers.

sri (ceo)     17 May 2012

will can be easily challenged...

most important is how your father died and under whose custody...

why your father given will to those two brothers...

if he died with serious complications you can lodge criminal complaint(s) against under whom your father spent last days...

will must be having witness... who are they... they cant be family members and also atleast one lawyer should be present... otherwise, it does not have weight in court... moreover if outsider is a witness, manage them with bribe if necessary because everything is right if everyone is cheating... moreover finger print on will fail because if a bedridden father can also be forced to sign will...

ask for injunction of property, not to be sold until court decides... let them deposit the original will and house sale deed etc... in the court...

most importantly the last days of your father and gather important information where you can gain...

after all if its father property, he can do whatever he wants to... but why father will do injustice to other siblings in the first place... why he is angry with one and love with other???

these arguments establish judge foundation to yes or no to will...

 

 

1 Like

Alok Tholiya (self employed)     17 May 2012

ur logic is very good that when they decided to give Rs 10K each the property must be of small value. Now the property price has gone up and rupee has devlued yet u r getting the small amount. Better negotiate fairly from brothers. do not try to spoil relations. Give convincing reasons. If some of you r vvery rich then say give atleast more to more deserving sister/s.

1 Like

Krish (unavailable)     17 May 2012

The legal heirs to this property are your brothers according to your father's will. So even though their names are not yet on the property....they should have inserted their names on property records upon will being read. The law would allow them to sell the land without your and your sisters' permission.

The question I have is if your father died so many years back, when was the will found?, it's authenticity, and why is it only being mentioned now after all these years? Did your father ever express to you his wishes in person while having any discussion with him  or your mother? And were these wishes different from those in the will? Or was he of the mindset that only boys inherit. The Hindu succession law changed sometime in 2004 where daughters are equal partners in inheritance IF there is NO will. Therefore the questioni as to when this will was prepared and did it have any witnesses who can attest to its authenticity should be considered strongly if it has just been discovered. You know your brothers better than anyone alive...so you have a good idea if they would stoop to fabricating a will if that is your suspicion. A will usually requires two witnesses, whether the law makes it mandatory to make it a valid legal will, I am not sure. You would have to consult a lawyer ...perhaps under the experts section. 

In the mean time, you may be able to place a notice in the 7/12 property records with the aid of a Competent property advocate that the property is in legal dispute under lis pendens if you file a case against your brothers.

1 Like

K.K.Ganguly (Advocate)     17 May 2012

Has probate application been taken for the Will in which case all the heirs will get notice including you. During the hearing of the Probate Application, you can put objection to the Will casting doubt on it  with proofs which has to be accpted by the Court. If probate is given in favour of your brothers then they can sell it or do what ever they want to do with it & your consent will not be required at all. If not, then you can claim your share on it.

 

So, if you want to put a spanner to your brothers effort to sell or ownh the property, file an application for partition (if probate application has yet not been filed by them) in local Court and also pray for ad-interin injunction  against  its sale till the partition suit is disposed off.

 

Narasimhan (SOFTWARE ENGINEER)     17 May 2012

Thanks Krish. The property is still in the name of my father. My brothers are asking us to sign the documents for name transfer. My doubt here is whether they would be able to sell the property directly without name transfer?

Also is it really required for all legal heirs to provide NOC for selling the property.

We believe there is no fraud in the WILL but the amount  Rs 10,000 which is mentioned in the WILL in 1990 for all the sisters is a very meagre amount considering the rupee value and inflation now. There is no fairness in the WILL, so we want to try to pressurize them by not signing the documents or not giving NOC so that they would not be able to sell the property.

 

 

Krish (unavailable)     17 May 2012

As far as the Rs. 10,000 per sister goes....what exactly does the will say? Do you have a copy of the will? I urge you to get a copy of the will so you know exactly what it states if you do not already have it. Did your father state in the will That you would each get the money from the proceeds of the sale of the house, or did your father leave any money along with the house considered cash assets from which you would get your money? IF it is stated or can be assumed by reason of deduction that your Dad intended for you to get 10,000 from the proceeds to the sale of the house, then you have valid grounds to challenge your brothers by filing a case against them if they are unwilling to settle with you for a higher amount today. You would need to know the estimated value of the house at the time of death and it's percentage value increase to today's valuation. The percentage can be used to gain equivalent proceeds to today's sale price. For example let's assume that in 1990 the house was worth Rs. 100,000 of which dad wanted you girls to get 10,000 each. So you girls get Rs. 50,000 and the two boys get Rs. 25,000 each. So even if you are not successful in overturning the will completely if it is authentic, you still may have grounds to get more than 10,000 depending on what is stated in the will. If you cannot get a copy of the will from your brothers assuming they have it, then you should just file a case against them and ask for stay order on sale of house and make sure that the lis pendens notice is recorded in the 7/12 records so that anyone trying to purchase the property is aware of case about property under dispute. I would ove very quickly if that is the case that a sale is imminent. Now remember when you do this your relationships with each other will change for the worse, so you must prepare for it emotionally and remain strong if you are doing the right thing for yourselves. Like I said only you know your brothers better than anyone alive.

Krish (unavailable)     17 May 2012

" My doubt here is whether they would be able to sell the property directly without name transfer"

 

There is a supreme cout judgment that came out in October 2011 that no title transfer can occur based on GPA/POA or WILL. The judgment is a clarification of existing act. In this case you are alluding to your brother using e will as an instrument to sell the property. You would need to read the judgement to see if it applies to your case. As far as NOC, quite frankly they do not even require it to sell the property if the will states the house belongs to them after your father's death. So whether you sign it or not make no difference where the law Is concerned. UNLESS like I said before you are to get 10,000from sale of house!!! Then it does matter. Because the 10,000 from proceeds of sale basically means you are also owner of the house but only 10,000 worth of it.

 I which case NOc would be required to sell the house free and. Clear. Read the will carefully.

Narasimhan (SOFTWARE ENGINEER)     17 May 2012

I am writing here the portion of WILL

I own one immovable property consisting of a house site with a house built by me in it. It is my own self acquired absolute property.

I own movable properties consisting of furniture, household articles and cooking utensils besides a few pieces of Gold jwellery and silver articles.

I declare I am of sound mind and health and I give and bequeath my above properties out of my free will and conscience as follows.

I bequeth all my movable and immovable property to my wife Ramya mentioned in detail para(1) , (2) and (3) .

My wife Ramya shall have the right to sub-let or rent-out the entire house or a portion of it and enjoy the proceeds. She will have no power to sell the immovable property but enjoy the right to stay and let out the house till her death. The movable properties will belong to her absolutely to be disposed off as she desires.

After the death of my wife, the said immovable property shall be inherited by my two sons in equal shares, after the payment of Rs. 10,000/- to each of my daughters Latha, Vasavi, Chitra and Meera. 

I recognise that my two sons Saravanan and Sakthi may not have the entire cash ready. Hence the asaid payments must be paid within a period of five years after the death of my wife or in event of her predeceasing me, five years after my death. They shall then have absolute right over the immovable property and can do what they choose to do with it, without hindrance from my other children or grand children etc.,

During the period allowed for payment of the share amounts due to my daughters and grandson by my two sons, the rent fr the property realised shall be shared equally by my two sons.

My obsequises and my wife's shall be done by my snons out of their money.

I recognise the limitations of human life. My will shall not become void in event of the death of anyone of my children.

 

 

Ajit Singh Cheema (practising Advocate)     17 May 2012

How your brothers can sell the property if it is not transferred in their names.On the strength of the will your brothers will apply for mutation of the oproperty in their names.Once the property is transferred in their names in the revenue records, they can freely dispose it off.

Please dont mind ,what shall be the purpose of will,if all the legal heirs have to join for disposing off the property.Challenging a will is another thing you may challenge it on number of grounds. The most fundamental ingredient of will is that the property should be a self aquired property and at least two witnesses should sign it in token of acceptance of the fact that the executant has signed it in their presence.Probate application should be filed by your brothers for proving the validity of the will.

1 Like

Krish (unavailable)     18 May 2012

 

"After the death of my wife, the said immovable property shall be inherited by my two sons in equal shares, AFTER  the payment of Rs. 10,000/- to each of my daughters Latha, Vasavi, Chitra and Meera. "

So according to the will, things that stand out:

The will is very specific about who gets the house. You do not get any part of it the way it is written and the intentions behind it. You may be able to claim that since it was before 2004 when only males inherited property if the father dies without a will, that your dad decided to go along with the laws, but this argument would be a stretch. Your father from the way the will is written was an educated man who knew what he wanted for reasons only he knows. Perhaps in his mind, your brothers would be responsible for taking care of your mom after his death, or they may have helped with his business if he had one so that in his mind the boys contributed more to the parents and family wile the girls got married and were playing a bigger part in their new families. Regardless, his wishes are his wishes, and there may be little you can do to invalidate the will.

 You may be able to also contest it on technical grounds but you will have to consult an experienced advocate on this. You may be able to contest on the grounds that your father bequeathed the house to your mother. In essence he gifted your mother the house. Normally when you gift someone with anything you lose the right to tell them person receiving the gift what to do with the gift once it is out of their possession. In which case it is a defective will and therefore invalid. Similarly if your mother did not make a will once the house was in her possession, then you can contest on the grounds that the house belonged to your mother after your father's death and if she died without making a will, then all of her heirs get a share as accorded by the Hindu succession act, assuming you are Hindu.

Now in the above phrase I copied from the will, it states that the boys inherit the house only AFTER they have paid you girls the 10,000 rupees each. So basically they cannot claim the house or sell it unless they have paid you your monies. So you CAN contest on that basis.

The  5 year period when did it start? Your mom died after your dad but when? The five year period starts from the date of her death.  The date is crucial in determining whether you get more than 10,000. 


Whether you can negotiate for more than 10,000 depends on whether it has been more than 5 years since your mother's death. If it is more than 5 yrs than you may have grounds to argue for more money from the end of five years to present based on cost of living and inflationary rate but more so as interest on the monies that should have been paid to you within 5 years.  What would have been the interest charged if you went to get a personal loan from the bank, that would be the rate at which they would be paying. Since the will did not specifically state the monies should come from the proceeds of the sale of the house , you will not gain by contesting it on that ground.

Overall, you may have grounds to contest on technicalities, and you may have grounds on the fact that it is an unfair division of assets. However, the final decision will depend on the judge. Some judges may ask you all to compromise and settle your differences or you can do it yourselves without forking out money to pay lawyers and getting entangled in the Indian legal system for years and years. 

You and your sisters have to decide what you would be happy with... A full share in the house or 1 upon rupees each. If you all get along, then have a family conference and see if you can convince your brothers that in the long run giving 5 lakes to their sisters isevetter than strangers getting a Whole lot more in the Way of lawyers fees, stamp fees, and every other kind of fee you can imagine never mind the bad blood it can create not only between siblings but also your children too and so on.
Please note the above is just my opinion, I am not a lawyer, but, I believe I know enough about wills dealing with my own father's will issues, that I feel fairly comfortable with the advice I have given.

I would urge you to consult a lawyer who is experienced in contesting wills.
1 Like

sri (ceo)     18 May 2012

is this will hand written by your father or pre typed by a lawyer assistance... signature or thumb impression...

will is clearly in legal format...

five years period lapsed...or let it lapse... you three sisters jointly refuse to transfer unless each paid yours accordingly...

you can stop transfer unless payment is made... unless you are paid transfer will not happen... five years already lapsed... they can never transfer property in their name...

this is the present status... negotiate with this single point...

rest leave it to court...


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