To determine a person’s share in Hindu ancestral property, three sources of law have to be understood – 1) Old Hindu law 2) The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 and 3) Judicial decisions.
To determine a person’s share in Hindu ancestral property, three sources of law have to be understood – 1) Old Hindu law 2) The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 and 3) Judicial decisions.
The Hindu Succession Act tinkered only with certain aspects of Hindu law and anything not touched upon by the Act is still governed by Old Hindu law, as determined by the religious texts. The Hindu school was divided mainly into the Dayabhaga school prevalent in Assam, Bengal and Punjab while the rest of India followed the Mitakshara school. Apart from this, separate rules of inheritance was followed in the West Coast, i.e., Kerala and Mangalore.
What is ancestral property ? Property inherited upto 4 generations of male lineage (i.e., father, grand father, etc.) is called as ancestral property. The right to a share in such a property accrues by birth itself, unlike other forms of inheritance, where inheritance opens only on the death of the owner. The rights in ancestral property are determined per stripes and not per capita. This means that the share of each generation is first determined and the successive generations in turn sub divide what has been inherited by their respective predecessor.
