Legal heir of female
Raghu
(Querist) 20 November 2011
This query is : Resolved
Dear Sir
One of my sister of Grandmother has some property. She has not left any will. She has died and her husband is not alive.No one is alive from her husband side. All her three brother(s)/three Sister(s) died.Two of the widows of the deceased brother's are alive. Her Brother's sons/daugeter and Sister's sons/Daughters are alive.My question is who are eligible to get the money when the property is sold? property?
A V Vishal
(Expert) 20 November 2011
15. General rules of succession in the case of female Hindus
(1) The property of a female Hindu dying intestate shall devolve according to the rules set out in section 16:
(a) firstly, upon the sons and daughters (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) and the husband;
(b) secondly, upon the heirs of the husband;
(c) thirdly, upon the mother and father;
(d) fourthly, upon the heirs of the father; and
(e) lastly, upon the heirs of the mother.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1)-
(a) any property inherited by a female Hindu from her father or mother shall devolve, in the absence of any son or daughter of the deceased (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) not upon the other heirs referred to in sub-section (1) in the order specified therein, but upon the heirs of the father; and
(b) any property inherited by a female Hindu from her husband or from her father-in-law shall devolve, in the absence of any son or daughter of the deceased (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) not upon the other heirs referred to in sub-section (1) in the order specified therein, but upon the heirs of the husband.
COMMENTS
Within the expression " son and daughter" there is no inclusion of step-son and step daughter.-Visalakshi v. Chelliah Pillai 1988 (2) MLJ 511
Clause (a) of the sub s. (1) does not include the widow of a predeceased son and the husband of a predeceased daughter in the category of heirs. On the death of a female intestate, the daughter of the predeceased son is given the preference over the sister of her husband.-Mohindero v. Kartar Singh AIR 1991 SC 257.
16. Order of succession and manner of distribution among heirs of a female Hindu
The order of succession among the heirs referred to in section 15 shall be, and the distribution of the intestate's property among those heirs shall take place, according to the following rules, namely:-
Rule 1- Among the heirs specified in sub-section (1) of section 15, those in one entry shall be preferred to those in any succeeding entry and those including in the same entry shall take simultaneously.
Rule 2- If any son or daughter of the intestate had pre-deceased the intestate leaving his or her own children alive at the time of the intestate's death, the children of such son or daughter shall take between them the share which such son or daughter would have taken if living at the intestate's death.
Rule 3- The devolution of the property of the intestate on the heirs referred to in clauses (b), (d) and (e) of sub-section (1) and in sub section (2) of section 15 shall be in the same order and according to the same rules as would have applied if the property had been the father's or the mother's or the husband's as the case may be, and such person had died intestate in respect thereof immediately after the intestate's death.
COMMENTS
Where there was the pendency of the suit filed by a female Hindu against the family of her father for the partition of the family property but the female filling the suit died issueless, her husband was not granted permission to enter as her legal representative for the fact that the property devolved upon the father of the deceased under s. 15 (2) (a)- Raghuvar v. Jhaniki Prasad AIR 1981 MP 39
Rajeev Kumar
(Expert) 20 November 2011
I do agree with ld. brother vishal
R.Ramachandran
(Expert) 21 November 2011
Dear Mr. Raghu,
Mr. Vishal has given the complete legal provision.
From the facts revealed by you, it seems that the lady's husband is not alive.
It is not clear whether she had any son or daughter. In any case it appears that those sons/daughters or the grand children from those sons/daughters are not existing.
Therefore, you have to check up whether there are any heirs of her husband.
The remaining heirs of her husband (since they do not appear to have any son/daughter or grandson/grand daughter etc.) could be the following:
(i) husband's mother;
(ii) husband's father;
(iii) husband's brother/sister
(iv) husband's brother's/sister's son / daughter
(I take it that his grandfather/grand mother etc., would not be alive now)
Only when none of the above are there, then you should look for the following:
I take it that her mother and father are not alive.
Therefore, it will go to the heirs of her father.
The heirs of her father are:
(i) his widow (i.e. mother of the lady - probably she is not alive now)
(ii) son (i.e. brother of the lady) and daughter (i.e. sister of the lady)
(iii) grandson/granddaughter (i.e. son/daughter of the brother or sister of the deceased lady)
(iv) great grandson/great granddaughter (i.e. grandson/grand daughter of the brother or sister of the deceased lady).
If you need any further clarification, please free to come back with your query/doubt.
Raghu
(Querist) 22 November 2011
Thanks for all the reply
Raghu
(Querist) 22 November 2011
Thank you all for the reply. This was very useful
