Liabilities of successors: a scenario
Aaron Smothers
(Querist) 23 September 2011
This query is : Resolved
Hello,
I would like to post a question concerning the scope of liabilities to which the successors of a deceased person are answerable from the estate they stand to inherit.
My intuitive understanding is that any provable loans or other liabilities existing in the name of the deceased and remaining unpaid are chargeable to the estate before successors are apportioned their shares.
My question involves a situation in which family members (some legal heirs, others not)could come up with receipts or other proofs of payment of expenses that they themselves incurred, citing that they incurred it themselves in the interest of the deceased. Such causes could be, for example, funeral expenses, medical expenses, transportation charges, etc.
Let us assume that the deceased, during his lifetime, did not acknowledge these formally as a loan from the concerned person, nor was he required to furnish a receipt or an IOU by the relatives.
In a partition suit aimed at the immovable properties of the deceased, or in a succession certificate application towards the movable financial instruments of the deceased, is it legally possible for such relatives to claim their own expenses from the respective assets?
What, in short, is the scope and limitation of liabilities of the estate of the deceased?
I make an analytical separation here from what the law obligates the estate and what morality or conscience obligates.
Much appreciate your insights. Thank you!
R.Ramachandran
(Expert) 23 September 2011
Dear Mr. Aaron,
You are absolutely right. Only when there is any written document like promissory note etc., from the deceased, and if it had not become time-barred, any debt against him can be enforced and can be recovered from the inheritors of his properties or even before partitioning of his properties amongst his legal heirs. I could easily link up your query to your earlier query and understand the situation. Please do not worry about these flimsy claims. They cannot succeed legally. Your understanding of the legal position in such matters is quite perfect.
Aaron Smothers
(Querist) 23 September 2011
A thousand thanks to you, Mr. Ramachandran.
You have answered my question not just on its literal basis, but also in the larger context of the justice I am helping my wronged, widowed sister-in-law to obtain. Very perceptive and empathetic of you to do so, taking into account my earlier queries.
We happen to be dealing with a family of #1 crooks, who, in addition to wronging my sister-in-law during her married life, are now angling for what she stands to inherit according to law. This they are doing through fabrications and tenuous claims.
Though truth and rectitude are on our side, knowing where we stand in the eye of the law arms us with confidence as we go into the trial.
Aaron Smothers
(Querist) 23 September 2011
Thank you, Mr. Prabhakar Singh.
Guest
(Expert) 23 September 2011
Perfect advice by Shri Ramachandran.
Aaron Smothers
(Querist) 23 September 2011
That's nice to know, Mr. Dhingra!
