Akhil gupta 04 December 2018

Registered will made to sign by fraud and under influence

My grandfather left a registered will in which he gave 65% property share to his elder son and 35% property share to younger son. My grandfather did not explain the reason in will that why he had given more share to his elder son. My grandfather's wife is alive along with 3 daughters. My grandfather was not aware of the contents of the will. If he was aware of the will he should have told his daughters that he has signed the will. But my grandfather did not tell his daughters or wife about the will because my grandfather himself was not aware of the will. My grandfather's elder son told my grandfather that the documents my grandfather is signing are not of will and the documents are of ration depot. So by fraud , my grandfather signed the will thinking that they are documents of ration depot. My grandfather's younger son used to take care of the my grandfather .My grandfather's elder son never took care of my grandfather , neither elder son did anything for my grandfather. My grandfather made the will in 2006 and my grandfather died in 2012. In this gap of 6 years , my grandfather never told his wife, his daughters and his younger son about the will because my grandfather himself was not aware of the will. If my grandfather was aware of the will, my grandfather must have told his daughters or wife that he has signed the will. And my grandfather made the will in the absence of beneficiary. The will is printed but the will has something written in handwriting. How can i challenge the will ?

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12 Replies

Vijay Raj Mahajan (Advocate) 04 December 2018

Challenge the Will in Civil Court as being made and registered under undue influence, force and fraud, without disclosing contents of the document the signature were taken and got registered. Will has to be probated in Civil Court for further execution and distribution of property to beneficiaries and the Civil Court has to ascertain the validity of the Will at that stage. Even if the beneficiaries avoid the Probation of Will, the Civil Suit challenging the validity of Will can be filled by heirs of the deceased for distribution of his property and claiming their equal shares, and in this case the daughters of the deceased father do so against their brothers, the issue of Will being invalid will be decided by the Civil Court at that proceedings.

G.L.N. Prasad (Retired employee.) 04 December 2018

The nature of the property (self Acquired or ancestral), the living witnesses, the knowledge of such will are important factors. You have to establish the fraud, particularly when you say that there is undue influence,force etc., when elder son never looked after his father, and when his father is no more. What happened to all the properties since 2006 is also an important aspect. Contact local advocate, as it is very difficult to establish a fraud after 6 years of the testator.

Kumar Doab (FIN) 04 December 2018

As per title of the query the said WILL is registered!

A registered WILL may not be easily set aside atleast on counts of authenticity.

The testator must have affirmed the contents of WILL/bequeath before registering authority.

After satisfaction registering authority might have registered the WILL.

The WILL can not be contested by strangers and can be contested by legal heirs, creditors.

Have you seen the WILL and/or shown the WILL to a very able LOCAL counsel?

Has the WILL been duly acted upon without any cloud on IT and mutation records been updated?

Post death of testator have you/beneficiaries updated in mutations records?

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Kumar Doab (FIN) 04 December 2018

Which personal law applies in your case?

Are you all Hindu?

The property is in which state?

Confirm!

Your matter may be covered by Hindu succession laws.

Succession opens on date of death; by inheritance or by testamentary succession (by valid WILL).

In case of Hindu male dying without disposing her estate/property in her life time by a valid/registered deed the 1st right is of ClassI legal heirs i.e Mother (if alive as on date of death), Wife (if alive as on date of death), sons, daughters……

In case of deceased Hindu woman dying without disposing her estate/property in her life time by a valid/registered deed ClassI,II is not applicable rather nature and source of property matters.

If the property is self acquired/earned/absolute in the hands of Hindu woman the 1st right is of her husband (if alive as on date of death) and sons, daughters…………

If property is acquired from husband side 1st right is of her sons, daughters…………and if sons, daughters are not available then legal heirs of husband..

If property is acquired from parents side 1st right is of her sons, daughters…………and if sons, daughters are not available then legal heirs of father..

IT is mandatory to probate the WILL in the areas of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras.

IT is not mandatory to probate the WILL in other areas. IT is not mandatory to register the WILL.

The WILL should just be valid. Unregistered WILL can be acted upon.

The last valid WILL prevails.

Kumar Doab (FIN) 04 December 2018

The authority under whose jurisdiction property falls has a set procedure for such matters if the WILL has surfaced; Testate Succession…….and the prescribed forms, procedure, process is available in O/o Authority and even on website. Certified copies of the WILL, death certificate, legal heir certificate/affidavit (per local procedure/precedence) are basic requirements. The authority may ask for NOC from legal heirs (other than beneficiary) and/or to release newspaper advt and/or may write to legal heirs to submit their objections if any within set time.

If there is NO contest to the WILL by any legal heir then authority shall act upon the WILL without any cloud on it and transfer the ownership in the name of beneficiary.

If WILL is contested it lands up in probate court of pecuniary jurisdiction. The court shall decide on validity of WILL.

The legal heirs may also consider perspective of registered family settlement after the WILL and register it.
Check locally and comply with procedure. Thereafter concerned official in the O/o Authority e.g; Patwari, shall act upon the matter and transfer the ownership by inheritance/probate in the name of legal heirs in mutations records.

Thereafter obtain copy of updated mutation records.

For partition by boundaries either decide amicably (best recourse) or take help of other elders of the family or panchyaat or court of law..

If WILL is not submitted to be acted upon then it becomes matter of succession per personal law that applies.

Although it is wrong since the WILL exists.

Check locally and comply with procedure.

Resolve the matter amicably across the table.

If there is no merist in your version as per your counsel then there is NO point in wasting time altercations, arguments, litigation and spoliling the relations.

If possible/workable explore the recourse of registered family settlement

Kumar Doab (FIN) 04 December 2018

Probate of the WILL also involve expenses e.g; lawyer’s FEE, fee sert by court etc and time!

You may take help for any matter from, elders of your family, competent and experienced well wishers, seasoned PIP’s, helpgroups, community leaders, NGO’s, experienced colleagues, associations, religious scholars/leaders, influential persons, Employee’s/Trade union leaders, help groups for spouses (Husband/wife) etc and find a very able LOCAL counsel specializing in concerned filed of law e.g; Testamentary Succession/Civil matters as in your case, and well versed with LOCAL applicable rules, precedence, latest judgments etc …. and worth his/her salt, can advise you after examining all case related docs, inputs, evidences on record.

Obtain proper legal opinion in writing!

Avoid acting on your own on hearsay.

One should not fall for IT’s and entities loitering at online portals to allure unsuspecting querists. There are many threads on such instances at LCI also.

Online discussions are not substitute to in person discussions with a very able counsel of unshakable repute and integrity specializing in concerned field of law.

There are such very able counsels at each location.

Check for such counsels at LOCAL; Civil Courts, HC, SC,..

You can also try for FREE legal Aid from Legal aid center (DLSA) that is usually within LOCAL courts complex..preferably from a very able counsel specializing in Testamentary Succession/Civil matters.

Your counsels may opine that you can appear on 1st date, and obtain copies of petition etc to reply later ….and inform the court that you shall be engaging a counsel and appear thru your counsel….Or your counsel can appear and obtain copies of petition etc and reply later or your new counsel can appear for you.

Your counsels can advise after examining all docs/record/inputs pertaining to your matter and help you. You can also search threads on similar query in SEARCH option ON left Hand side of threads in Forum/Experts section. Having learnt a lesson, remember to consult beforehand for your matters or any matter about which you are not properly informed.

The FEE of all LOCAL counsels at all LOCATIONS is not high/unreasonable as mis-believed by many.

Many counsels even at State Capital/Metro towns do not demand unreasonable high FEE.

IT is rather at online portals that unsuspecting querists are mislead as per many publications, by IT’s and Entities that pose as some Lawyer (actually LIAR) and flaunt/advertise firms that are not Law Firms (Actually LIAR’s Firms) to believe that LOCAL counsels are not knowledgeable..are incompetent.

In Reality the LOCAL counsels win cases in LOCAL courts at all LOCATIONS.

You can go thru/search the cases contested by any Lawyer at court website.

If your counsel opines there are merits IT is upto you to enter into litigation.

If you are confident that you can handle on your own then go ahead.

Akhil gupta 06 December 2018

no mutation records have not been updated. Is mutation only for tax purpose ?

Akhil gupta 06 December 2018

yes we are all hindu. And property is in ambala in haryana state

Akhil gupta 06 December 2018

may i know what is registered family settlement ?

Kumar Doab (FIN) 26 December 2018

IT hints that the said Regisetred WILL has not been submitted to O/o Authority under whose jurisdiction property falls and hence not contested ….and/or not probated.

IT is mandatory to probate the WILL at……….as already posted above.

Inputs have also been shared in many other threads inittaed by you ....

Kumar Doab (FIN) 26 December 2018

You may understand the basics from responses in all threads initiated by you!

To safeguard the honor of the family, avoid disputes family arrangements are supported by courts of law. Claims and counter claims are avoided. This also lessens burden on courts.

The relatives/family members in dispute that have claim to property or semeblance to claim can enter into such arrangement partly due to love and affection, partly due to value.

Family settlement deed (registered) is the best option than to approach the courts and Most Economical as well..

Moreover there may not be any scope of future litigation.

The Registration Act, 1908

17. Documents of which registration is compulsory.

Supreme Court of India

Ram Charan Das vs Girjanandini Devi And Ors on 20 April, 1965

Equivalent citations: 1966 AIR 323, 1965 SCR (3) 841

Author: M R.

Bench: Mudholkar, J.R.

Supreme Court of India

Sita Ram Bhama vs Ramvatar Bhama on 23 March, 2018

Bench: A Bhushan, A Sikri

REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO................OF 2018

Kumar Doab (FIN) 26 December 2018

Website and O/o Revenue Authority in the state …

DEED OF FAMILY SETTLEMENT

might be avaibale on website also..

Also check for agreement for family settlement and registration of same..and subsequently registration of deed.

You have posted many queries on contentious issues in many threads..

Rest check, and recheck locally with a very able LOCAL counsel as already suggested. The counsels at your location do not charge Huge FEE and the FEE is highly reasonable. Then jurisdictional High Court is nearby. You can find proficient counsels.

If you are sure that you can handle the matter on your own and Do Not need a lawyer; GO ahead.

Even a Senior and Seasoned Deedwriter can guide and help.

As you must have found out in other thread, the entity posting forquery is not proficient in such matters. Avoid such IT’s and Entities.

Such IT’s and Entities otherwise also push unsuspecting querists to unnecessary and very expensive recourses, which are otherwise NOT Required, to FLEECE for the FEE.

Such IT’s and Entities operate in Gangs at online portals.