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Deepak agarwal (Business )     16 October 2024

Notarized family agreement

A notorized family agreement was made in the year 1995, the highlights of the same is as follows :-

A land which was registered in the name of one of my cousins would actually belong to his father & his father's other 4 brothers.  The registered owner declared in the agreement that he would not claim any rights to the property anytime in future which has been signed in the presence of three witnesses and all the parties involved. Now the cousin refuses to abide by the agreement. Is the agreement valid in the Court of law ? The property is located in the state of Rajasthan. And if the agreement is valid will it attract any court fees and if yes what would be the amount of the court fee  ?

 

Please guide and oblige

 

 

 



Learning

 17 Replies

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate)     16 October 2024

The unregistered agreement is not legally valid hence it cannot be enforced through court of law.

kavksatyanarayana (subregistrar/supdt.(retired))     17 October 2024

Yes.  The un registered family agreement is not valid.

adv.raghavan (Advocate,9444674980)     17 October 2024

If you have not informed me on what grounds your cousin is contesting the agreement, then I cannot advise you properly. Court fees differ from state to state. Kindly check with local counsel for further clarification.

Deepak agarwal (Business )     17 October 2024

I am confused. As per our local counsel the notorized unregistered family agreement is enforceable in the court of law. My cousin is contesting the agreement out of malafide & greedy intentions.

Real Soul.... (LEGAL)     17 October 2024

The Agreement is biding once signed by parties but the terms and conditions in the agreement should matter the most.

 However the title of property can be transferred through a registered document. 

You can file suit for specific performance to force your cousin to fulfill the obligations of contract 

Deepak agarwal (Business )     17 October 2024

Thank you sir. Your words are inspiring and helping me keeping my hopes alive. But what is concerning me is that different counsels have different opinions. I want to move to the court with caution, better if the risk reward ratio is in my favour. 

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate)     17 October 2024

All the fingers are not alike hence you may choose the opinion that suits you best and proceed otherwise you take a decision to ignore all the opinions of this forum and proceed as advised by your own advocate

1 Like

Advocate Bhartesh goyal (advocate)     17 October 2024

Unregistered and notarized family agreement ( settlement  ) is not a valid agreement and not admissible in evidence hence cannot  br enforced.

Dr. J C Vashista (Advocate )     17 October 2024

Family arrangement can be arrived at orally

Family arrangement can be arrived at even orally. Its terms can be recorded in writing as a memorandum of what has been settled among the parties.

Such a memorandum is nothing but the minutes of what has already been agreed to by the parties. The memorandum thus drawn up does not create or extinguish any right to immovable property of its own.

In TekBahadurBhujil v Debi Singh Bhujil and Ors (AIR 1966 SC 292), the SC holds:

Family arrangement as such can be arrived at orally. Its terms may be recorded in writing as a memorandum of what had been agreed upon between the parties. The memorandum need not be prepared for the purpose of being used as a document on which future title of the parties be founded. It is usually prepared as a record of what had been agreed upon so that there be no hazy notions about it in future. It is only when the parties reduce the family arrangement in writing with the purpose of using that writing as proof of what they had arranged and, where the arrangement is brought about by the document as such, that the document would require registration as it is then that it would be a document of title declaring for future what rights in what properties the parties possess“.

Oral family settlement needs no registration

A family settlement made orally and acted upon based on the oral settlement in the past but recorded subsequently in the form of a Memorandum, needs no registration. In such a case, the memorandum of family settlement prepared on the basis of previous oral settlement which has already been acted upon, does not require compulsory registration under the Registration Act. Such an unregistered family settlement deed is admissible in evidence, as well (MunnaLal (Dead) By Lrs. And Ors. vsSurajBhan And Ors :AIR 1975 SC 1119).

There is a distinction between a document of family settlement containing the terms and recitals of a family arrangement and a mere memorandum prepared after the family arrangement had already been made either for the purpose of having a record of such division or for passing on information to the court or for making necessary mutation.  

In the former case, the document creates some rights to the parties involved, whereas in the latter case, the memorandum itself does not create or extinguish any rights in immovable properties. Therefore, such a memorandum in the latter case needs no compulsory registration under Section 17(2) of the Registration Act.

1 Like

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate)     17 October 2024

Dear Vashista Sir,

The querist's query pertains to the notarised family agreement, which is termed as an 'unregistered family agreement'.  It is not a memorandum of the minutes of the oral agreement, but it is an agreement reduced to writing hence it being an unregistered agreement, it is not enforceable in law. 

Your opinion is about the oral agreement, which if supported by the memorandum, shall be considred as legally valid settlement/agreement.  Hence your opinion is legally valid if that was the subject discussed here and of course it is not disputable. 

Deepak agarwal (Business )     17 October 2024

Dear Kalaisevan Sir,

What does the term "Memorandum" stand for in the language of law ?  In our case oral agreement has been transformed into notorized agreement though unregistered, what is the difference?  Pls enlighten.

 

Regards

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate)     19 October 2024

The memorandum will contain the instructions of disbursing or distributing the property on the basis of the oral agreement or oral settlement conditions, whereas you have prepared the notaised agreement which renders the unregistered family settlement invalid and not enforceable in law.

Deepak agarwal (Business )     19 October 2024

Dear Kalaiselvan Sir,

I think I'll only be able to present the facts if I can share the copy of the agreement with you. If you are interested I can send you the same if you kindly share your your email id.

Thanks & Regards

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate)     19 October 2024

I cannot take any interest of the issues concerned with you on my own, if you need to consult then you may choose an expert lawyer from this forum or one from outside to get all your further doubts clarified 

If you still insist on contacting me then you can send a PM to me and obtain my personal number to consult me, on prior appointment 


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