a memorandum of family settlement written on a plain paper signed by my uncle and father and 2 witness in the year 2004 which has content of partition of property which took place in the year 1995(also would like to tell you that the possession of the properties has been taken by both the parties in that very year I.e 1995 ,also memo only contains details about which property belongs to whom and as far I read it did not find any transactional statement
my question is :
1)it will be valid in court or not since it is not written on stamp paper nor registered
Good evening,
Section 17 of the Registration Act states that any document that talks about inheriting rights, extinguishing rights, title, property or interest that is mlre than the value of Rs. 100 must be registered. Section 49 of the Registration Act states that if any document is not registered as per Section 17, if can be considered inadmissible in the court of law.
There is an exception regarding family agreement made by the supreme court, stating that if the family agreement is oral, then registration is not required, and supreme court favours family agreements, since such agreements are made to prevent family strife and long court procedures of distribution of property. Hence if family agreements are mads honestly, they will need no registration.{Kale v. Deputy Director of Consolidation (1976)}
Registration of family agreement is required only when such agreement is written. A memorandum is different from family agreement, since it was made after the agreements were made, just for the purposes of documentation, but getting it registered will help it become admissible in courts of law.
In the case of Subraya M.N. v. Vittala M.N.(2016) 8 SCC 705, the Supreme Court held as under:
“There is no provision of law requiring family settlements to be reduced to writing and registered, though when reduced to writing the question of registration may arise. Binding family arrangements dealing with immovable property worth more than rupees hundred can be made orally and when so made, no question of registration arises. If, however, it is reduced to the form of writing with the purpose that the terms should be evidenced by it, it required registration and without registration it is inadmissible; but the said family arrangement can be used as corroborative piece of evidence for showing or explaining the conduct of the parties.”
Therefore, any written document containing details of such transfer of rights, or any such information must be registered for it to be admissible in the court of law.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Nandini
