Distribution of property after death, if there is no Will.

Distribution of property after death, if there is no Will.

General rules of succession in the case of males.-

The property of a male Hindu dying intestate shall devolve according to the provisions of this Chapter-

(a) firstly, upon the heirs, being the relatives specified in class 1 of the Schedule.

(b) secondly, if there is no heir of class I, then upon the heirs, being the relatives specified in class II of the Schedule.

(c) thirdly, if there is no heir of any of the two classes, then upon the agnates of the deceased, and

(d) lastly, if there is no agnate, then upon the cognate of the deceased.

COMMENTS

Ownership of property

When a Hindu inherits the property from his father under section 8 he takes it as his separate property and not as joint family property vis-a-vis his sons; Commissioner of Wealth-tax v. Chander Sen, AIR 1986 SC 1752.

Scope

The property in section 8 includes agricultural land also; Tukaram Genba Jadhav v. Laxman Genba Jadhav, AIR 1994 Bom 247.

9. Order of succession among heirs in the Schedule.-

Among the heirs specified in the Schedule, those in class I shall take simultaneously and to the exclusion of all other heirs, those in the first entry in class II shall be preferred to those in the second entry, those in the second entry shall be preferred to those in the third entry, and so on in succession.

10. Distribution of property among heirs in class 1 of the Schedule. -

The property of an intestate shall be divided among the heirs in class I of the Schedule in accordance with the following rules:-

Rule1.- The intestate’s widow, or if there are more widow than one, all the widows together, shall take one share.

Rule 2.- The surviving sons and daughter and the mother of the intestate shall each take one share.

Rule 3.- The heirs in the branch of each pre-deceased son or each pre-deceased daughter of the intestate shall take between them one share.

Rule 4.- The distribution of the share referred to in Rule 3-

(i) among the heirs in the branch of the pre-deceased son shall be son made that his widow (or widows together) and the surviving sons and daughters get equal portions, and the branch of his pre-deceased sons gets the same portion.

(ii) among the heirs in the branch of the pre-deceased daughter shall be so made that the surviving sons and daughters get equal portions.

11. Distributions of property among heirs in class II of the Schedule. -

The property of an intestate shall be divided between the heirs specified in any one entry in class II of the Schedule so that they share equally.