HINDU SUCCESSION ACT:
Succession: It talks about passing of property to legal heirs of a Hindu, when he or she dies without making a will. The moment a Hindu dies intestate, his heirs (in order of succession) become entitled to succeed to his property. The Act overrides all Hindu customs, traditions and usages and specifies the heirs entitled to such property and the order or preference among them.
Application: This Act applies to Hindus (including converted), Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists and to any person who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or a Jew.
Male Hindu: The property of an intestate Hindu male devolves on the following heirs in the order specified below:
(a) Firstly, upon his Class I heirs.
(b) Secondly, if there is no Class I heir, then upon his Class II heirs.
(c) Thirdly, if there is no Class II heir, then upon his Agnates.
(d) Fourthly, if there is no Agnate, then upon his Cognates
The order of succession is in the order specified above. Thus, Class I heirs take the property in exclusion to all others and so on and so forth. The following 12 heirs are Class I heirs –
Son, daughter, widow, mother, son/daughter of a predeceased son/daughter, widow of a predeceased son, son/daughter/widow of a predeceased son of a predeceased son. The above Class I heirs take the property in priority succession to all other heirs. Amongst themselves the distribution is as follows:
(i) The intestate’s children, mother and widow each take one equal share.
(ii) The heirs in the branch of each predeceased child take one share between them.
Class II heirs: The following heirs are Class II heirs –
I. Father II. Son’s daughter’s children and Siblings III. Daughter’s grandchildren IV. Children of Siblings V. Father’s parents, VI. Father’s widow (step-mother), Brother’s widow, VII. Father’s siblings, VIII. Mother’s parents IX. Mother’s siblings
Among the heirs specified in Class II, those in the first entry take the property simultaneously and in exclusion to those in the subsequent entries and so on and so forth.
Female Hindu:
Devolves on the following heirs in the order specified below :
(a) Firstly, upon her sons and daughters (including the children of any pre-deceased children) and husband;
(b) Secondly, upon the heirs of her husband;
(c) Thirdly, upon her parents
(d) Fourthly, upon the heirs of her father.
(e) Fifthly, upon the heirs of her mother.
The order of succession is in the order specified above. Thus, the heirs in the first entry take the property simultaneously and in exclusion to all others and so on and so forth. Thus, the children and husband of a female Hindu take the property in preference to all other heirs specified. The order of devolution as regards her husband’s heirs would be as if it was her husband’s property and he had died intestate. The same principle would apply as regards devolution on her father’s heirs. S.15 (2) creates an exception. It says if a Hindu female dying intestate and without any issue or any children or any predeceased children, any property inherited by her from her parents shall devolve upon the heirs of her father. Such property shall not devolve upon the other heirs specified u/s. 15(1) but not devolve upon her husband or his heirs.
Miscellaneous:
Disqualified Legal Heirs:
- Any heir who is related to an intestate as the widow of a pre-deceased son, the widow of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased son or the widow of a brother shall not be entitled to succeed to the property of the intestate as such widow, if on the date the succession opens, she has re-married(S.24).
- Person who commits murder or abets the commission of murder shall be disqualified from inheriting the property of the person murdered, or any other property in furtherance of the succession to which he or she committed or abetted the commission of the murder.
- Converts descendants.
- If any person is disqualified from inheriting any property under this Act, it shall devolve as if such person had died before the intestate (27).
- Disease, defect, etc., not to disqualify.6. Escheat
Agnates and Cognates: Two people are called Agnates of each other if they are related (by blood or by adoption) wholly through males. Agnates could be males or females. Thus, a father‘s brother‘s daughter is an Agnate but a father‘s sister‘s son is not an Agnate because the relation is not entirely through males.
Cognates On the other hand, two people are called Cognates of each other if they are related (by blood or by adoption) but not wholly through males. Cognates could be males or females. A mother‘s brother‘s daughter or a father‘s sister‘s son is a Cognate because the relationship is not wholly through males. The relationship of Agnates and Cognates does not extend to those relationships which arise because of marriage. Among two or more Agnates/ Cognates, the order of succession is that the heir who has fewer or no degrees of ascent is preferred. If the degrees are same then those who have fewer or no degrees of descent are preferred.
Full blood preferred to half blood, if the nature of the relationship is the same in every other respect.If two or more heirs succeed together to the property of an intestate, they shall take the property:
(a) save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, per capita and not per stirpes and
(b) as tenants-in-common and not as joint tenants.
Right of child in womb. A child who was in the womb at the time of the death of an intestate and who is subsequently born alive shall have the same right to inherit to the intestate as if he or she had been born before the death of the intestate, and the inheritance shall be deemed to vest in such a case with effect from the date of the death of the intestate.
Presumption in cases of simultaneous deaths: If two persons have died in circumstances rendering it uncertain whether either of them, and if so which, survived the other, then, for all purposes affecting succession to property, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the younger survived the elder.
Preferential right to acquire property in certain cases:
(1) Where, after the commencement of this Act, an interest in any immovable property of an intestate, or in any business carried on by him or her, whether solely or in conjunction with others, devolves upon two or more heirs specified in class I of the Schedule, and any one of such heirs proposes to transfer his or her interest in the property or business, the other heirs shall have a preferential right to acquire the interest proposed to be transferred.
(2) The consideration for which any interest in the property of the deceased may be transferred under this section shall, in the absence of any agreement between the parties, be determined by the court on application being made to it in this behalf, and if any person proposing to acquire the interest is not willing to acquire it for the consideration so determined, such person shall be liable to pay all costs of or incident to the application.
(3) If there are two or more heirs specified in class I of the Schedule proposing to acquire any interest under this section, that heir who offers the highest consideration for the transfer shall be preferred.