Right of daughter on father's property according to Indian Succession Act

Introduction:

A large number of people die without making a

will

and their property goes to their sons.

In this situation, how many rights do daughters have over their father’s property?

Right of daughter on father's

property:

It is often seen that after the death of parents, their land and property get divided among their sons. Daughters did not get any share from it. The supreme court on January 2022 conferred daughters with equal rights to father’s property even before the codification of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, and said that the inheritance would apply to the father if the father had died intestate (without making a

will)

before 1956.Before understanding further, we need to understand what the Indian Succession Act,1956 tells us about a daughter’s right on a father’s property.

Indian Succession Act, 1956:

Under this Act females are granted ownership of all property acquired either before or after the signing of the Act, abolishing their limited powers. daughters having no rights to their father’s ancestral property.

1.

Ancestral property:



The ancestral property is the property a person squares from his ancestor.

2.

Self-acquired property:



The property acquired by the person in his lifetime.

Amendment of Hindu succession act 2005:

 

This Amendment of the Hindu Succession Act,2005 explains that the daughter is also a coparcener of a joint Hindu family.

It has given daughters equal rights on their father’s acquired as well as ancestral property like sons.

 

A date was mentioned in this act that is 9th September 2005, which says if the father dies a daughter has the right to his father’s property. There are certain judgments that state if the

father dies before that date, a daughter has no right on his father’s property. Although the legislative intent of the Amending Act was clear as is the case with any other amendment in a statute, it become the subject of intense legal debate and resulted in

various courts interpreting the same in divergence.

 

Vinita Sharma Vs Rakesh Sharma Case 2020 :

 

This particular confusion is solved in the case of Vinita Sharma Vs Rakesh Sharma in 2020. The honorable court said that right of the daughter on her father’s property came with her birth so the father doesn’t need to be alive on 9 September 2005.

Again, Amendment which is made on the 21st of January, this judgment states that the selfacquired property of a person who died intestate in 1949 would devolve on his sole daughter despite the man living in the join family and could not have passed on to the deceased person brother based on the survivorship law in force before the 1956 and upon his children.

 

Referring to the ancient text and smritis, justice Murari said, it is clear that the smritis the commentaries are written by a various renowned learned person and even judicial pronouncement has recognized the rights of several female heirs, the wives, and the

daughters being the foremost of them.

The bench said that the succession of the property before 1956 would also include the daughter’s right. If the property of the male dying intestate is self-acquired or obtained in the partition of coparceners or a family property the same would devolve by the inheritance and not by the survivorship, and the daughter of such Hindu would inherit such property in preference to other collateral.

 

After the father’s death, in the absence of a will , daughters can claim equal shares of property over their father’s ancestral as well as acquired property from their brothers.

Complete guide on how to write a Will to avoid property dispute