BIG NEWS: Daughters will Inherit Fathers’ Self Acquired, Inherited Properties: Supreme Court

An important verdict was passed by the Supreme Court on Thursday that states the daughters of a Hindu man dying intestate (without a will) will be permitted to inherit self-acquired and other properties obtained by the father in the partition and also get preference over other members of the family who can inherit the property. This judgement was passed after an appeal that came from the Madras High Court that was dealing with the property rights of Hindu women and widows under the Hindu Succession Act.

What does this judgement mean?

If a property of a Hindu man dying intestate (without a will) is a self-acquired property or inherited during the partition of family property will be transferred through inheritance and not survivorship, a daughter of such a male Hindu will be permitted to inherit the property in preference to other collateral members like sons, daughters of brothers of deceased father etc. A bench of justices S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari said.

This bench was dealing with the legal issue regarding the rights of daughters to inherit the property of their fathers in absence of any other legal heir.

Justice Murari, writing the 51-page judgment for the bench, also analyzed the question of whether such property will transfer to the daughter upon the death of her father, who died without a will, by inheritance or shall transfer to father’s brother’s son by survivorship.

If a female Hindu dies intestate without leaving any will, then the property inherited by her from her father or mother would go to the heirs of her father whereas the property inherited from her husband or father-in-law would go to the heirs of the husband, the verdict said.

For more breaking news, click here.