Property Rights of Daughters and Daughters-in-Law in India
In India, daughters and daughters-in-law have distinct laws and rights concerning property division. Daughters can claim an equal share of the ancestral property under the Hindu Succession Act. This article covers various customs that determine the status of property and the property rights of Indian daughters and daughters-in-law.
Property Rights for Women
Despite numerous reports of property rights being denied to daughters and daughters-in-law in India, it is crucial to note that, according to the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act of 2005, women in the household are entitled to an equal share of the property, similar to men. This Act underwent revision due to a recent ruling by the Indian Supreme Court (SC). Irrespective of when the parents passed away, the daughters now possess equal rights to the property that belonged to their parents. However, it is essential to remember that the daughter and the daughter-in-law may inherit substantially different properties.
Recent Supreme Court Ruling on Daughters’ Property Rights
Daughters were previously only eligible to receive their share under the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act of 2005 if their father had passed away after September 9, 2005. Nevertheless, the daughters now have equal rights to their father’s ancestral property, regardless of the year of their father’s passing, as per the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling.
In the case of the father’s self-acquired property, the father can choose to give the property to whomever he wants through his free will. However, if the father dies without writing a Will, his property will be equally divided among the legal heirs, which includes daughters. The SC has further stated that if the daughter dies while her father is alive, her children can claim their mother’s share of her grandfather’s ancestral property.
Changes in the 1956 Hindu Succession Act
After amendments to the Hindu Succession Act in 2005, daughters were granted the same rights as coparceners when it came to inheriting property. Due to the amendment’s restriction on cases arising after the 2005 announcement date, the circumstances were murky. To clarify this, the Supreme Court (SC) held in a related historic decision on August 11, 2020, that daughters, regardless of the date the amendment became law, have the same rights as coparcenary rights given to them at birth. As a result, even in cases where the father was not living when the changes took effect in 2005, the Act’s regulations still apply. Furthermore, the daughter’s rights to co-parent property remain unaffected by her marriage.
Status of Ancestral Property under the 1956 Hindu Succession Act
As per the 2005 amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the daughter is now considered a ‘coparcener’ in a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) under Section 6(1) of the Act. According to the Black Law Dictionary, a ‘coparcener’ is a person who holds an estate jointly and to whom it descends entirely; in other words, a person who has acquired concurrent ownership through descent. Because of this, a daughter born into a HUF property has the same property rights as a coparcener. Regardless of her marital status, the daughter is still a coparcener and is entitled to request the division of the HUF property. Furthermore, no matter her marital status (married, single, or widow), the daughter will bear the same obligations as a son, asserts Advocate Sudhir Reddy, the founder of Reddy and Reddy Law Firm.
Definition of a Coparcener
A coparcener is a person who acquires legal title to their ancestral property by being born into a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), according to Hindu succession law. Birth into a Hindu Utpalaksha (HUF) automatically makes a person a coparcener under the 1956 Hindu Succession Act.
Property Rights of a Daughter as a Coparcener
A coparcener is a person who shares in an inheritance jointly with other people. Daughters have the following property rights in an ancestral property because they are coparceners:
- By birth, a portion of the HUF property
- Demand division in a property with HUFs
- If she is the eldest coparcener, she will be a Karta, with the right to have her share of the HUF property pass to her legal heirs in the case of an intestate death.
Property Rights of a Daughter-in-Law
The HUF grants membership status to a daughter-in-law instead of making her a coparcener. Through her husband’s portion of the HUF property (either voluntarily transferred by the husband or received after the husband’s death), the daughter-in-law gains rights. The late mother-in-law’s share will be split equally among her children, with the daughter-in-law receiving rights only on her husband’s share.
Rights of a Daughter Regarding Her Self-Acquired Property
A child of a parent does not have a birthright to property that the parent self-acquired. The Rules of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, give the daughter equal rights and protection as Class 1 heirs alongside the son(s) and other legitimate heirs, who take over the property if the mother or father passes away intestate.
Property Rights of a Daughter-in-Law Regarding Her Property
Daughters-in-law have no ownership rights over their in-laws’ self-acquired possessions. She can only obtain ownership of her in-laws’ property through her husband’s share.
Praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi
The decision to give daughters an equal share of their parent’s property has recently received praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Despite the 2005 amendment, the PM stated that mothers, daughters, sisters, and other female household members must be able to claim property. It is the rationale behind the revision of the Hindu Succession Act. Previously, daughters could only be entitled to an equal share of ancestral property if their parents passed away on September 9, 2005. However, daughters now have the right to inherit property without regard to the year of death, thanks to a recent Supreme Court (SC) ruling.
Daughters now own an equal portion of the property in India due to changes made to the succession and inheritance laws over time. It implies that the daughter has a legitimate claim, unassailable in any Indian court, to both coparcenary and self-acquired property. The daughters-in-law have no legal claim to the property the in-laws have self-acquired; their property share is solely through their husbands.