Navigating property inheritance laws: What you need to know this Women’s Day
Women’s Day 2025: Here’s a guide to property inheritance, will validity, and asset distribution—empowering women to navigate their legal rights
As we celebrate Women’s Day, it’s important to reflect on women's rights and legal protections when it comes to inheritance and property ownership. While legal frameworks continue to evolve, understanding women's rights in matters such as joint property ownership, succession, and will contestation is essential.
Inheritance laws, especially under Hindu law, govern how property is passed down to legal heirs, and prescribe the rights of women in respect of the said properties. Whether you’re navigating the complexities of a joint property, contesting a will, or seeking to understand your legal share, answers to these queries clarify your rights as a woman in property inheritance and succession, empowering you to make informed decisions in personal and legal matters.
1. My husband and I are working professionals. We have bought three freehold joint properties from our funds and resources. We have no children. If my husband dies first, do I inherit the properties by default? What happens if I predecease my husband?
If your husband predeceases you and does not leave behind a Will, his share in the joint properties shall be inherited by his Class I legal heirs, you and his surviving mother, in equal proportion. If you predecease your husband and do not leave behind a Will, your share in the joint properties will be inherited by your Class I legal heirs, who in this case is your husband.
2. My father was Hindu and passed away in the year 2015. He died intestate, leaving behind my mother, me and my brother as his only class I legal heirs. Under Hindu law, what are my rights to his property?
Your mother, yourself, and your brother are the only Class I legal heirs left behind by your father; therefore, you all shall be entitled to an equal share of your father’s property.
3. My husband is the sole owner of a freehold apartment and wishes to include me as a joint owner of the said apartment, without the requirement to pay any consideration. Can he relinquish his half ownership share in the said apartment in my favour?
Relinquishment of share in a property cannot be made in favour of a person who is not already a co-owner. As your husband is the sole owner of the said apartment, a transfer of ownership share in the said apartment in your favour, without any consideration, can be done through a gift. He may execute a Gift Deed to transfer half share of the said Apartment in your favour. The Gift Deed should also be duly stamped and registered.
4. My elder brother and I are planning to purchase an entirely constructed residential property comprising the ground floor, first floor, second floor, third floor and terrace. My brother will buy the ground floor, first floor and garden area, whereas I will purchase the second-floor, third floor and terrace area. Who will have the right to keep title documents of the entire property?
The buyer purchasing the portion with greater value will receive a chain of title documents for the entire property. However, such buyer/prospective owner is bound to furnish the title deeds of the whole property upon reasonable requests made by the owner of the other portion having lesser value.
Also Read: Women Homebuyers on the Rise: 30% invest in property, 69% buy for end-use: ANAROCK Report
5. My deceased father owned a residential flat in a group housing society, and during his lifetime, he nominated my brother as a nominee in the records of the society. My mother had predeceased my father. Can my brother claim sole ownership of this flat?
You and your brother are presently the only remaining Class I legal heirs of your father, and presuming that your father did not leave behind a Will, the said flat shall stand bequeathed in your and your brother’s favour, with each of you having an equal and undivided share in the said flat. Your brother does not get any ownership rights over the said flat merely by being appointed as a nominee regarding your father’s membership in the society.
6. We are a Hindu family. After my mother’s demise, my father remarried. My father does not have any children from his remarriage. My sister and I are his only children. How will his properties be inherited?
If your father does not write a will, upon his demise, his properties shall devolve in equal proportion to his second wife, you, and your sister.
7. My brother and I jointly inherited a property from my mother. Due to certain differences, we now wish to separate our shares in the said property by executing and registering a partition deed. Are there any stamp duty implications on our inheritance and partition?
Until you and your brother continue to own this jointly-owned property, no stamp duty implications would arise if you had merely inherited this property. However, suppose you and your brother decide to demarcate each one’s ownership by allocating specific portions of the said property to each other by executing and registering a Partition Deed of the inherited property. In that case, appropriate stamp duty shall be payable on such Partition Deed.
8. According to the wishes of my deceased husband, under his Will, I am to inherit all his properties. However, his mother is contesting that the Will is not valid as it is unregistered. Is this correct?
Under the Indian Registration Act of 1908, it is not mandatory to register a Will. So, even an unregistered Will, if it is executed according to applicable law, is valid.
Mona Dewan is Managing Associate, ZEUS Law Associates and
Sangini Tyagi is Senior Associate, ZEUS Law Associates.
ZEUS Law Associates is a full service corporate commercial law firm. One of its areas of specialization is real estate advisory and litigation practice.
