Whenever we talk about bestowing property, there are many ways to do the same under Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and Parsi Laws. The most common way of disposing of property is through a will also be known as Testamentary Succession. The opposite of Testamentary Succession is Intestate Succession which means a person dies without making a will and his/her assets are distributed as per Hindu Succession Act 1956 and Indian Succession Act 1925.
INHERITANCE UNDER VARIOUS LAWS
HINDU LAW
As per Hindu Succession Act 1956, the following are the ways wherein intestate succession is carried out:
1. After the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005, the daughter has equal rights by birth in the coparcenary property of Joint Hindu Family in the same manner as the son. This will have a retrospective effect as well as per the latest judgment of the Supreme Court.
2. If a Hindu male dies intestate then the property will be distributed in the following order:
a. Class I heirs
b. Class II heirs
c. Agnates
d. Cognates
The order of succession will be such that the Class I heirs take the top priority in inheriting the property. If there is no Class I heirs then the first entry in Class II heirs will be preferred to those in the second entry, those in the second entry will be preferred over those in the third entry, and so on and so forth.
3. Any property (movable or immovable) acquired by a female Hindu before or after commencement of this Act, will be held by her only as the sole owner. Property acquired by way of a gift or will or any instrument or under any decree or order of a civil court or under any award where it is prescribed as a restricted estate in such property.
4. The property of a female Hindu will be bestowed on the following:
a. Firstly, sons and daughters (including children of a predeceased son or predeceased daughter) and husband
b. Secondly, the Heirs of the husband
c. Thirdly, Mother and Father
d. Fourthly, Heirs of the Father
e. Lastly, Heirs of the Mother
In case of the absence of sons or daughters (including children of the predeceased son or predeceased daughter) of the deceased female Hindu, the property (inherited from father or mother) will be bestowed on heirs of the father.
In case of absence of sons or daughters (including children of the predeceased son or predeceased daughter) of the deceased female Hindu, the property (inherited from husband or father-in-law) will be bestowed on heirs of husband.
5. Full-blood heirs are preferred over half-blood heirs of the intestate if the nature of the relationship is the same in every other aspect.
6. An unborn child who is in the womb at the time of death of the intestate and is subsequently born alive will have the same rights to the property of the intestate in the same manner as if he/she would have been before the death of the intestate and such inheritance will be deemed to be in effect at the time of the death of the intestate.
7. Murderers and descendants of a person who ceased to be a Hindu at the time of the death of the intestate are disqualified from the succession. A person who is infected from disease, defect, or deformity will not be disqualified from succession or any other grounds.
MUSLIM LAW
Under Muslim Law, intestate succession is governed by Muslim Personal Law (Shariat). There is no difference between ancestral or self-acquired property. Any property owned by the intestate can be inherited by its successors.
In the case of birthright, Muslim law is different from Hindu law. Just because a person is born in a Muslim family, he/she will not a considered a legal heir to the property. The law of succession comes into effect only if on the death of a person. If the heir is alive after the death of the property owner then he/she will be entitled to a share in the property. However, if the heir dies before the intestate person, that heir will have no right to his property.
In the case of distribution of property, it is done in two ways- per capita or per strip distribution. The per capita distribution is followed under Sunni Law. In this method, the successors get equal distribution in the intestate person's property. The per strip distribution is followed under Shia Law. In this method, each successor is given the share of the property as per the strip he belongs to.
In the case of an unborn child, he/she is fully capable of inheriting the property if he/she is born alive. A child in the womb is presumed to be alive and the property is immediately vested in him/her. If the child is not born alive then his/her share in the property vested in him/her is automatically dispossessed and it is presumed that there was no heir after all.
Females have full rights to their share in the intestate person's property. There is no difference between males and females in case of success but the quantity that the woman receives as a share is half of the share which is received by a male. This is because a woman when married receives Mehr and maintenance but the males only have their ancestor's property in their name.
In the case of widows, they are not excluded from the succession. A widow can inherit one-fourth of the movable property of her deceased husband. However, the widow with children can inherit one-eighth of her deceased husband's property. If a Muslim man dies due to an illness and did not consummate his marriage then the widow has no right over his property. If an ill Muslim man divorces his wife then dies of that illness then the wife has the full inheritance of his property till she remarries.
In the case of escheat, if a Muslim man dies without any heir then his property is transferred to the government.
If a Muslim man marries under the provisions of the Special Marriage Act 1954 he ceases to be a Muslim and therefore will have no right to inheritance. If the man dies then his inheritance will be governed under the Indian Succession Act 1925.
CHRISTIAN LAW
The Indian Succession Act, 1925 defines Indian Christians as a person who is a native of India or claims to be of unmixed Asiatic descent and professes any form of the Christian religion. If a Christian person dies intestate then his/her property is bestowed on the wife or husband or on the kindred of the deceased.
If the intestate has left behind a widow or lineal descendant then one-third of the property will go to the widow and the rest two-thirds of the property will be received by the lineal descendant. If the intestate dies leaving a widow but no lineal descendant but other kindred are left behind then one half of the property will go to the widow and the other half will go to the kindred. If there is no kindred then the whole property will go to the widow.
If the intestate has not left behind any widow then his property will be inherited by lineal descendants or to those who are his kindred. If there are no kindred then the property will go to the Government.
If a Christian woman dies intestate then her widower will have the same rights to her property as a widow has concerning her deceased husband's property.
Distribution of property among lineal descendants will be done in three ways:
1. Intestate is survived by child or children: If there are no lineal descendants of the children of the deceased then the property will go to the surviving child or property will be equally distributed among the surviving children.
2. Intestate is survived by only grandchild or grandchildren: If the intestate is survived by an only grandchild or grandchildren and there is no lineal descendant of a deceased grandchild then the property goes to the grandchild or equally distributed among grandchildren.
3. Intestate is survived by great-grandchildren or remoter lineal descendants: In this case, the property will go to lineal descendants who were nearest to the intestate by degree whether they are great-grandchildren or all in a remote degree.
Distribution of property in case of no lineal descendants will be done in the following ways:
1. If the intestate's father is alive then he will inherit the property.
2. Intestate's father is dead but his mother, brother/s and sister/s are alive: If intestate's father dies but his mother, brother/s and sister/s are alive and there are no children of any pre-deceased brother or sister then the property will be equally distributed between the mother, brother/s and sister/s.
3. Intestate's father is dead but his mother, brother/s and sister/s, and children of any deceased brother or sister are alive: The property will be equally distributed between the mother, brother, or sister or any children of any deceased brother or sister. The children will inherit equal shares of the shares inherited by their deceased parents.
4. Intestate's father is dead but his mother and children of any deceased brother or sister are alive: The property will be equally divided between the mother and surviving children of the deceased brother or sister. Such children will inherit the shares of their parents which they would have taken had they been alive.
5. Intestate is survived only by the mother: The whole property will be bestowed on the mother.
6. Intestate has neither mother nor father nor lineal descendants: The property will be equally divided between the intestate's brothers and sisters and their children as such. Such children will inherit the shares of their parents.
7. Intestate has neither mother nor father nor lineal descendants nor brother nor sister: The property will be equally divided among his relatives who are in the nearest degree of kindred to him.
PARSI LAW
Chapter III of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 states special rules about the distribution of a Parsi intestate's property. The property is divided into the following ways:
1. Distribution of property between widow, widower, children, and parents: If the intestate leaves behind widow/widower and children, the property will be equally divided. If the intestate dies without leaving widow/widower but leaves behind children then the property will be divided equally among the children. If the intestate leaves behind one or more parents in addition to children of widows/widowers and children, the property will be divided among the parents in such a way that each parent receives a share equal to half the share of each child.
2. Division of share in the property of predeceased child of intestate leaving lineal descendants: If a child of an intestate dies within the lifetime of the intestate, the division of the child's share in the property will be distributed in the following ways-
a. If the predeceased child was a son, then the property will be divided equally among his widow and children.
b. If the predeceased child was a daughter her share will be equally distributed among her children.
c. If any child of the predeceased child has also died during the lifetime of the intestate, the share which such child would have inherited had he/she been alive during the lifetime of the intestate will be equally divided in the manner according to (a) and (b) as the case may be.
d. If a remoter lineal descendant of the intestate dies during the lifetime of the intestate, point (c) will apply mutatis mutandis to the division of any share which he/she would have received had he/she been alive at the time of intestate's death because of the death of all intestate's lineal descendants directly between him/her and the intestate.
3. Where there is no lineal descendant but leaves a widow/widower or widow/widower of a lineal descendant: The property will be distributed as per the following-
a. If widow/widower left behind of the intestate but no widow/widower of a lineal descendant, then the property will be bestowed on the widow/widower of the intestate.
b. If both widow/widower of the intestate and widow/widower of the lineal descendant is left behind then 1/3rd of the property will be bestowed on the widow/widower of the intestate, 1/3rd of the property will be bestowed on the widow/widower of the lineal descendant. If there is more than one widow/widower of the lineal descendant then the leftover 1/3rd will be bestowed equally among them.
c. If no widow/widower of the intestate is left but there is a widow/widower of the lineal descendant then 1/3rd of the property will be bestowed on the widow/widower of the lineal descendant. If there is more than one widow/widower of the lineal descendant then 2/3rd of the property will be equally divided between such widows/widowers.
d. The remainder of the property after division as mentioned in (a) or (b) or (c) will be bestowed on next-of-kin of the intestate mentioned in Part I of Schedule II. The next-of-kin standing first in Part I is preferred to the person standing in the second, the second to the third, and vice versa.
e. If there are no relatives for receiving the remainder of the property then it will be distributed among the people mentioned in this part.
4. Where there are no lineal descendants nor widow/widower nor a widow of any lineal descendant: In this case, the next-of-kin of the intestate as mentioned in Part II of Schedule II of the Act will inherit the property. The next-of-kin standing first in Part II is preferred to the person standing in the second, the second to the third, and vice versa.
5. When there are no relatives left to succeed under this Chapter: In this case, the property will be divided equally among the intestate's relatives who are in the nearest degree of kindred to him.
CONCLUSION
To summarise, it can be said that every law has a different way of distributing the property of the intestate but the way of distribution is quite similar i.e. all heirs will receive equal shares of the intestate's property.
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