Law of succession

,inheritance, & Women

property rights
Right to property
 Men and woman both have a right to property
 Every woman has a right to acquire and hold
property for herself in her own names
 If a woman has any property, she can do whatever
she wants with it
 A woman has a right to receive her earnings herself
and keep them or spend them as she wants
 A woman has every right to buy or sell property the
same way as men have
Hindu Women’s Right to Property
 There is a law called Hindu Succession Act, 1956,
which explains what will happen to the property of a
Hindu Male or Female after his or her death.
 A Hindu male has a share in the family’s ancestral
property by birth. Ancestral property is that property
which a male Hindu gets from his ancestors.
 Women do not have a share in ancestral property by
birth. They are entitled to get the expense of their
food, shelter, clothing, education and marriage out
of this property.
 A male Hidu can make a WILL of his share in
ancestral property
 If he doesn’t make a Will of his share, then, upon
his death, his share of the property will be divided
amongst his Class 1 heirs.
 His heirs will be his:
Sons Daughters Widow Mother
Children of Children of Widowed Children of
a pre- a pre- daughter in pre-
deceased deceased law deceased
son daughter grandson
 In case there is no person, specified as Class
1 heirs, then property will be dividede among
Class 2 heirs
 A male can Will away his self-acquired
property too. In that case, the property will be
given to the persons mentioned in the Will.
But if there is no Will then the self- acquired
property of a Hindu male is also be divided
amongst the above persons equally.
 It was prior to 1956, the female members
were entitled only to enjoy the benefits of the
property during their life time. Now they have
a full right over their property. They can sell it,
gift it or Will it away to whomsoever they
wish.
 It is the right of the mother, grandmother,
unmarried sisters, widowed sisters, widowed
daughters-in-law and deserted sisters to stay
in the family house as long as it is there.
 The jewellery and all presents that have been given
to any lady member during her life time is called her
STRIDHAN and belongs to her. She is the absolute
owner of such Stridhan and can do as she wishes to
do with it.
 If a Hindu woman dies without making a will, her
property will also be divided among her/heirs
according to the law. A woman’s class 1 heirs are
her sons, her daughter who have died before her. If
none of these relations are there, her property will
go to her husband’s heir
Muslim women’s Property Rights
 There are two broad schools of Muslim Law in India-
Hanafi & Shia
 Are there any difference between Sunni and Shia

law of Inheritance?
Hanfi rules only count those relatives as heirs whose
relation to the deceased person is through a male-
son’s daughters, son’s son and father’s mother.
Shia include even those persons as heirs who are
related to the deceased through a female eg.
Daughter’s son, daughter’s daughter
 Succession & Inheritance
A few general rules of inheritance are:
If all the heirs claiming property are equally near in
relation to the deceased they all have an equal right
in property
A male takes double the share of a female
If one is related to the deceased through another,
one does not inherit as long as that person is alive
A nearer heir excludes the remoter one
 A woman has certain rights to property in
inheritance, maintenance and Mahr. She is
entitled to inherit property as:
Daughter
Widow
Grandmother
Mother
Son’s daughter
 Property division: relationship &
number of the heir
 Widow
Share in her husband’s property
Will get 1/8th share (when there are children)
Will get 1/4th share (when there are no children)
Share of two/more widows
Together will get 1/8th share (when there are
children)
Together will get 1/4th share (when there are no
children
 Daughter
Share in father’s property
Share of half (when has no brother)
Half of whatever share the brother gets
A man takes double the share of a female
 Mother

Share in son’s property

Will get 1/3rd share of her son’s property (when there
are no children)
Will get 1/6th share of her son’s property (when there
are children)
Grand mother
Share in her grandson’s property
Maternal grandmother will get 1/6th share (only
if there is no mother or grandfather)
Paternal grandmother gets a share of the total
property (only if there is no mother or
grandfather)
Dower or Maher
 Dower
A sum of money or some other property which the wife
is entitled to get from the husband on marriage.
It can be fixed at any time before marriage or at the
time of marriage.
Two types of Maher
Prompt: amount given to the wife immediately on
marriage
Deferred: amount given to the wife when her marriage
has ended- either by death of her husband or by
divorce.
Will or Wasiyat
 Will
The bequest of property (or money) after one’s death
to a particular person.
How much of his/her property can a Muslim bequeath?
A Muslim cannot bequeath more than 1/3rd of his total
property
(but if a woman has no blood relations & her husband
would be the only heir, then she can Will 2/3rd of her
property in his favour)
This amount is calculated after the funeral costs and
debts have been paid.
Gift or Hiba
 When a certain property or thing or money is
given by one person to another person who
accepts it.
 Hiba is made without the giver getting
anything in return
 All types of property may be given as a gift
 For a gift to be valid, there must be:
 Declaration of the wish to make the gift
 Acceptance of the gift
 Giving of the gift to the other person
A Muslim’s Will can be written or oral. There is no
specific form for it but the intention of making a
Will must be clear from it. It is better to make a
Will in writing. A Will can be written on an
ordinary paper.
 Christian laws of succession

 The Christian succession laws were codified by the

Indian Succession Act of 1865, and later by the
Indian Succession Act,1925.
 Widow and Children –

Widow/widower will receive 1/3rd of the estate

Sons/daughters will share the rest of the estate
equally.
If there is no lineal descendent, ½ of the property shall
go to the widow/widower and the other ½ will go to
those who are kindred (directly related by blood
through a lawful marriage) to him/her.
 If has no lineal descendants or kindred, the
entire property shall revolve upon the
widow/widower.
 If three is no lineal descendant and the value
of the property is less than Rs. 5000/- the
property shall devolve upon the
widow/widower.
 Regarding the shares of predeceased, both
the boys and girls are entitled to equal share.
 If a son/daughter has pre-deceased, then
his/her children will succeed to the share of
the father/mother which would have
succeeded to had he/she been alive.
THANK YOU