According to the sec 8 of the Hindu Succession Act 1956 : General rules of succession in the case of H indu male dying inestates – the property of a male Hindu dying inestate shall devolve according to the provision. Dying inestate covers both situations of dying either without having made any will or having made an invalid will.
- Firstly, upon the heirs , being the relatives specified in class I of the schedule ;
- Secondly, if there is no heirs of class I, then upon the heirs, being relatives specified in class II of the schedule;
- Thirdly , if there is no heir of any of the two classes, then upon the agnates of the deceased; and
- Lastly, if there is no agnate, then upon the cognates of the deceased.
Under the Hindu Succession act Heirs means any person, male or female who is entitled to succeed to the property of an estate under this act .,the heirs to a deceased Hindu person property are primarily categorized into class I and class II heirs. Class I heirs are one who inherit simultaneously.
If there are no class I heirs, the property then devolves upon the class II heirs.
Class I heirs: These heirs inherit first,including:
1. Widow: The surviving wife of the deceased.
2. Son : The son of the deceased.
3. Daughter: The daughter of the deceased.
4. Mother: The mother of the deceased.
5. Son of a pre-deceased son: Grandson from a deceased son.
6. Daughter of a pre-deceased son: Granddaughter from a deceased son.
7 Son of a pre-deceased daughter : Grandson of deceased daughter.
8. Daughter of predeceased daughter: Granddaughter of deceased daughter.
9. Widow of pre-deceased son : The widow of a son who predeceased the deceased.
10. Son of pre-deceased son of pre-deceased: A great- grandson from a deceased son through a deceased son
11. Daughter of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased son :A great-granddaughter from a deceased son, through a deceased son.
Class II heirs :In the absence of class I heirs the property of deceased male devolve to class II heirs :1.Father
2. Sons’s daughter’s son
3. Son’s daughter’s daughter
4. Brother
5. Sister & others.
According to Hindu law in the absence of class I & class II heirs of the succession act the property a male deceased will devolve to the agnates or cognates.
Agnates : A person is considered to be agnate of another if their relationship is traced entirely through males e.g. father, father’s brother , son of father’s brother.
Cognates: A person is a cognate of another if their relationship involves at least one female link in the lineage e.g. mother sister daughter son’s daughter etc.
Full Blood Relation : Two person are said to be related to each other by full blood when they are descended from common ancestor by the same wife. In other words their ancestors are from father side are sibling from same biological parents or belong to same womb of a mother.
Half Blood Relation : When they are descended from a common ancestor but by different wives .In other words we can say they have same ancestors as their biological father is same but the from different womb of mother or we can say another wife of his father.
Uterine Blood Relation : Two person are said to be related to each other by uterine blood when they are descended from a common ancestress but by different husband. In other words their biological mother is same and they have common ancestress from mother’s side and their biological father are not same so their do not have common ancestor from father side.
CHIDREN BORN FROM NULL & VOID MARRIAGES.
According to sec 8 of the act children born out of null and void marriage inherit property of father with other heirs. Daughter born from void marriage included in class I heir.
(Void marriages according to the act is considered invalid from the beginning (ab – initio) according to sec 11 is void if it violates certain condition outlined in sec 5 for instance bigamy ,prohibited by customs or law, Sapindas : relatives within certain degree of kinship, (it means relationship between family members).
PARTITION
When a divided son or daughter has got the property belongings of their father in a partition whether it is ancestral property or self- acquired property of the father, they become absolute owner of their respective share and they can deal with the properties exclusively excluding their sons (as they have release their share from HUF property and parcel of that property is no longer part of the HUF property ).The son of divided son does not get right from his father by birth who is excluded by virtue of sec 8 of the Act and cannot become a Coparcener in the property in question.
UNDIVIDED PROPERTY SALE OF
Sale by only some co-owners of undivided jointly inherited property not effective ,in other words sale of undivided property within HUF needed a to adopt the right of coparceners , if the right of members are ignore or their opinion is not taken into consideration during the sale of parcel property the sale would be ineffective.
The other coparcener has a prior right to purchase the property before dealing with other
PENSION RIGHT
Right to receive pension may be termed a “property” and not a bounty, illegitimate children are, though entitle to share in property but right to receive family pension is strictly governed by rules , such right does not devolve upon all the legal heirs of the deceased. It means that the illegitimate children are not entitled to a share of the coparcenary property by birth but are only entitled to the specific share of their father.
LIMITED OWNERSHIP
On death of limited owner, succession opens and would be decided on the basis that the last male owner died on that day .It ought to say that when the last male owner of a property dies. The person likely to succeed the property is often the individual who would have inherited it under the law in force at the time of the previous owner’s death.