Hindu woman's inherited property returns to father's heir - not husband - if she dies without will: Andhra HC

The Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled on Monday, March 30, that parental property inherited by a Hindu woman shall return to her father's heir – not her husband – if she dies without leaving a valid will, according to Live Law. The court clarified that such property shall not go to her husband or his heirs.

Referring to Section 15(2)(a) of Hindu Succession Act, Justice Tarlada Rajasekhar Rao held, “The bare reading of Section 15(2)(a) of Hindu Succession Act 1956 clearly outlines that if the property is inherited by a female Hindu from her father or mother in the absence of any of child, the property of the deceased shall go to the legal heirs of father."

“The husband will not get any right over the property inherited by her from her father,” the court said.

The case involves a piece of land owned by a woman who had two granddaughters. In 2002, the woman had gifted the property to her first granddaughter. When the granddaughter died in 2005, the woman cancelled it and took the property back. She then wrote a registered will leaving the same property to her second granddaughter, who is the petitioner in this case.

The Live Law mentioned that when the petitioner's grandmother died in 2012, she sought official transfer to her name. The Revenue Divisional Officer (Respondent 3), by an order dated 10.10.2017, canceled the earlier entries which also mentioned the original owner's first granddaughter and directed necessary changes.

The deceased granddaughter's husband, however, challenged the changes before the Revisional Authority-Joint Collector (Respondent 2). The RA-JC ruled in his favour.

The second granddaughter then challenged the order before the high court, arguing that since her sister died without any child, her husband was not entitled to any right or title over the property.

The court ruled that the first granddaughter's husband has not derived any title from his deceased wife.

The court ruled: “… when the unofficial respondent is not entitled for the property pursuant to the Section 15(2)(a) of Hindu Succession Act 1956, the unofficial respondent is not entitled to claim over the property and in view of the same the gift deed executed by the original owner in favour of the wife of 5th unofficial respondent does not get any right over the property.”

The Andhra Pradesh High Court also overturned the earlier order and directed the Tehsildar to officially update the revenue records with the second granddaughter as the rightful owner.