Goodwill is the best way to resolve a family property dispute

“To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.” -Confucius

Disputes among relatives are a common sight in India, given that the joint family system still exists. Generally, in India, the question arises when there is no clear division as to the ownership of property.

Conflict is an omnipresent characteristic of a family life. At the point when a property is a self-procured one, the doctrine of family settlement stricto sensu may not be relevant in a situation where two people pronounce one another to be holders of the property having equivalent share in that. A game plan between them by the method of family settlement is reasonable in law. Such a family settlement is not just in connection to the title of the property but additionally in connection to the utilization and ownership thereof.

The Supreme Court in Ram Charan Das v. Girja Nandini Devi & Ors (1965) observed that “the word ‘family’ is not to be understood in a narrow sense of being a group of persons whom the law recognizes as having a right of succession or having a claim to a share in the disputed property.”

It may be seen in suitable judiciousness on account of a family settlement as constituting a gathering of persons who are distinguished in law as having a right of possession. All that is fundamental is that the parties should be identified with each one in turn somehow to have a conceivable case or a similarity of a case on some solid grounds.

The consideration for a family settlement is the desire to secure peace, harmony and goodwill among the relations. For such a settlement to be valid, it must be entered into bona fide and voluntarily, without fraud, coercion or undue influence, and each party must have at least an antecedent claim or a possible claim on some reasonable ground in the property. Once parties who had such a claim genuinely settle their disputes, the settlement and the rights it confirms in favour of one another cannot afterwards be challenged. A family settlement can also be a fair compromise between parties, even where there was an earlier suit. Where the arrangement merely records or acknowledges existing rights, it need not be registered; but where it actually creates or transfers an interest in immovable property, it must be reduced to writing and registered under the Registration Act, 1908 to be effective.

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