Equal Inheritance Right to Daughters in Ancestral Property

In the year 2005, parliament amended the Hindu Succession Act. It governs the division of property among an undivided family. Daughters are now allowed to have equal rights as a son. They were made coparceners in the ancestral property. (Who is a coparcener? Ans: A coparcener shares with others inheritance in the estate of a common ancestor.) There was confusion over whether this change applies only after 9 September 2005 or also to cases before that date. The Supreme Court has clarified that it applies to earlier cases as well.

Followings are major findings by supreme court:

Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act confers the status of coparcener on a daughter born before or after the amendment, in the same manner as a son. All women now have rights in ancestral property just as brothers do, irrespective of their date of birth.

A partition that was already effected before 20 December 2004 is protected and cannot be reopened by a daughter. Under the proviso to Section 6(1), the amendment does not affect any disposition, alienation, or partition that took place before that date, provided the partition was made by a registered deed or by a decree of a court. The father of the coparcener need not have been alive on 9 September 2005. Subject to those saved transactions, a fresh claim can be made.

Daughters are to be given a share equal to that of a son in pending proceedings or in an appeal. A plea of oral partition cannot be accepted on the basis of oral evidence alone. All pending matters are to be decided within six months.

Daughter’s right does not depend on the father’s date of death

In Vineeta Sharma v. Rajesh Sharma (2020), the Supreme Court held that Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, as amended in 2005, is retroactive: a daughter becomes a coparcener by birth, and her right does not depend on whether her father was alive on 9 September 2005. The earlier view in Prakash v. Phulavati — that the father had to be living on that date for the daughter to claim — was expressly overruled. A daughter is therefore entitled to a coparcenary share irrespective of whether the father died before the amendment.

What is your right as a daughter with regards to my father’s property?

You have the same right over your father’s property as your brothers. In case of ancestral property, you have a right to it by virtue of birth and can make a claim over it. In case of self-acquired property, if your father died without a will, you will have an equal right to it as you are a class I heir along with your brothers and mother. Hence, you can file a petition in the court seeking a right to the said property. In case of self-acquired property of a deceased, you can make a claim over it within 3 years from the date of death. If the property is unregistered, you can file a petition in the Court for determination of your right.

We have very few cases where daughters of the family went to court and challenged rights in ancestral properties. It will take a lot of cultural change in society, but if a daughter chooses to do so, this law will now back her.