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Daughter's Right in Fathers' Property- the Law is Finally Equal for both Genders?
Published : January 31, 2025, 12:00 AM
Updated : January 31, 2025, 12:00 AM
Author :
Vivek
Table of Contents
Traditionally, inheritance laws in many parts of the world favoured sons. However, significant advancements have been made in recent years to ensure daughters' rights in father's property. This shift promotes fairness and financial security for daughters. Let's delve into the legalities surrounding the father's property rights to the daughter, including what happens in cases with and without a will, the distinction between ancestral and self-acquired property, and how daughters can ensure their inheritance rights are respected.
Before the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, Daughters Had a Claim to Their Parents’ Property: Supreme Court
This Act states that all members of a HUF (with a common ancestor) share the ancestral property. Before going into the details of the original Hindu Succession Act (1956), let's first understand the concept of the HUF.
A HUF or a Hindu Undivided Family means a family of people descended from a common ancestor and are also related to each other by birth or marriage. Daughters could only be part of this HUF till their marriage.
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The Hindu Succession Act, 1956- Daughter's right in ancestral property
The Hindu Succession Act was developed to create uniformity in a succession of parental property and came into force on June 17, 1956. Ironically, this law also highly favoured male heirs. There were two fundamental flaws in the Act:
- Firstly, the female members of the family were not considered coparceners or people who have legal rights to the ancestral property, but 'members' who could have a share of the property and maintenance in lieu of the male members. They do not have the right to demand equal share and partition of ancestral property. This loophole was heavily exploited, and women were often denied their rights.
This law did not provide any ancestral property rights to married daughters, which is why they automatically lost their rights to their father's property as soon as their daughters were married off. The prevailing thought was that after marriage, the daughter becomes a part of someone else's family, and hence giving her a share would alienate the property.
Understanding the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005
The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 was brought in to strengthen the property rights of daughters. It clearly states that if a father passes away without leaving a will, his daughter becomes the sole heir to his property. This means she automatically gets a legal right to the property from birth, without needing approval from male relatives like her uncle's son.
According to this law, both sons and daughters have an equal share of their father's property. However, if a will specifically gives the property to male relatives instead of the daughter, she won't be able to claim any share.
It's important to understand that while this law recognises married daughters' share in fathers' property, it doesn't extend to daughters-in-law who join the family through marriage. Daughters-in-law are considered family members but can't claim their father-in-law's property under this law.
What the Supreme Court had to Say about Daughters’ Rights to Father’s Properties- Can Daughter Claim Father’s Property?
In India, the rights of daughters in the family's property have evolved over a long period of time. The Supreme Court has made some crucial rulings in this area over the years, shaping the law into what it is now.
In the case of Prakash & Ors. vs. Phulavati & Ors., daughters' rights to their parents' property were first addressed. The Supreme Court ruled in this case that, regardless of the daughters' birthdates, "the rights of coparceners under the Amendment Act, 2005 apply to the surviving daughters of living coparceners as on 9th September 2005."
Therefore, if a coparcener's father passes away prior to September 9, 2005, the coparcener's living daughter will not be entitled to the paternal property and will not be able to inherit it. In certain cases, when the coparcener has passed away before the Act's start date, the Amendment Act of 2005 will not be applicable.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Danamma v. Amar Singh that the daughter is also entitled to a share of the parent's property if the father who passed away before September 9, 2005 was a coparcener and there is a prior lawsuit pending regarding division by a male-coparcener. The Court reasoned that Section 6 of the Act is retroactively applicable and grants daughters a complete claim to the family's property.
People were confused about a daughter's part of the parental property due to the conflicting rulings in the two cases, but this was clarified in Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma & Ors.
In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that Section 6 (1) (a) of the Amendment Act, 2005 grants the coparcener an "unobstructed heritage." Regardless of whether the father was alive or deceased on the day of the amendment, a coparcener has a birthright to the inherited property. The Court further ruled that Section 6 of the Amendment Act should be implemented retroactively in order to give daughters the opportunity to inherit property based on the order of their birth.
This ruling made things clear and granted daughters the same parental property rights as sons. No matter when she was born, the amendment will likewise apply to the daughters of living coparceners.
The Purpose of the Hindu Succession Act as Legislation
With relation to the 1956 Act, the fundamental goal of the HSA was to fully eradicate all ideas of a restricted estate and to ensure perfect equality between men and women in terms of property rights. The rights of women were also declared absolute thereby answering the question “can daughters claim their father’s property?”.
The court made observations regarding sections 14 (property of a female Hindu must be her absolute property), which deals in detail with the modified Act of 2005, and 15. (general rules of succession in the case of female Hindus).
The court reasoned that the legislative intent behind enacting Section 14(1) was to remove the restriction that a Hindu woman could not claim an absolute interest in the properties she inherited but only had a life interest in the estate so inherited, meaning that her property will be treated as her absolute property.
According to Section 15(1) of the HSA, Hindu females who pass away intestate are entitled to the property according to the list of heirs provided in this subsection.
This regulation only applies to property gained through inheritance (ancestral property), which is limited to the property inherited by a Hindu female when she passes away without any heirs from her father, mother, husband, or father-in-law. Section 15(2) offers exceptions to this norm.
Property Rights of a Daughter Before 2005
Daughters did not have any coparcenary rights, only member rights (i.e. they could enjoy an equal share of the property in their lifetime). Therefore, they could not ask for an identical partition of the ancestral property as the sons. Their share in the property was largely dependent on the whims of the male members. In short, all coparceners are automatically members, but the opposite was not valid.
Who Is a Coparcener Under Hindu Law?
As stated by the Hindu Succession Act, the coparcener is part of the HUF (Hindu Undivided Family). Therefore, it has a direct legal right to ancestral property by birth. Before the amendment act was passed in 2005, only legal sons and sons of the immediate family were considered coparceners. Now, daughters are also recognized as coparceners and have an equal claim on the property.
Daughter's Right to Property After 2005
As discussed before, the right of daughters in a father's property in India is absolute now, and they have an equal claim to the property as the son. This applies to married daughters also.
But what about the mother's property? According to the Hindu succession law, any self-acquired or inherited property of the mother will naturally go to the daughter without any other direct heir (instead of the male collaterals like the mother's brother). Otherwise, both sons and daughters of a deceased woman would have an equal share in her ancestral property.
Note: Both daughters and sons cannot claim the mother's ancestral property during the mother's lifetime.
Exploring the Share of a Married Daughter in Her Father's Property
Is a married daughter eligible for a father's property, is haunting your thoughts? Well, when discussing the entitlements of a married daughter to her father's self-earned property, it is crucial to understand the legal framework that supports these rights. In many jurisdictions, the law treats sons and daughters equally when it comes to inheritance rights. This means that a married daughter has the same legal standing as her siblings to inherit a portion of her father's self-earned property upon his passing unless specified otherwise in a will.
Self-earned property refers to any assets acquired by an individual through their own efforts, such as earnings from employment, business ventures, or other personal investments, as opposed to property inherited from family. The rights to this property are generally dictated by the owner's wishes, which he can express through a legally valid will. If a father does not leave a will, the property is distributed according to the applicable laws of intestate succession, which typically do not discriminate between a son and a married daughter.
Therefore, a married daughter holds an unequivocal right to inherit her father’s self-earned property, that is daughter can get her father's property, reflecting modern legal principles that emphasise gender equality and non-discrimination.
A Hindu Widow's Parental-Side Kin Can Inherit Her Property, Rules SC
On February 25, 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that the parental-side kin of a deceased woman (without a will) cannot be considered "strangers" and thus can claim their rights on her property. The parental side-kin can be the deceased woman's parents, her father's direct heirs, i.e. the dead woman's sister or brother, and lastly, her mother's side of heirs.
Understanding daughters' rights in their father's property is crucial for ensuring financial security and fostering family harmony. With legal advancements, daughters are rightfully recognised as equal heirs. Still, have questions about Daughters' Rights in Father's Property? Get expert advice from NoBroker's legal team to ensure a smooth and fair inheritance process. Contact Us Today!
FAQ's
Ans: No. The daughter or the son can only claim the father's property in the event of his death.
Ans: Sure. The right of a legal daughter on her father's property does not depend on her marital status.
Ans: Yes. The daughters have an equal right in their father's ancestral property. However, this law will be null if the father has forbidden the daughter any property rights via a will.
Ans: Yes. The daughter has an equal right to inherit the traditional property of her mother but only after her death. They cannot claim the property during the mother's lifetime.
Ans: Daughters, irrespective of their marital status, can ask for partition and equal share of the ancestral property of their parents. This is only null in cases where a will has been made stating the deceased person has left the property to the son and not the daughter.
Ans: Property rights of daughters married before 1989 typically align with the general inheritance laws in place at that time, which vary by jurisdiction. Most modern legal systems now recognise the equal rights of daughters, regardless of their marital status at any point, to inherit property from their parents.
Ans: According to the new law for daughters in father's property, they have equal rights which are not applicable when the father has legally disposed of it through a valid will where he explicitly excludes her, or if the property is designated as part of a family trust that specifies different terms.
Ans: Yes, a daughter has the legal right to claim her share in her father's property, which is treated equally alongside her siblings under most modern inheritance laws.
Ans: Before 2005, in many legal systems, married daughters often had limited or no automatic rights to their father's property, and rights typically depended on specific local inheritance laws or the existence of a will.
Ans: A married daughter typically has an equal right to her father's property as her siblings, which means she can inherit an equal portion of the estate unless a will specifies otherwise.
Ans: This practice is commonly found in matrilineal societies, where property and familial titles are inherited through the female line, ensuring that assets remain within the maternal family.
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