What is coparcenary property?

• Under the Hindu succession law, the coparcenary meaning is used to denote a person who is assumed to have legal rights in his ancestral property by birth in a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF).
• Hindu undivided family (HUF) or a Hindu joint family is an extended family where each member is a lineal descendant of a common ancestor who is generally the eldest and three generations of his descendants.
• After the amendment of the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, coparcenary under hindu law saw a change and women have also been accepted as coparceners.
• Earlier, women were just considered as heirs, that means they would get their share of notional partition only after the death of the Karta. Whereas, all the male members were eligible to acquire their shares even before the Karta’s death due to bearing the rights of coparceners as per coparcenary meaning in law.
• But now, a hindu coparcenary is a son and daughter and they are considered coparceners in the family and share equal rights and liabilities over the property.
• Also, daughters remain coparceners in the property even after their marriages and in case of their demise, their children become coparceners in their shares.

Hey dude,

As a law student, I had to read about

coparcenary in family law. Most people assume, property is of two types : Ancestral properties and self acquired properties.There is a third type i.e coparcenary property.

 The rules and regulations

for such property are different. I will share details about it below.

In simple words, coparcenary property is ancestral property that's jointly owned by certain male members of a joint family. These guys are known as coparceners and they have equal rights and responsibilities to the property. This means they can enjoy the benefits of the property.

Under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, coparcenary property is inherited by the male members of a family in the male line of descent. This means that the son, grandson, and great-grandson of the original owner have a right to inherit the property. They will have equal rights, regardless of whether they were born before or after the property was acquired.

In 2005, there was an amendment in  Hindu Succession Act : coparcenary property in hindu law.  Daughters can also become coparceners. Daughters will have equal rights to inherit coparcenary property alongside their male counterparts. This was considered to be a great decision for gender equality in India.

If you have more questions about

coparcenary in family law, drop a comment below.

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Before I explain the coparcenary meaning, let me tell you who a coparcener is.

As per the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, a person who is born in a HUF (Hindu Undivided Family) has a legal right over their ancestral property. Therefore, they are a coparcener by birth. A Hindu Undivided Family is an entity where the family’s eldest person and their 3 generations remain undivided and every family member is a coparcener (joint heir) who has a legal right over the ancestral property by birth.

According to the Hindu Succession Act, a Hindu Undivided Family’s ancestral property is a coparcenary property, which is shared by the coparceners. The Act gives the power to the Karta (head of the HUF), but the rights over this coparcenary property (ancestral property) are shared by the coparceners.

None of the coparceners has an individual right on the coparcenary property under any situation. The members of the Hindu Undivided Family have a shared unity when it comes to their legal rights over such property.

As per the Mitakshara system, survivorship determines the coparceners’ share. This share decreases with the addition in the HUF and increases when a person dies. The share becomes defined whenever there is a property partition.

All member of the Hindu Undivided Family enjoys the right to possession over the property.

Only Karta enjoys the power to alienate joint family property. It’s also done only when there’s an indispensable duty that requires to be taken care of or for the estate’s benefits or there is a legal requirement.

All coparceners, whether adult or adult have the right to demand the family property’s partition. In this case, also, they can’t demand a definite share as it’s fixed after the partition.

All coparceners are entitled to get the coparcenary property’s maintenance from the family’s estate. They receive money from the property for the maintenance of their spouse and kids, or for the wedding ceremony of the same kids.

हिंदू

उत्तराधिकार

अधिनियम

के

अनुसार

,

एक

हिंदू

अविभाजित

परिवार

की

पैतृक

संपत्ति

एक

सहदायिक

संपत्ति

है

,

जिसे

सहदायिकों

द्वारा

साझा

किया

जाता

है।

अधिनियम

कर्ता

(

एचयूएफ

के

प्रमुख

)

को

शक्ति

देता

है

,

लेकिन

इस

सहदायिक

संपत्ति

(

पैतृक

संपत्ति

)

पर

अधिकार

सहदायिकों

द्वारा

साझा

किए

जाते

हैं।

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Now you know about the coparcenary meaning in detail.

In Hindu Joint Families, a karta (head of the family) can share his property with his three generations who are also known as coparceners. A coparcener enjoys the property rights from his birth in the Hindu Joint family. Now that we know who are coparceners let us determine what is coparcenary property meaning under Hindu Law. 

Coparcenary property is a property acquired after division of the ancestral property by the coparceners. Once the ancestral property is divided among coparceners, it is termed as self acquired property. The division of ancestral property equally among the inheritors in a Hindu Joint family including male and female. A coparcenary property is passed on to the next three generations by the karta through will or gift or ancestral property. 

It was in 2005 that the Supreme Court of India held that daughters will have equal rights on inherited ancestral property like sons. 

You must know that a coparcenary is a smaller unit of the family who jointly own the property where a person at the top of the line of descent also known as ‘propositus’ and his three lineal descendants are owners. 

The share of coparceners in the coparcenary property fluctuates. In the event of the death of a coparcener, his/her share is equally divided among the surviving coparceners. In fact, the minor and adult coparceners have the right to demand partition of the family property. 

This is all I know about what is coparcenary under Hindu Law. I hope you have better understanding of the concept now.