Sections 18, 19 and 20 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956

Sections 18 to 20 contain general rules that apply to intestate succession under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. They deal with preference between full-blood and half-blood heirs, the manner in which two or more heirs take property together, and the inheritance rights of a child who was in the womb when the intestate died.

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Section 18 - Full blood preferred to half blood

Statutory rule: Heirs related to an intestate by full blood are preferred to heirs related by half blood when the nature of the relationship is the same in every other respect.

In simple terms Where competing heirs stand in the same kind and degree of relationship to the person who died intestate, Section 18 gives preference to the heir related by full blood over an heir related by half blood.

The expression full blood is defined in Section 3 of the Act. Two persons are related by full blood when they are descended from a common ancestor by the same wife. They are related by half blood when they are descended from a common ancestor but by different wives. Section 18 applies only where the nature of the competing relationships is otherwise the same.

Section 19 - Mode of succession of two or more heirs

When two or more heirs succeed together to the property of an intestate, they take the property:

(a) save as otherwise expressly provided in the Act, per capita and not per stirpes; and

(b) as tenants-in-common and not as joint tenants.

In simple terms Section 19 states the default manner in which multiple heirs inherit together. Subject to any express contrary provision in the Act, they inherit per capita, and each holds his or her share as a tenant-in-common rather than all heirs holding as joint tenants.

Per capita means according to the individual heads or persons entitled to inherit. Per stirpes generally refers to distribution by branch or stock. The words "save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act" are important because another provision of the Act may prescribe a different method of distribution.

A tenant-in-common has an undivided share in the property along with the other co-heirs. Section 19 expressly provides that co-heirs succeeding together do not take as joint tenants merely by reason of such succession.

Section 20 - Right of child in womb

A child who was in the womb at the time of the death of an intestate and is subsequently born alive has the same right to inherit as if he or she had been born before the intestate's death. The inheritance is deemed to vest in that child with effect from the date of the intestate's death.

In simple terms A child conceived before the intestate's death is protected for succession purposes if the child is later born alive. The law treats the child's inheritance as vesting from the date on which the intestate died.

Key terms used in Sections 18 to 20

Intestate

For these provisions, an intestate is a person whose property devolves according to the rules of intestate succession under the Act rather than by an effective testamentary disposition governing that property.

Full blood and half blood

Under Section 3 of the Hindu Succession Act, two persons are related by full blood when descended from a common ancestor by the same wife, and by half blood when descended from a common ancestor but by different wives.

Per capita and per stirpes

Per capita distribution is distribution by individual heir, while per stirpes distribution is by family branch or stock. Section 19 adopts per capita succession as the default where two or more heirs succeed together, unless the Act expressly provides otherwise.

Legal note: These sections should be read with the other applicable provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, including the definitions in Section 3 and the rules that identify the heirs and their shares in a particular succession. The facts of a family relationship can affect the result.