Hindu Succession Act, 1956

For entrance-exam study, classical Hindu law is commonly described through ancient sources such as Shruti, Smriti, commentaries and digests, and custom, followed in modern law by legislation, judicial precedent, and principles of justice, equity and good conscience.

Shruti / Vedas

The four Vedas traditionally identified are Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda.

Smriti

Smriti literature includes texts traditionally associated with remembered rules and Dharmashastra literature, including Manusmriti and Yajnavalkya Smriti.

Accuracy note: statements about mythological authorship of the Vedas are not rules of modern succession law and are omitted from the operative legal summary.

Under substituted Section 6, from commencement of the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, in a Joint Hindu Family governed by Mitakshara law, the daughter of a coparcener:

• becomes a coparcener by birth in the same manner as a son;
• has the same rights in coparcenary property as a son; and
• is subject to the same liabilities in respect of that property as a son.

The amendment protects dispositions, alienations, partitions and testamentary dispositions made before 20 December 2004 in the manner stated in the statutory proviso.

When a male Hindu dies intestate, property devolves under Section 8 in this order:

1. Class I heirs in the Schedule;
2. if none, Class II heirs in the Schedule;
3. if none, agnates of the deceased;
4. if none, cognates of the deceased.

Section 9 sets the order among scheduled heirs. Section 10 governs distribution among Class I heirs. Section 11 governs distribution among Class II heirs. Sections 12-13 set the order and computation of degrees among agnates and cognates.

Section 14 - Absolute property

Property possessed by a female Hindu, whether acquired before or after commencement of the Act, is generally held by her as full owner and not as a limited owner, subject to the exception in Section 14(2).

Section 15 - General order of succession

Subject to the Act, the property of a female Hindu dying intestate devolves broadly:

1. first, upon sons and daughters (including children of any predeceased son or daughter) and the husband;
2. second, upon heirs of the husband;
3. third, upon mother and father;
4. fourth, upon heirs of the father;
5. last, upon heirs of the mother.

Section 15(2) contains special source-based rules for certain property inherited from parents or from husband/father-in-law where the woman dies without a son or daughter or child of a predeceased son/daughter. Section 16 governs distribution among these heirs.

• Section 18 - Full blood: heirs related by full blood are preferred to heirs related by half blood where the relationship is otherwise the same.
• Section 19 - Two or more heirs: unless otherwise expressly provided, heirs succeed per capita and as tenants-in-common, not joint tenants.
• Section 20 - Child in womb: a child in the womb at the time intestate succession opens, and later born alive, has the same right as if born before the intestate's death; the interest is deemed to vest from that date.
• Section 21 - Simultaneous deaths: where two persons die in circumstances making it uncertain who survived whom, the younger is presumed to have survived the elder unless the contrary is proved.
• Section 28 - Disease, defect, etc.: no person is disqualified from succession merely because of disease, defect or deformity, save as otherwise provided in the Act.

Section 25 - Murderer disqualified

A person who commits murder or abets the commission of murder is disqualified from inheriting the property of the person murdered, or property in furtherance of the succession to which the murder was committed.

Section 26 - Certain descendants of a convert

A Hindu who converts to another religion is not personally disqualified merely by conversion. However, children born to that person after conversion, and their descendants, are disqualified from inheriting the property of their Hindu relatives unless they are Hindus at the time succession opens.

Section 27 - Effect of disqualification

Where an heir is disqualified, the property devolves as if that person had died before the intestate.

Where an interest in immovable property of an intestate, or in a business carried on by that person, devolves upon two or more Class I heirs and one heir proposes to transfer his or her interest, the other Class I heirs have the preferential right to acquire that interest in accordance with Section 22.

Exam correction: Section 22 does not state that a sole proprietorship, partnership or LLP automatically "dissolves among Class I heirs." Its function is to create a preferential right of acquisition in the specified succession situation.

If an intestate leaves no heir qualified to succeed under the Act, the property devolves on the Government, subject to the obligations and liabilities to which an heir would have been subject.

Section 30 permits a Hindu to dispose by will or other testamentary disposition of property capable of being so disposed of under the Indian Succession Act, 1925 or other law applicable to Hindus.

Terminology: succession under a valid will is testamentary succession. Succession where a person dies without an effective will is intestate succession.

In Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020), the Supreme Court resolved conflicting earlier decisions concerning amended Section 6. It held that the substituted provision confers coparcener status on a daughter born before or after the amendment in the same manner as a son, with the same rights and liabilities.

The Court clarified that the father need not have been alive on 9 September 2005 for the daughter to claim the statutory coparcenary right. A daughter can assert the right from the commencement of the 2005 amendment, subject to the statutory protection for dispositions, alienations and partitions saved by the amendment.

• Section 6: daughter as coparcener by birth.
• Section 8: male intestate succession.
• Section 10: Class I distribution.
• Section 11: Class II distribution.
• Section 14: female Hindu's absolute property.
• Section 15: female intestate succession.
• Section 18: full blood preference.
• Section 20: child in womb.
• Section 21: simultaneous deaths.
• Section 22: preferential right to acquire.
• Section 25: murderer disqualified.
• Section 26: certain descendants of convert disqualified.
• Section 27: succession when heir disqualified.
• Section 28: disease/defect not a disqualification.
• Section 29: failure of heirs.
• Section 30: testamentary succession.