How to cope with claims on a property when there is no such thing as a will

My great-grandfather had two sons and three daughters. He had bought a property in 1980 however died with out leaving a will. Recently, each his sons and a daughter died. The different two daughters are claiming a share of that property from my father and uncles. The property has been maintained by my grandfather, my father and uncles for the previous 35 years. The two had been given a hard and fast amount of money together with some jewelry by my grandfather however that isn’t recorded anyplace. What can we do in such a scenario?

—Name withheld on request

Your question infers that your great-grandfather was a Hindu and he died intestate. The Hindu Succession Act, 1956, lays down provisions for the property of a Hindu male dying intestate. (if an individual dies intestate, his property would go to Class I heirs and can be shared equally amongst them. If the Class I heirs don’t exist, then the property could be delegated to Class II heirs. The two sons and three daughters of your nice grandfather could be thought to be ‘Class I legal heirs’ and would have an equal share in his property i.e. every baby can be entitled to 1/fifth share in his property. In case any such son or daughter is pre-deceased, the share of such pre-deceased son or daughter would devolve on his or her kids in equal proportion.

We perceive that these two daughters of your nice grandfather have been given some mounted quantity alongside and jewelry, nonetheless, the identical is just not recorded anyplace.

 In the absence of any doc like a memorandum of household settlement / association, such an oral household settlement/ understanding must be established earlier than a courtroom with a view to deny the declare of those daughters to the property of your nice grandfather, except the identical is amicably settled between the relations. For this objective, any proof of quantities and jewelry given to them could be useful. In follow, that is extraordinarily troublesome and costly to do, so you might want to take into account the way in which ahead. Do converse to your legal professional.

Rishabh Shroff is companion & co-head, non-public shopper, at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

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