My Father brought a property(House) with the Dowry Given by my Mom's parents. Marriage was in year 1990 November, Property Brought was in 1991 February. But My Father registered it in the name of his mother,who is not alive now. My Father also passed away. Death of My Father April 2011, His mother December 2010. My uncle (1) and aunts(2), brother and sisters of father, demanding the shares of property, as it is in the name of their mother, claiming that their mother got property from the earnings of his husband who is a Railway Employee got Retired in 1991 June. The House is in our possesion. please help me in this issue, since the title is my grand mother everybody saying she is absolute owner of property, please help with the reference cases where the Judiciary looked into the source rather than title of the property.
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1) source of funds is important
2) do you have any evidence to prove that house was bought out of dowry given by mother parents
3) any transfer of funds from mother parents to father .
4) if you are able to prove that property bought out of dowry given by maternal grand parents then your mother can file declaratory suit that she is the absolute owner of property
5) your aunts will have to prove that grand mother bought proeprty out of earnings from her husband
Dear Concerned,
This seems to be a bit tricky situation and can be solved if there is any documented proof that you have that this property was bought by the monies received from the marriage of your father.
As the property was bought on your Grand mothers name who died instate - technically the sibilings of your father can claim share in the property as there seem to be no proof where the property has been bought by the monies received at the time of marriage.
In case there is any document that is present it would be helpful. It is advisable that you should wait and watch - need not to give possession to any one - in case a case is filed let them file a case and let's see what is it the stand they take because if they say that the property is bought from the earnings of your grandfather then too they will have to prove the source of the funds/ payments made etc.
Best of Luck
1. As per law, the Title holder of a property is considered as its legal owner.
2. However, if you can prove with adequate evidence that the said property was purchased by your father by paying the entire consideration from his pocket (it is immaterial whether he arranged the fund by taking dowry or loan or from his savings). then you can challenge the title of your grandmother by filing a declaratory suit praying for a declaration that the property actually was purchased by your father by spending from his pocket in the name of his mother and also praying for a direction upon the registrar to substitute the name of your father or his legal heirs in place of that of your grandmother.
3. Once the name of the title holder gets substituted, you can claim the property of your father as his legal heirs.
4. However, it is very difficult to establish the fact that the consideration to buy the property was paid by your father and not by your grandmother.
1.The person in whose name the property is standing is considered to be its lawful owner irrespective of who had given the money.
2.So your uncles have every reason to claim their share in the property which is in the name of their mother.
3. Now after so many years and on death of your parents you can never prove that it was purchased by the money of your mother.
4.So if you contest their claim for share that would be a futile battle.
Since the title of the property vested in your grandmother, on her intestate demise it devolved through succession equally on all her children. The title originates from the title deed and not source of sale consideration. The courts in India lean in favour of the title holder. However, if you have overwhelming documentary evidence to prove that the substantial portion of the sale consideration was paid by your father then you may file a suit for declaration of title of your father to the property.
AIR 1951 BOM 22 Mirvahedali Kamudia v/s. Rashidabeg Kamudia Chagla CJ & Gajendragadkar, J The children of a deceased Muslim widow claimed to retain certain properties till the dower that was due to their mother had been paid. Held: The right of Muslim wife or widow to retain property has been compared to a creditor's lien provided that she had entered into possession of property lawfully and without any force or fraud. There must be a debt due to her in respect of that dower. Her heirs are entitled to retain property till the dower debt is discharged. Please Explain the above judgement . Since it was of 1990's no proofs of bank transactions available,please suggest some more points about this.
1) in Muslim law the wife has been bestowed with an absolute right to be maintained and the husband is bound to maintain her . Wife’s right to maintenance is a debt against the husband.
2) "dower" refers to the payment from the husband or his family to the wife, especially to support her in the event of his death.
3)as pr the judgment wife or widow has right to retain properties till said amount has been paid to her
4) if no proofs of bank transactions available it would be difficult to prove that house was bought out of dowry given by mother parents
1. You shall have to establish here that your father had taken dowry from your mother and also that he had paid the said amount of dowry for buying the said property in the name of his mother.
2. Once the above fact is established , you can claim that the property belongs to your father from whom you have inherited it.
3. The case law you have quoted is not applicable in the instant case.
The House is in our possesion.
please help me in this issue, since the title is my grand mother everybody saying she is absolute owner of property, please help with the reference cases where the Judiciary looked into the source rather than title of the property.
The house may be in your possession owing to the your residence in it.
It does not means that this property belongs to you.
This property might have been bought by your father but what prevented him from not registering it in his wife's name (because the source of fund is his wife) or on his own name?
Since the property is still standing on your deceased grandmother's name, it shall devolve equally upon all her own legal heirs and since your deceased father was one among the legal heirs, his one such equal share shall devolve on his own legal heirs i.e., you, your mother and your siblings.
If you want to secure the property by yourself, you can buy the shares of other co-sharers.
Legally there is nothing to fight against it, so it may be a waste of time, money and energy if you fight against it legally.
Since it was of 1990's no proofs of bank transactions available,please suggest some more points about this.
This judgment was based on the Muslim personal law and that too restricted to the dower amount alone.
The dower amount in Muslim religion cannot be compared to that of the dowry amount in the other religion.
The dowry amount, even if reported to have been received by your deceased father was an illegal act and cannot be claimed for any purpose as it was an offence during those days itself.
Moreover you have no proof or evidences to make any such claim.