• Kerala Christian Succession Law

I have a few questions regarding property distribution. My father expired recently (without a will) and is succeeded by a wife, 3 daughters and 1 son. Few questions:
a) How would any assets (land, apartment, jewelry, bank fixed deposit) be divided?
b) What should I do if I am denied access to any property document?
Asked 6 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Christian

First answer received in 10 minutes.

Lawyers are available now to answer your questions.

12 Answers

Wife will get 1/3rd of his assets, rest will distribute in children equally. Can file partition suit.

Yogendra Singh Rajawat
Advocate, Jaipur
23082 Answers
31 Consultations

a. Property would be divided equally in 5 part among the wife and the children.

b. File for injunction in civil court.

Siddharth Jain
Advocate, New Delhi
6617 Answers
102 Consultations

1. All the movable and immovable properties of your deceased father, who died intestate, will be equally devided between all his legal heirs being his wife and 4 children.It can be amicably divided by registering a partition/settlement deed or in case of unwilling co-owners, can be divided  through Court's order by filing a partition suit.

 

2. If you have the addresses of the immovable properties, you can collect certified copies of the title deeds of the same from the office of the Registrar. For moveable properties like FD in Banks, Mutual Funds, you shall have to find out the details of thoe properties and write to the concerned Banks and MF authorities not to allow dealing with those FDs and MFs without the consent of all the legal heirs.    

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27703 Answers
726 Consultations

When you will file suit for partition, court will freeze accounts on your request. Then the property movable or immoveable shall be valued and divided as agreed between you people. 

File the suit as stated above and keep all account details beforehand. 

Regards

Gopender

Gopender
Advocate, New Delhi
383 Answers

1. since the deceased is a Christian, his widow will take 1/3rd share in his estate whereas his children will take the balance 2/3rd to be divided among them equally

2. you can file a partition suit to claim your share by division of the estate by metes and bounds and for separate possession

3. you can also file an administration suit for your appointment as an administrator to administer the estate of the deceased 

4. you can in the alternative also apply for grant of letters of administration to administer the estate of the deceased

5. as an administrator you will be holding the estate of deceased as his trustee and for the benefit of the legal heirs of the deceased

6. then with permission of the court you can transfer the property to the legal heirs for their respective shares by executing and registering transfer deeds in their favour

7. the purpose of administration is that the property of the deceased must not be left in a state of medio or unattended. Thus it is for the preservation of the estate of the deceased 

Yusuf Rampurawala
Advocate, Mumbai
7900 Answers
79 Consultations

The property shall be divided as per the indian succession act applicable to Christians.

The documents related to the property are public documents abd can be obtained by anyone who is interested.

Regards 

Rahul Mishra
Advocate, Lucknow
14114 Answers
65 Consultations

1. In view of intestate death of your father, the Indian Succession Act of 1925 comes into play.

Therefore the assets ( land, apartment, jewellery, fixed deposits in Bank ) will devolve to his wife in the ratio of 1/3rd share and the remaining 2/3rd share will devolve to children of the decreased.  In other words, 1/3 × 100= 33.33% to your mother,  2/3 × 100=66.66% to all the children combined together, i.e., 16.66% each to 3 daughters and a son.

2.  If you are denied access to property documents, you can obtain certified copy of the Sale Deed from the jurisdictional Sub-registrar's Office, as also Encumbrance Certificate, wherein name of the owner, description of the property, transactions that have happened so far can be obtained.

3.  If you are denied your rightful share over the property, you can send a legal notice and if the matter is not resolved, then you can file for partition, declaration and separate possession of the property by metes and bounds.

 

Shashidhar S. Sastry
Advocate, Bangalore
5624 Answers
339 Consultations

Under The Indian Succession Act Where an intestate has left a widow and if he has left lineal descendants, that is, children 1/3 of his property shall belong to the widow, and the remaining 2/3 shall go to the lineal descendants.

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
99793 Answers
8147 Consultations

One third will go to widow and two third to children.you can approach civil court if you are denied 

Prashant Nayak
Advocate, Mumbai
34527 Answers
249 Consultations

1. The 1/3 share will go to mother and rest will be equally divided between all children.

2. You can file partition suit for your share.

Shubham Jhajharia
Advocate, Ahmedabad
25513 Answers
179 Consultations

S. 33, S. 33-A, S. 34 of the Act govern succession to the widow. Together they lay down that if the deceased has left behind both a widow and lineal descendants, she will get one-third share in his estate while the remaining two-thirds will go to the latter. If no lineal descendants have been left but other kindred are alive, one-half of the estate passes to the widow and the rest to the kindred. And if no kindred are left either, the whole of the estate shall belong to his widow. Where, however, the intestate has left a widow but no lineal descendants, and the net value of his property does not exceed five thousand rupees, the whole of the property will go to the widow – but this provision does not apply to Indian Christians.. If the widow is still alive, the lineal descendants will take two-thirds of the estate. 

 

Mohammed Mujeeb
Advocate, Hyderabad
19325 Answers
32 Consultations

Till January 1986, Christians in the State of Kerala were governed by two different Acts - those domiciled in Cochin were subject to the application of the Cochin Christian Succession Act, 1921, while the Travancore Christians were governed by the Travancore Christian Succession Act, 1916. These two Acts have now been repealed and the Christians following these laws earlier are now governed by the general scheme of inheritance under the Indian Succession Act, 1925.

The law of intestate succession under S. 32 states that: The property of an intestate devolves upon the wife or husband or upon those who are of the kindred of the deceased, in the order and according to the rules.

S. 33, S. 33-A, S. 34 of the Act govern succession to the widow. Together they lay down that if the deceased has left behind both a widow and lineal descendants, she will get one-third share in his estate while the remaining two-thirds will go to the latter. If no lineal descendants have been left but other kindred are alive, one-half of the estate passes to the widow and the rest to the kindred. And if no kindred are left either, the whole of the estate shall belong to his widow

If the widow is still alive, the lineal descendants will take two-thirds of the estate; if not, they will take it in whole. Per capita (equal division of shares) applies if they stand in the same degree of relationship to the deceased. This is as per Sections 36-40 of the Act.

 

 

You can file a partition suit and claim your legitimate share in the property left behind by your father.

 

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
89995 Answers
2496 Consultations

Ask a Lawyer

Get legal answers from lawyers in 1 hour. It's quick, easy, and anonymous!
  Ask a lawyer