• Family property share after the death of sister husband

My sister had become widowed in 2018 with two small kids’ daughters after her husband died due to alcoholism. Now, she is staying at parent’s house for emotional support. talks are going with in-laws that she could separate from in-laws and they will give out the properties in the name of their deceased son as they want to shred out the responsibilities of raising granddaughters and they trickily made an agreement that she and the children would not ask for property share in future apart from the property which is presently in the name of her husband (which is just 10% of their total wealth). The other wealth is the hard-earned wealth of father in law as said by them. Further she, as a nominee had received 13 lakhs from LIC which was on her husband. After few months, in order to put pressure on my sister, her mother in law put a case on my sister that she has to give the share of 1/4 share from LIC and the son property share turning to an amount of 6 laks . Please provide legal advice to fight against the injustice meted to my sister with following clarifications.

A.	How come the mother in law ask share again in the LIC amount when my sister is the nominee and ask for share in the small property of their deceased son. Is it legally sustainable?

B.	Whether my sister and her two small daughters have equal share in the total family property apart from a small house plot presently in the name of her deceased husband. How to know the whether any properties are registered on my sister husband before death which in laws are hiding?

C.	Whether the grand parents can shred of the responsibilities in raising the grand kids and their education/marriage with a small argeement and torturing through court case...then if not, how to proceed, How to proceed legally to fight for their property share.

D.	How to fight against the present false court case kept by the grandparents with intention to mentally torture my sister asking for share in the LIC amount and share in the small property of my husband which they initially promised us to handover by registering under kids name.

E.	Whether court can give direction to bank to freeze the one-fourth share of her LIC amount...if done, how to fight for unfreeze legally?
Asked 4 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu

First answer received in 30 minutes.

Lawyers are available now to answer your questions.

20 Answers

Legally mother in law has share in assets of deceased son 

 

2) she has no share in property standing in name of her in laws 

 

3) grand children have no share in grand parents property during their lifetime 

 

4) mother can claim one fourth share in property and insurance policies

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94517 Answers
7485 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

The property of a Hindu male dying intestate is distributed among his heirs in accordance with section 8 and 9 of The Hindu Succession Act. As per this Act, the property of an intestate shall be divided among the heirs in class I of the Schedule. In your case class one heirs are Son/Daughter, Widow and Mother. All the property both movable and immovable distributed equally ie; each one get ¼ share.

 

Banks ask their account holders to make nominations which mean that they should nominate persons to whom the money lying in their accounts should go in the event of their death. Nomination can be made in account opening form itself or on a separate form indicating the name and address of the nominee. The account holders can change the nomination any time. A nominee is only a custodian of the deposit and his/her responsibility is primarily to ensure that the legal heir of the depositor gets the money from a fixed deposit. He/ she primarily becomes the operator of the account in the event of the demise of the depositor and does not actually own the money or have any legal right over the same.Nomination does not really serve the purpose for the Nominator. In fact it helps the organisation (i.e. Bank, Mutual Fund, Insurance, etc.) as in case a Nomination has been effected, the organisation merely confers the right on the Nominee so that does not have to hunt /search for the legal heirs of the deceased. The assets of the Nominator (irrespective of Nomination) will devolve upon the beneficiaries in case of a will and upon the legal heirs in the absence of a will as per the respective laws of succession

 

 The deceased person’s property equally distributed among his shares. Each person’s gets ¼ shares. Check the sub registrar office whether any properties are registered on your sister husband before death.

Mother in law has ¼ right over LIC amount .In the above mentioned case indicate that their intention to give care and protection to child is not believable one. Without the mother in-laws consent LIC does not release the amount.

 

 

 

Ajay N S
Advocate, Ernakulam
4072 Answers
110 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

You need to contest the case by filing your WS and defence. You can take injunction and interim relief for freezing account

Prashant Nayak
Advocate, Mumbai
31802 Answers
175 Consultations

4.1 on 5.0

Hello,

  1. The beneficiaries in the first category for a deceased Hindu male includes his wife, children and mother if alive and therefore her demands are legitimate.
  2. The sister has right only in the self earned properties of her husband and the so the children. Additionally, the children inherit from the share of the family property, if they are ancestral properties.Your sister can send a legal notice to the in laws asking for legitimate shares for the children and follow up with a suit for partition if required.
  3. An agreement made under duress will not stand. As stated earlier, your sister must seek a partition on behalf of the children of her deceased husband. While the mother is alive, the grandparents are not obligated to raise the children.
  4. She must initiate a suit for partition to put the pressure back on them. In the mean time more information has to be gathered as to the nature of the properties, whether they are ancestral or self-earned.
  5. Court can give such direction, which is a sort of injunction on the proceeds of the claim until decided by the court or settled between the parties.Legally, the mother has an entitlement. Therefore to unfreeze it you will need to convince the court that she does not have the need of it as she is well off and your sister and the children are more ddeserving and in dire need. 

S J Mathew
Advocate, Mumbai
3545 Answers
175 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. Yes it is legally sustainable. 

2. Yes there is equal share of your sister, not her daughter's. 

3. No, they really can't. They have to mate out these responsibilities. 

4. More details required to tell about the case.

5. File a appeal against the freeze order....

Rahul Jatain
Advocate, Rohtak
5365 Answers
4 Consultations

4.8 on 5.0

Your sister's mother in law is one among the legal heirs of her deceased husband,  hence she has a right over her deceased son's property for a legitimate share,  as per law. 

B.  Your sister and her children have rights over your deceased brother in law 's property alone and not over the family property in which the deceased himself was not having any rights. 

C. The grandparents are not bound legally to take care of the grandchildren,  neither the grandchildren can claim any rights over their property. 

D. It is not a false case.

She has rights for a legitimate share out of her deceased son's properties,  both movable and immovable,  hence the fight put up by your sister against her mother in law 's claim is not maintainable. 

E. The court can direct the bank to freeze the account of the deceased till the disposal of the case on an application filed by the plaintiff.

It cannot be released till the case is disposed. 

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84711 Answers
2172 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. On death of a son his mother is equally entitled to share in his property along with wife and child of his son. Nominee is mere trustee and hence your sister can not claim the whole amount. 

2. So your sister and children have jointly 3/4th share while remaining 1/4th will go to his mother.  To know his property cause searches in Registration office. 

3. Your sister has right of maintenance from his father in law. 

4. Fight the case on merit. 

5. Yes since his mother has 1/4th share. 

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
22774 Answers
484 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

nominee is only a caretaker of  assets. The nominee will only hold money/asset as a trustee and will be legally bound to transfer it to the legal heirs.

mother is entitled to one-fourth share. 

She can not claim any share from the property which is owned by her father in 
She can claim the property owned by her husband including Bank Deposits, PF, Gratuity etc.

 

Mohammed Mujeeb
Advocate, Hyderabad
19299 Answers
32 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

1. Mother in law that is mother of deceased has equal share in her deceased son's property. So the case filed is legal and maintainable.

2. The documents of the properties can be checked , legally they have right in deceased husband's property only not in family property.

3. They have no responsibility of obligation towards kids and kids have no right on grand parents property.

4. See you may contest based on settlement though legally the mother has share.

5. Yes court kay direct same and it can be released only on conclusion of case.

Shubham Jhajharia
Advocate, Ahmedabad
25514 Answers
179 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. Nomination is not equivalent to testate succession (will). A nominee is just a trustee of all legal heirs of deceased who is permitted to realise the liquid assets, but he is under a duty to divide the assets between all legal heirs in accordance with law. A nominee does not succeed to the exclusion of legal heirs. Hence, on the demise of her husband, unless he made a will, all his liquid assets have devolved through intestate succession on his Class 1 heirs (mother, widow and children).

2. All the properties of your sister's husband, movable or immovable, have devolved through intestate succession on Class 1 heirs equally.

3. Any Class 1 heir can file a suit for partition to cull out his/her share in the properties.

4. Grandparents are not legally liable to maintain the grandchildren if mother of children is surviving.

5. A title search should be conducted by your sister in the office of jurisdictional sub-registrar to find out all the properties of her deceased husband.

6. The case filed by them is not false.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

A) According to Hindu Succession Act, Mother is entitled to share in deceased son's property.

As such, Mother-in-Law (MIL) is entitled to share in property.

B) No, your sister and her children are not entitled to total family property during life time of their grand parents.

C) They need to maintain the children and support your sister.  Your Sister can file case against inlaws for maintenance and residence orders.

D) You can file suit for partition of property on the property held by your husband on behalf of children.

E) No, it is not that easy, however, on transfer of the money from LIC, you withdrawn and deposit in another bank to avoid complications.

 

S Srinivasa Prasad
Advocate, Hyderabad
2876 Answers
9 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Dear Sir,

The nominee is only authorised to get the money of the LIC and in the present case by mother in law, there are enough chances that your sister will succeed. You are suggested to defend the case filed by mother in law strongly. The detail fo the land holdings by the family members (father in law and mother in law) can be obtained from registrar's /Tehsildar's office. One of the ways of the getting the property details would be to file a case of maintenance on behalf of grand children against grand parents and then ask the complete details of property by of affidavit of assets and income - expenses. The grand children are legally liable to be maintained by grand parents and thus the grand parents are liable for sharing of responsibilities towards grand children. The best process of defending the case filed by the mother in law is to deny all the false averments and put the correct version before the court.                 

Ganesh Singh
Advocate, New Delhi
6757 Answers
16 Consultations

4.5 on 5.0

If she was beneficial nominee than MIL has no right otherwise, MIL have 1/4th share. And in same way, in other assets of husband - wife and daughters have 3/4th share. She can claim that.

Not in proprieties purchased by In laws. Obtain wealth tax return of husband to let know about husband proprieties.

Grand parents are not responsible.

And mother have 1/4th share in deceased son assets.

And if any property purchased by son in the name of parents than wife and daughters can claim 3/4th share in that also.

Yogendra Singh Rajawat
Advocate, Jaipur
22591 Answers
31 Consultations

4.4 on 5.0

1. Yes claim of mother in law is legally sustainable she can claim share from assets of her son as she is also legal heir of her son.

2. Your sister can claim share from joint properties only if they are ancestral properties and that too through her daughters. 

3. Your sister can file case for maintenance against her father in law for herself and her daughters this will put pressure on them as he is under obligation to maintain them after death of his son. 

4. Yes court can direct bank to put lien on the amount till disposal of case. 

 

Mohit Kapoor
Advocate, Rohtak
10687 Answers
7 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1) during grand father lifetime your sister and her children have no share in property 

 

2) on his demise intestate your sister husband share would devolve on sister and her children 

 

3) take search in sub registrar office and obtain copies of documents of title 

 

4) she can claim maintenance if she is unable to maintain herself and kids 

5) nominee is only trustee for legal heirs 

 

6) mother in law has one fourth share in proceeds of insurance policy 

 

 

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94517 Answers
7485 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. The property inherited by your sister's father in law is not an ancestral property in nature hence your sister cannot claim the share of her deceased husband out of her father in law's share in it, either for herself or for her children.in it.

That property becomes his own and absolute property.

2. The certified registration copies can be obtained from the registrar's office, however you should first ascertain whether she is entitled to any share in it before spending money on it.

3. It is a misguidance or wrong advise becasue she cannot claim maintenance from her father in law for herself or for the kids, no such case will be maintainable.

 

4. What is beneficial nominee, there is no such restrictions or clauses in Insurance claim.

Her mother in law being one of the legal heirs is entitled to her rightful share in the insurance claim amount.

 

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84711 Answers
2172 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

you sister have no share in said property during life time of father in law. 

during lifetime of  grand father grandsons have no right on grandfather property. 

daughter-in-law can legally claim maintenance from her father-in-law under s. 19 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act,1956

Mohammed Mujeeb
Advocate, Hyderabad
19299 Answers
32 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

A) yes

2) court will seek documents in interst of justice

3. You need for check the will by applying through RTI

Prashant Nayak
Advocate, Mumbai
31802 Answers
175 Consultations

4.1 on 5.0

A. As per rule of the LIC of India, a nominee is only eligible to get amount , and none can get the same .

- LIC claim is not like other claim like accident , where court declared the amount in favour of legal heirs. 

- Hence, asking the share is against the rule .

B. After the death of husband , his own purchased property would be devolved upon the legal heirs i.e wife and children , and non has right to claim over the same. 

- Further, after the death of husband , his children is having right over the ancestral property of father. 

- Hence, two small daughters can claim share from the ancestral property . 

- You can enquire from the office of the registrar of that area , where the small house was also registered

C. Daughters should file a suit for partition of the ancestral property through her mother. 

- Further, your sister is having residence right after the death of her husband under the provision of D.V.Act.

D. She should file case against them. 

E. No , legally they cannot get 1/4 th share from the LIC amount. 

Further

a.Two kids are eligible for property share in GreatGrand father property legally

b. Firstly issue a legal notice to share the property . and if refused then file suit for partition and Permanent injunction ,

- Court will direct them to produce the documents . 

c. No. she cannot get maintenance from her father in law legally. 

d. Check from any branch of LIC 

Mohammed Shahzad
Advocate, Delhi
13087 Answers
195 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

a. No

b. Get the copies from the land revenue office. 

c. No

d. Get in touch with the insurance company 

Rahul Jatain
Advocate, Rohtak
5365 Answers
4 Consultations

4.8 on 5.0

Ask a Lawyer

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