Dear sir, My father died in 1992. My father has one brother. They got ancestral property from my Grandfather equally 2+2 acres. After my father death, my mother sold out entire share of my father to my cousin (brother of my father) during this time i was minor. Simply put, can i file a suit now for my share 1 acre since i was minor during sale of the entire property by my mother ? There was no court permission taken by mother for minor's share sale during the sale time.
1. You have not mentioned your present age .
2. If you haven't crossed 21 years of age, you can file a suit in the jurisdictional and competent Court, for your share in the property.
3. If the minor's share is sold without taking Court's permission, the minor after attaining majority, would have 3 years' time to contest the same in the competent Court for his entitled share.
As your late father's share of 2 acres was his absolute and exclusive share following the partition with his brother, after your father's intestate (without leaving a Will) death, his estate automatically devolved on you and your mother equally. Your mother had no right to sell your undivided share in the estate without a court order during your minority. Please engage a competent lawyer and arrange to file a suit at the proper court claiming your title over and share of the property, seeking to set aside the sale made by her.
Thank you Swaminathan sir and Shashidhar sir. Kindly clarify there is no major attaining limitation issue since my major age completed by 1998. So can i suit a file now without attaining major and solely based on 'without a court order my mother sold'? are they any legal issues if they took my thumb signature during minor ?
If you can establish that your knowledge of the sale is within the past three years, with acceptable evidence, you can seek to set it aside. Please engage a competent lawyer to study your case based on facts and circumstances in order to determine its merits, before filing a suit.
Taking your thumb print on a document during your minority is illegal and shall not legally bind you.
You can file a suit for partition claiming your rightful share in the property with separate possession provided it is within three years from the date of attaining majority of age or from the date of knowledge.
You are entitled for a share out of your father's property who is reported to have died intestate.
From your contents it appears that you have become major more than three years ago and you were very well in the knowledge of sale of your share of property for more than three years after becoming major by age.
Hence I am afraid that at this stage a claim for a share in the property that was sold long ago, may not be maintainable because it is barred by limitation.
U R Welcome Sir.
1. Since the limitation period of 3 years from the date of attaining major in age has lapsed, file a suit in the jurisdictional and competent Court for condonation of delay.
2. Even if they had taken your thumb impression when you were a minor, that is legally Null & Void and it can't be enforced in law.
You have to file suit to set aside sale within period of 3 years of attaining majority
2) If you turned 18 years old, your window to file a lawsuit closed when you turned 21.
3) Since we are now in 2026, many years have passed since you became an adult. A court will likely dismiss your lawsuit immediately as "time-barred" without even looking at the merits of your case
On the facts stated by you, the absence of prior court permission is legally significant, but it does not mean that you can challenge the sale at any time. Under Section 8(2)(a) of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, a natural guardian cannot, without previous court permission, sell or otherwise transfer the minor's immovable property. Such a transaction is voidable at the instance of the minor, rather than automatically void. Indian Kanoon
The major difficulty in your case is limitation. Article 60 of the Limitation Act prescribes three years from the date on which the minor attains majority for a suit by the former minor to set aside a transfer made by the guardian. The Supreme Court has specifically held that a challenge to a guardian's alienation in violation of Section 8 is governed by this three-year period. Indian Kanoon
Therefore, if you attained majority in 1998, the ordinary three-year period would have expired around 2001. Merely because your mother did not obtain court permission does not, by itself, revive the limitation period decades later. A suit filed now seeking cancellation of the sale solely on the ground that you were a minor and there was no court permission would face a serious limitation objection.
There is, however, an important point that needs to be examined before completely abandoning the matter: whether the entire 2 acres standing in your father's name actually constituted your individual/minor share after his death, and whether the sale deed executed by your mother purported to transfer your specific 1-acre interest. The character of the ancestral property, the succession after your father's death, the exact sale deed, and the manner in which your mother's title/guardianship was recorded must all be examined.
Regarding your question about a thumb impression/signature taken from you while you were still a minor, that fact can be relevant but does not automatically overcome limitation. A minor ordinarily lacks contractual capacity, and the legal effect of any document allegedly executed by you while a minor would depend upon exactly what document it was, its contents, your age, whether it was registered, whether your mother executed it as guardian, and how the purchaser relied upon it. It would therefore be important to obtain the certified copy of the original sale deed and the complete registration record, including photographs/thumb impressions, identification details and endorsement of the Sub-Registrar.
There is also a distinction between saying “the sale was void” and “the sale was voidable.” Under Section 8(3), a sale by the natural guardian without the required permission is generally treated as voidable, meaning it ordinarily has to be avoided/set aside through the legally appropriate proceedings. The Supreme Court has reiterated this distinction. Madhya Pradesh High Court
Accordingly, I would not advise filing a suit immediately merely on the assumption that absence of court permission gives you an unlimited right to sue today. First obtain the 1992-era title documents, the sale deed executed by your mother, your father's death certificate, the revenue records, the family tree, and proof of your exact date of majority. Then the limitation issue, the precise nature of your alleged 1-acre share, and whether there is any independent ground to challenge the transaction can be properly assessed.
If the sale deed contains your own alleged thumb impression/signature, that document should be examined particularly carefully because it may raise additional factual and evidentiary questions, but it should not be assumed that it automatically defeats the limitation bar.
For detailed legal advise you may connect on https://share.google/jCbuYXivLzFBy0dSK
sir, i have no knowledge on act and rules regarding the minor and major. Hence, i need to file a suit now, is it viable. i do not know that my share is legally right to claim so far.
As. I advised you earlier, please engage a competent, senior, local advocate and discuss the merits of your case based on facts and circumstances and go by his/her considered opinion for filing a suit.
Your claim is barred by limitation
the only exception is if you were not aware of sale of property by your mother .in present case your thumb impression was taken and you were aware of tje sale
Law is common for all.
The law says that, in such a Situation, the claimant can claim his rights within three years from the date of becoming major or from the date of knowledge after becoming major by age. Any claim made beyond this period is barred by limitation, hence your claim for a share is legally not maintainable or tenable in law.
Ignorance of law is not an excuse.
Since it's barred by limitation , you can take a chance by filing the suit now and there's no guarantee for it OR Try to get some amount amicably from your father's brother, who bought your share of land from your mother.
- A per Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, a minors' immovable property cannot be mortgaged, charged, or transferred by sale, gift, exchange, or in any other mode without the previous permission of the Court.
- Further , the minor can challenge such a sale only within the limitation period of three years from the date when he attainted major .
- If you become 18 years old in 1998, then legally you cannot file the suit , however on some reasonable ground it can be filed .
Yes you can file a suit in the matter as court permission is required if minor is involved but if it was a seller acquired property then no court permission required
On the facts stated, there is a serious limitation issue, and I would not advise filing a suit merely on the assumption that the absence of court permission makes the sale automatically void.
Under Section 8(2) of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, a natural guardian cannot sell a minor's immovable property without prior court permission. However, Section 8(3) makes such a transaction voidable at the instance of the minor, rather than automatically void. (India Code)
The Supreme Court has specifically held that a suit by a person who was a minor at the time of such alienation, seeking to set aside the guardian's transfer, is governed by Article 60 of the Limitation Act, requiring the suit to be brought within three years from attaining majority. (SCI API) Therefore, if you attained majority in 1998 and are approaching the court now, limitation is likely to be the principal obstacle.
Your mother's taking your thumb impression while you were a minor does not, by itself, solve the limitation problem. However, there may be a different legal position if the property was ancestral/coparcenary property and you had an independent birthright, rather than merely property belonging to you as a minor. That distinction is extremely important here.
Before concluding that you have no remedy, the original title documents, partition/revenue records, the sale deed executed by your mother, your exact date of birth and the nature of the property at the time of your father's death should be examined. The answer may turn on those documents rather than simply on the fact that you were a minor when the sale took place.
