• Grandfathers Will dispute

Hello, my grandfather unfortunately pssed away in May 5th 2012, in his final will and testament to which there were credible witnesses of the will and his health and mental state at the time, he had left his land in the name of me and my farther according to his will as most indian men do leave their land to their sons. His house property he had left 1/4 to me 1/4 to my father 1/4 to my grandmother and 1/4 to his daughter. For many years my farthers sister had taken my granfarther to court disputing and trying to claim land from him, dragging him to court every week in his old age causing him much stress and causing many family problems. Following my grandfarthers death she then disputed his will saying that when he was alive she was taking care of him thus it was unfair that she was nor included within the will and the share of property. My farher who is currently in india facing these cases against him and against my grandfathers will has also encountered much distress due to the whole situation he has had to go back and forth from England to India and exhausting loads of money in lawyer fees but the case does not seem to be moving forward at all. Personally I feel that there is no such case as there must be a record of her taking my grandfather to court on many occasions which shows that she was not looking after him at all moreover she was probably impacting his health and causing him more distress. Recently she has begun construction work on the house that we all have a share in and infact she has the smallest share in, she has also broken the locks to my Uncles room who sadly past away in 2006 and my grandfathers and grandmothers room, she has removed all belongings such as old clothes old pictures and burnt them all, which she also has no right to do as again according to the will she has the smallest share in the house and also as the cases are still ongoing she has no right to make any changes to the property and definitely has no right in accessing other rooms of the house that belong to me my father and my grandmother. Witnessing the dispute my uncles wife at the time of his death has also tried to take advantage of our situation creating cases against my farther aiming to claim my uncles land which was on his name prior to his death, however at the time of his death my farther and grandfarther had given her a lump sum of money for her troubles and let her keep all jewlery etc from the wedding and even some of my uncles possessions, since then she has remaried and even has a child in this marriage however in the 2 years she was married to my uncle she had not given birth to any. My farther is completely alone in this dispute as other family members who are also joint land owners with mu grandfarther are scared that she will create cases on them, they say she is crazy and doesn't know how to speak respectfully or within reason the village sarpanch also does not want to get involved with the affairs due to this reason. The cases have been going on since 2012 and i do not want them to go on for a very long time as i have heard other cases do, because personally i feel that given logic reason there is no case on my farthers sisters side. My grandfarthers last wishes were his, i do not understand how they can be disputed when that is what he wanted, and how the courts or my farhers sister have a say in what he wished for or what he wanted after his death. I would just like some advice on the situation thank you sincierly.
Kind Regards,
Prabhjot Singh Shergill
Asked 8 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Sikh

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6 Answers

1) you have to prove that grandfather had executed will and attested by 2 witnesses

2) since your father sister is disputing the will petition for probate would be converted into testamentary suit

3) you have to lead evidence of attesting witness that grandfather signed will in ha presence and that of other AW

4) witness would be cross examined by your aunt

5( suit would take around 10 years to be disposed of

6) yiu have to move court and seek injunction restraint aunt from carrying on any further construction

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94719 Answers
7532 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1.Your grandfather's wish expressed in his will is final and despite the fact that his sister took care of him, she can not claim share of his property,

2. Your Aunt is the legitimate owner of your uncle's share of the property despite the fact that your grandfather had helped him financially or otherwise unless the title of your Uncle's property has been transferred in the name of anybody else other than your Aunt,

3. Ask your Advocate to file an application before the High Court praying for a direction upon the lower court to expedite the matter,

4. Probate of the will shall have to be taken to make the will valid.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27219 Answers
726 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

The will made by your deceased grandfather will prevail unless it is declared as illegal by the court. It is not clear why your father is personally appearing in the court in the civil cases when the mere presence of his lawyer except for evidence would suffice. Be that as it may, a suit for injunction can be filed to restrain her from doing any construction on the house. Any delay in the decision of the case can also be remedied by moving the High Court to seek appropriate orders.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

first you should take temporary injunction against the house property from any construction. file probate for execution of will. all cases against your grand father is now automatically abated with his death so you should not file any substitution application.

when your aunt got remarriage she is debarred by the Hindu succession act to claim any share in ex husband's property but with remarried with your uncle she again got interest in uncle's self acquired property but she has no right in ancestral property except to get maintenance.

Shivendra Pratap Singh
Advocate, Lucknow
5127 Answers
78 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

By religion you are sikh, hence you are attracted by Hindu law. You have not revealed that whether that particular will is registered or not. When your aunty is doing all criminal acts, why all of you (including you ) are keeping mum and why you are not giving police complaint against her. It seems you are not revealing the real facts. Please call me through kaanoon.com. I can solve your issue. I have solved this type of cases earlier also. Anyway you should be bold and courageous, do not be coward. Fight for your rights. Let the case continue. Do not worry. If there are merits in your case, you will win and your court fee and legal expenses also will be recovered.

Ravinder Pasula
Advocate, Hyderabad
400 Answers
125 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

The fact that your father's sister never took care of her father during his lifetime is known to you and everyone but does the law knows that?

She has filed a case claiming some relief, the court has not decided based on her averments or pleadings.

The court will go into the depth to find out out the facts that are legally maintainable.

The court will not consider any sentimental feelings of any party.

Since the matte is before court, you have to scrupulously through your advocate or else it may get delayed further.

If you have any legal query in this regard you may put them before this forum.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84920 Answers
2195 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

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