Property Rights In IndiaImage Credit source: ai generated
Most of us grow up believing that children have direct rights over their parents’ property. When a house or land has been part of the family for years, this belief becomes even more solid. But if you are also in the same dilemma, then in future you may have to face legal disputes regarding property. From the point of view of Indian law, it is not emotions that matter in property matters, but the nature of the property. Whether a child can claim his/her parents’ property or not depends on whether the property is ancestral or has been purchased with one’s own hard-earned money.
How are your rights decided?
In the language of law, property is mainly divided into two categories. First, ‘Self-Acquired’ i.e. property earned through one’s own hard work and second, ‘Ancestral’ i.e. ancestral property. This is the fundamental difference that decides whether children will get a share in a property or not. Often the root of family disputes is the misunderstanding that birthright applies to all types of property. The truth is that the law gives parents the full right to dispose of their own earned property.
If a person has purchased a house, plot or shop with his hard-earned money and savings, then by law only that person has ownership rights over it. The father owns this ‘self-acquired property’ as per his wish. If they wish, they can sell it in the future, gift it to someone close to them, or transfer it to a single person through a will. Children cannot legally exert any pressure on this property.
It is important to understand another important legal issue here. According to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 and many clear decisions of the Supreme Court, if the father has inherited any property from his father after 1956, then it will also be considered as ‘self-acquired property’ of the father. Even in this situation, the children do not have any direct right on that property by birth.
How do children get birthright?
Now the question arises that what is the situation when children have strong rights over the property. The answer is ancestral property. If a property has been in the family for four consecutive generations without any division, then it comes under the category of ancestral property. Such property is considered part of the ‘Hindu Undivided Family’.
The rules are very clear in this matter. Children get rights in such property as soon as they are born. The father cannot take any decision regarding this property alone. To sell it or transfer it to someone, it is mandatory to take the consent of all the coparceners of the family. Even if a member of the family is a minor, his parents take legal decisions on his behalf, but his share cannot be extinguished.
How to correctly identify ancestral property?
There are some strict legal criteria to prove any property as ancestral. The first condition is that the property should be part of the family for at least four generations. Secondly, there has been no legal partition of the property and it has been inherited from the ancestors on the father’s side only.
It is very important to keep in mind that if any property has been received by someone as a gift, acquired through a will or purchased by the person with his own money, then the law will not consider it as ancestral under any circumstances.
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