[ Everyday Law ]
A Muslim will (wasiyat) in India is governed by the personal law of the testator, saved by Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 and excluded from the bulk of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 by Section 58 of that Act. Two doctrinal limits — both rooted in the Quran and the Sunnah — operate together. A Muslim cannot dispose of more than one-third of the net estate (after funeral expenses, debts and dower) by will without the consent of the heirs. A bequest to a Quranic heir is invalid (under Hanafi doctrine) without the consent of the other heirs given after the testator's death. The two rules together preserve the prescribed Quranic shares of the heirs and prevent the testator from rewriting the rules of succession in disguise. The Privy Council in Abdul Cadur v Turner , (1884) ILR 9 Bom 158 settled the operation of the one-third cap on competent legatees; Husaini Begam v Muhammad Mehdi , (1927) 49 All 547 worked out the consent rules under Hanafi doctrine and the Shia variation; Abdul Manan Khan v Mirtuza Khan , AIR 1991 Pat 154 confirmed that consent may be inferred from conduct such as attestation of the will by the heirs or their taking possession of the bequeathed property. This guide traces the wasiyat end-to-end — capacity, the one-third cap, the consent rules, the formal requirements, revocation, and proof.
2026-05-15 · 18 min read
[ Everyday Law ]
The intestate succession of a Hindu is governed by the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, read with the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005. The Act overrides the pre-1956 customary Hindu law to the extent of inconsistency (Section 4). Two distinct regimes operate side by side. Section 6 governs the devolution of a male Hindu's undivided interest in Mitakshara coparcenary property; Section 8 governs his separate and self-acquired property. Commissioner of Wealth Tax v Chander Sen , (1986) 3 SCC 567 settled that a son does not have a birthright in his father's separate property — that property devolves under Section 8 as the father's individual estate. Vineeta Sharma v Rakesh Sharma , (2020) 9 SCC 1 settled that a daughter is a coparcener by birth under amended Section 6, irrespective of whether her father was alive on 9 September 2005, overruling Prakash v Phulavati , (2016) 2 SCC 36 on the father's-survival requirement. This guide traces the order of succession — Class I heirs in equal share, Class II heirs entry-by-entry, agnates, cognates — and the share computation under Sections 9, 10 and 11.
2026-05-15 · 22 min read
[ Everyday Law ]
Every partition suit in a Hindu family turns on a single classification question — is the property in dispute ancestral or self-acquired? The answer decides whether the sons (and after 2005, the daughters) take a share by birth or whether the holder of the property is free to dispose of it by sale, gift or will in any manner he or she pleases. The classical Mitakshara definition is well settled — property inherited from the father, paternal grandfather or paternal great-grandfather through the male line, without intervening severance, is ancestral. Property acquired by one's own labour, skill or investment, or received by gift, will or any non-ancestral source, is self-acquired. The Supreme Court in C.N. Arunachala Mudaliar v C.A. Muruganatha Mudaliar , AIR 1953 SC 495 settled the test for a father-to-son gift — the gift is presumed to be self-acquired in the son's hands unless the donor's intention to confer ancestral character is clearly shown. Commissioner of Wealth Tax v Chander Sen , (1986) 3 SCC 567 broke from the classical position — property inherited by a son from his father under Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 is the son's separate property and does not take birth in his coparcenary. Vineeta Sharma v Rakesh Sharma , (2020) 9 SCC 1 settled the daughter's coparcenary birthright in property that does remain ancestral. This guide traces the distinction end-to-end — definition, the Arunachala Mudaliar test, the Chander Sen break, the 2005 amendment, the tax consequences and the points where families most often misclassify.
2026-05-15 · 19 min read
