All You Need to Know About Daughters' Rights in Father's Property (2024)

Before 2005, daughters were never considered equal to sons when it came to their rights on their father’s property. Unlike sons, daughters could only be ‘members’, not ‘coparceners’ (individuals who have a legal right to their ancestral property by birth). While coparceners could ask for partition and share of the property, members couldn’t. Once the daughter gets married, she stops being a member of the HUF (Hindu Undivided Family), and therefore she loses her right to the share and maintenance of her father’s property. With the social equation changing rapidly in recent years, a need for equal rights in fathers’ property was felt repeatedly. As a result, in 2005, an amendment act was added to the Hindu Succession Law (1956). This was done to ensure that the daughter has an equal right to the father’s property (regardless of her marital status). Read on to know more about how this law has firmly solidified the daughters’ right to fathers’ property.

Prior To The Implementation of the Hindu Succession Act Of 1956, Daughters Had a Claim to Their Parents’ Property: Supreme Court

This Act states that all members of a HUF (with a common ancestor) share the ancestral property. Before going into the details of the original Hindu Succession Act (1956), let’s first understand the concept of the HUF.

A HUF or a Hindu Undivided Family means a family of people descended from a common ancestor and are also related to each other by birth or marriage. Daughters could only be part of this HUF till their marriage.

The Hindu Succession Act, 1956- Daughter’s right in ancestral property

The Hindu Succession Act was developed to create uniformity in a succession of parental property and came into force on June 17, 1956. Ironically, this law also highly favoured male heirs. There were two fundamental flaws in the Act:

• Firstly, the female members of the family were not considered coparceners or people who have legal rights to the ancestral property, but ‘members’ who could have a share of the property and maintenance in lieu of the male members. They do not have the right to demand equal share and partition of ancestral property. This loophole was heavily exploited, and women were often denied their rights.

This law did not provide any ancestral property rights to married daughters, which is why they automatically lost their rights to their father’s property as soon as their daughters were married off. The prevailing thought was that after marriage, the daughter becomes a part of someone else’s family, and hence giving her a share would alienate the property.

Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005

The new amendment act clearly states that if the father dies intestate (without making any will). Then the daughter is the sole heir; then, she has a legal right to the property by birth and not through the male members of the extended family (i.e. the son of the deceased person’s brother). Only in the event of a will that gives the property rights to the extended family’s male heirs, the legal daughter will not be able to claim any share.

The law further states that both sons and daughters will have an equal share of the father’s property. However, it is essential to note that while this law recognizes the married daughters’ rights in the father’s property, the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 will not apply to the female members who have joined the family by other means like marriage. This is because Daughters-in-law can only be members and cannot claim their father-in-law’s property.
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The daughter’s right to the father’s property does not extend to self-acquired properties unless mentioned in the will. However, if the father dies intestate, both sons and daughters have an equal claim on the self-acquired property. Notably, the married daughter’s right to the father’s self-earned property remains the same, i.e. they are entitled to an equal share.

What the Supreme Court had to Say about Daughters’ Rights to Father’s Properties- Can Daughter Claim Father’s Property?

In India, the rights of daughters in the family’s property have evolved over a long period of time. The Supreme Court has made some crucial rulings in this area over the years, shaping the law into what it is now.

In the case of Prakash & Ors. vs. Phulavati & Ors., daughters’ rights to their parents’ property were first addressed. The Supreme Court ruled in this case that, regardless of the daughters’ birthdates, “the rights of coparceners under the Amendment Act, 2005 apply to the surviving daughters of living coparceners as on 9th September 2005.”

Therefore, if a coparcener’s father passes away prior to September 9, 2005, the coparcener’s living daughter will not be entitled to the paternal property and will not be able to inherit it. In certain cases, when the coparcener has passed away before the Act’s start date, the Amendment Act of 2005 will not be applicable.
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Furthermore, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Danamma v. Amar Singh that the daughter is also entitled to a share of the parent’s property if the father who passed away before September 9, 2005 was a coparcener and there is a prior lawsuit pending regarding division by a male-coparcener. The Court reasoned that Section 6 of the Act is retroactively applicable and grants daughters a complete claim to the family’s property.

People were confused about a daughter’s part of the parental property due to the conflicting rulings in the two cases, but this was clarified in Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma & Ors.

In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that Section 6 (1) (a) of the Amendment Act, 2005 grants the coparcener an “unobstructed heritage.” Regardless of whether the father was alive or deceased on the day of the amendment, a coparcener has a birthright to the inherited property. The Court further ruled that Section 6 of the Amendment Act should be implemented retroactively in order to give daughters the opportunity to inherit property based on the order of their birth.

This ruling made things clear and granted daughters the same parental property rights as sons. No matter when she was born, the amendment will likewise apply to the daughters of living coparceners.
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The Purpose of the Hindu Succession Act as Legislation

With relation to the 1956 Act, the fundamental goal of the HSA was to fully eradicate all ideas of a restricted estate and to ensure perfect equality between men and women in terms of property rights. The rights of women were also declared absolute thereby answering the question “can daughters claim their father’s property?”.

The court made observations regarding sections 14 (property of a female Hindu must be her absolute property), which deals in detail with the modified Act of 2005, and 15. (general rules of succession in the case of female Hindus).

The court reasoned that the legislative intent behind enacting Section 14(1) was to remove the restriction that a Hindu woman could not claim an absolute interest in the properties she inherited but only had a life interest in the estate so inherited, meaning that her property will be treated as her absolute property.

According to Section 15(1) of the HSA, Hindu females who pass away intestate are entitled to the property according to the list of heirs provided in this subsection.

This regulation only applies toproperty gained through inheritance (ancestral property), which is limited to the property inherited by a Hindu female when she passes away without any heirs from her father, mother, husband, or father-in-law. Section 15(2) offers exceptions to this norm.

Property Rights of a Daughter Before 2005

Daughters did not have any coparcenary rights, only member rights (i.e. they could enjoy an equal share of the property in their lifetime). Therefore, they could not ask for an identical partition of the ancestral property as the sons. Their share in the property was largely dependent on the whims of the male members. In short, all coparceners are automatically members, but the opposite was not valid.

Who Is a Coparcener Under Hindu Law?

As stated by the Hindu Succession Act, the coparcener is part of the HUF (Hindu Undivided Family). Therefore, it has a direct legal right to ancestral property by birth. Before the amendment act was passed in 2005, only legal sons and sons of the immediate family were considered coparceners. Now, daughters are also recognized as coparceners and have an equal claim on the property.

Daughter’s Right to Property After 2005

As discussed before, the right of daughters in a father’s property in India is absolute now, and they have an equal claim to the property as the son. This applies to married daughters also.

But what about the mother’s property? According to the Hindu succession law, any self-acquired or inherited property of the mother will naturally go to the daughter without any other direct heir (instead of the male collaterals like the mother’s brother). Otherwise, both sons and daughters of a deceased woman would have an equal share in her ancestral property.

Note: Both daughters and sons cannot claim the mother’s ancestral property during the mother’s lifetime.

Is It Possible for a daughter to Seek a Partition of Her Ancestral Property?

Daughters, irrespective of their marital status, can ask for partition and an equal share of the ancestral property of their parents. However, this is only null in cases where a will has been made stating the deceased person has left the property to the son and not the daughter.

A Hindu Widow’s Parental-Side Kin Can Inherit Her Property, Rules SC

On February 25, 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that the parental-side kin of a deceased woman (without a will) cannot be considered “strangers” and thus can claim their rights on her property. The parental side-kin can be the deceased woman’s parents, her father’s direct heirs, i.e. the dead woman’s sister or brother, and lastly, her mother’s side of heirs.

We have come a long way as far as women’s rights are concerned. It is only justified that all the loopholes in the original Hindu succession Act (that highly favoured the sons) were amended and gave both sons and daughters equal rights. The daughter’s right to her father’s property will be absolute, and she will always be the legal owner of her deceased father’s property if she is a single child (and not the uncle’s sons!). Wish to know more about women’s rights? Check out our legal blog section for more information. If you are in the midst of any property dispute, we encourage you to contact NoBroker legal services. Our legal experts are well versed in all aspects of the law and can help you settle matters amicably and justifiably. Click the link below to explore our legal services.

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