Your question involves complicated questions of law and facts, including the local amendment made in Andhra Pradesh by way of insertion of Section 29-A to the Hindu Succession Act. So, it is advisable for you to consult some local lawyer in your state by showing him all the relevant details.
On the basis of the limited information available to me through your question, my tentative reply would be that the unamended Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act (i.e., prior to amendment of Section 6 of this Act which was made in 2005) may perhaps govern your scenario. Prior to its amendment in 2005, Section 6 stood as under:
“6. Devolution of interest in coparcenary property.—When a male Hindu dies after the commencement of this Act, having at the time of his death an interest in a Mitakshara coparcenary property, his interest in the property shall devolve by survivorship upon the surviving members of the coparcenary and not in accordance with this Act :
Provided that, if the deceased had left him surviving a female relative specified in Class I of the Schedule or a male relative specified in that class who claims through such female relative, the interest of the deceased in the Mitakshara coparcenary property shall devolve by testamentary or intestate succession, as the case may be, under this Act and not by survivorship.
Explanation 1.—For the purposes of this section, the interest of a Hindu Mitakshara coparcener shall be deemed to be the share in the property that would have been allotted to him if a partition of the property had taken place immediately before his death, irrespective of whether he was entitled to claim partition or not.
Explanation 2.—Nothing contained in the proviso to this section shall be construed as enabling a person who had separated himself from the coparcenary before the death of the deceased or any of his heirs to claim on intestacy a share in the interest referred to therein.”
The Proviso to this old section shows that if a male person died with only female relatives specified in Class I of the Schedule, then the interest of the deceased in the Mitakshara coparcenary property shall devolve by testamentary or intestate succession, as the case may be. In your case, it should be by intestate succession as per Section 8 of the Act, since there appears to be no will.
In view of this, my tentative opinion is that the property in your question will be equally divided between widow and 2 daughters in accordance with Section 8 of the Act. However, please note that this opinion is given on the basis of limited information and it may or may not be accurate. As mentioned above, it may be advisable for you to consult some local lawyer in your state, by showing him all relevant details.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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