Does son have a right on father’s property? or Can A Father Disinherit His Son From His Property?

Law of succession is different for different communities knowing their respective personal laws. Although their are certain basic principles developing in the Indian law of succession with time but the still the predominant position position is held by personal laws.

In Islamic law, only relatives with a legitimate blood relationship to the deceased are entitled to inherit. Thus, illegitimate children and adopted children have no shares in inheritance. In general, a full brother will exclude a half-brother who shares a common father (“consanguine brother), but not a half-brother who shares a common mother. In cases where a deceased man leaves a pregnant woman, the unborn child’s share will be reserved. Also a woman during the time of waiting (ʿiddat) after divorce is considered a wife of the deceased for purposes of inheritance.

There are even further rules of exclusion and inclusion of different relatives. The only “practical situations” which may cause disqualification are differences of religion and homicide. But schools of Islamic jurisprudence differed whether a Muslim can inherit from a non-Muslim or not. All the jurists agree that intentional or unjustifiable killing would exclude a person from inheritance

Father under shariat holds the exclusive right over the property until his death. However the position has slightly been moulded in terms of various judgments where father has been directed to give the respective share of the children during his lifetime.

According to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, a son or a daughter has the first right as the Class I heirs over the self-acquired property of his or her father if he dies intestate (without leaving a will). As a coparcener, an individual also has the legal right to acquire his or her share in an ancestral property. But in certain situations, as discussed below, a son may not receive his share in his father’s property.

As per Hindu Law, a person automatically acquires the right to his or her share in the ancestral property at the time of their birth. An ancestral property is the one which is inherited up to four generations of male lineage. A property is regarded ancestral under two conditions – if it is inherited by the father from his father, that is the grandfather after his death; or inherited from the grandfather who partitioned the property during his lifetime. In case, the father acquired the property from grandfather as a gift, it will not be regarded as an ancestral property.

The law says that a son does not have a legal right over the self-acquired property of his parents. However, he could claim his share if he can prove his contribution towards the acquisition of the property. Also, there is no chance for a son in receiving a share in the self-acquired property if his father has bequeathed his property to someone else, by means of a will, or a gift deed. He may be allowed to use the property on permission, but his parents are not under any obligation to allow him to live there. Moreover, a grandson does not have rights over the self-acquired property of his grandfather.

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