Sir, how is ancestral property different from property someone buys themselves?
In Indian law, particularly under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the distinction between ancestral property and self-acquired property is critical in determining inheritance rights and ownership claims within a Hindu joint family.
Ancestral property is defined as property inherited by a Hindu male from his father, grandfather, or great-grandfather. The essential feature of ancestral property is that it must be four generations old and remain undivided. Every coparcener in the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) acquires a right in the ancestral property by birth. This includes both sons and daughters, especially after the amendment to the Hindu Succession Act in 2005, which granted daughters equal coparcenary rights.
The moment a child is born in a Hindu family, they acquire an equal interest in the ancestral property, and that right can be claimed legally even during the lifetime of the father or other coparceners. Any coparcener can seek partition of the ancestral property and demand their share. If the property is divided through a legal partition, the portion that each coparcener receives becomes their self-acquired property, unless otherwise agreed upon or documented.
On the other hand, self-acquired property is any property that an individual acquires from their own income or resources, without inheriting it from paternal ancestors. It includes:
- Property purchased by the person using their own earnings.
- Property received as a gift, through a registered gift deed.
- Property received by way of a Will.
- Property inherited from maternal relatives or from persons other than the father, grandfather, or great-grandfather.
- Property obtained through a legal partition or settlement.
In the case of self-acquired property, the owner has full legal rights to dispose of the property as they wish. They may sell, gift, or bequeath the property by Will to anyone, including persons outside the family. Legal heirs do not have any birthright over self-acquired property during the lifetime of the owner. Their claim arises only if the owner dies intestate (without making a Will), in which case succession laws determine the distribution.
A common legal issue arises when parties claim that a property is ancestral in nature, whereas records or transaction history shows it was purchased by an individual, making it self-acquired. Another frequent dispute involves fathers attempting to exclude children from what is in fact ancestral property through a Will or gift deed—such attempts are not legally valid since ancestral property cannot be alienated unilaterally without the consent of all coparceners.
It is also important to note that property once partitioned ceases to be ancestral. For example, if a grandfather partitions his ancestral property and distributes it among his sons, the portion that each son receives becomes his self-acquired property for the purposes of inheritance. His children do not get an automatic birthright in it unless he chooses to treat it as HUF property again.
In summary, whether a property is ancestral or self-acquired affects the rights of children and other legal heirs, and the legal remedies available to them. Each classification has different legal consequences under Indian property law.