Inheritance Without Clarity: The Legal Pitfalls

Although the practice of creating Wills to bequeath property has existed for centuries, it isn’t commonly practiced, leading to numerous family disputes and rifts. Disputes of inheritance is one of the most common issues which arises generally fuelled by several causes including the validity and genuineness of the Will, as in recent case filed before Delhi High Court by Karisma Kapoor’s children claiming their share in the Sunjay Kapur’s personal estate.When an individual passes away, the course of succession is definitively determined by the presence or absence of a Will. If a valid Will exists, the transfer of assets and liabilities is governed by testamentary succession, following the deceased’s final wishes. However, if no Will is left behind, the estate is subjected to the rigid framework of intestate succession, where a predetermined legal hierarchy dictates who inherits the property.In case of absence of a Will, under the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, if applicable, the distribution of property amongst heirs and descendants have been described in a structured manner providing a share of the property to the surviving members of the deceased’s family. However, things become significantly more complex when dealing with intricate family situations, such as multiple marriages andthe heirs descending from them. The Hindu Succession Act treats all the surviving children of the deceased on the same scale which means even in case of a divorce, the children do continue having inheritance rights over the assets of the deceased.

The Act provides a comprehensive list of legal heirs recognised under law as Class I heirs and Class II heirs; and children form part of Class I heirs with other family members. However, the act is silent on the inheritance rights of stepchildren, and several judgments of different courts have stated that when the terms ‘son’ and ‘daughter’ have been used, it refers to biological children. This legal ambiguitymeans that despite living as part of the family, stepchildren lack the necessary legal relationship to be considered heirs. On the other hand, in case of adoptions, the Act recognises and treats the adopted child as a natural born child of the adoptive parents and hence the inheritance rights of the child is on par with that of a biological child, being Class I heirs. The immediate legitimate spouse of the deceased toowould be a beneficiary under the Act. But the previous spouse of the deceased with whom divorce has occurred would not be an automatic beneficiary.

A Will allows individuals to dictate the exact distribution of their property, assets, etc.,to whomsoever they choose and hence proper and adequate documentation of the same is crucial for the transmission of the assets from the deceased to the beneficiaries. In general practice, courts Probate the Will after following the dueprocess which establishes the authenticity of the Will. However, if the same is challenged through filing caveat or other proceedings and applications, then it converts into Testamentary suit and through the trial it is decided that whether Will is genuine or not. If the Will is declared as valid, the distribution is done as per the contents presented therein by grating the probate. While on the other hand, if theWill is declared as invalid, applicable succession laws come into the picture. From this standpoint, the October 09 hearing in the Sunjay Kapur’s estate inheritance case will be keenly followed by families, business houses and legal experts to better understand ways to plan seamless succession and inheritance.Nitin Jain , Partner Agama Law Associates