Indian Legal System > Civil Laws > Family Laws > The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 > Succession In the Case of a Male Hindu
Sections 8 to 13 of the Hindu Succession Act 1956 specify the rules for the succession to the property of a Hindu male (succession of Hindu Male). Section 8 of the Act specifies general rules while Sections 9 to 13 describe and provide details for the rules laid down in section 8 of the Act.
Section 8 of the Act lays down the procedure of devolvement of a property of a male Hindu dying intestate (without making a will). The three recognized classes of heirs: Sapindus, samanodakas, and bandhus cease to exist after the coming into force of the Act. The heirs are divided only in four classes under the Act, viz., (i) heirs in class I of the Schedule, (ii) heirs in class II of the Schedule, (iii) agnates, and (iv) cognates.
The Act confers full heritable capacity on the female heir and this section dispenses with the traditional limitations on the powers of a female Hindu to hold and transmit property.
Section 8: The Hindu Succession Act, 1956:
General rules of succession in the case of males.―
The property of a male Hindu dying intestate shall devolve according to the provisions of this Chapter:―
(a) firstly, upon the heirs, being the relatives specified in class I of the Schedule;
(b) secondly, if there is no heir of class I, then upon the heirs, being the relatives specified in class II of the Schedule;
(c) thirdly, if there is no heir of any of the two classes, then upon the agnates of the deceased; and
(d) lastly, if there is no agnate, then upon the cognates of the deceased.
Class- I Heirs:
As per the schedule of the Act, the following are class 1 heirs:
i) son; ii) daughter: iii) widow; iv) mother; v) son of a pre-deceased son: vi) daughter of a pre-deceased son; vii) son of a pre-deceased daughter; viii) daughter of pre-deceased daughter; ix) widow of a predeceased son: x) son of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased son, xi) daughter of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased son; xii) widow of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased son.
By the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 the following heirs have been added to the list of heirs of class 1. xiii) son of a pre-deceased daughter of a pre-deceased daughter; xiv) daughter of a pre-deceased daughter of a predeceased daughter: xv) daughter of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased daughter; and xvi) daughter of a pre-deceased daughter of a pre-deceased son.
Class 1 contains a list of 16 persons. Out of these 16 relations, 5 are males and 11 are females. Of them, the son, the daughter, the widow and the mother are the only four primary heirs and they inherit by reason of their own relationship to the propositus. The others are the 2nd. 3rd and 4th-degree descendants of the propositus and get their shares because they are related to the propositus through his predeceased son or predeceased daughter. Regarding ascendants of the propositus, only his mother is a class I heir; all other heirs (except the widow or the propositus) are his descendants or their widows. Widows of predeceased son and grandson are class I heirs. The husband of a deceased daughter or granddaughter is not an heir at all.
List of Class II Heirs
I. Father.
II. (1) Son’s daughter’s son, (2) son’s daughter’s daughter, (3) brother, (4) sister.
III. (1) Daughter’s son’s son, (2) daughter’s son’s daughter, (3) daughter’s daughter’s son, (4)
daughter’s daughter’s daughter.
IV. (1) Brother’s son, (2) sister’s son, (3) brother’s daughter, (4) sister’s daughter.
V. Father’s father; father’s mother.
VI. Father’s widow; brother’s widow.
VII. Father’s brother; father’s sister.
VIII. Mother’s father; mother’s mother.
IX. Mother’s brother; mother’s sister.
Explanation.―In this Schedule, references to a brother or sister do not include references to a brother or sister by uterine blood.
Section 9: The Hindu Succession Act, 1956:
Order of succession among heirs in the Schedule.―
Among the heirs specified in the Schedule, those in class I shall take simultaneously and to the exclusion of all other heirs; those in the first entry in class II shall be preferred to those in the second entry; those in the second entry shall be preferred to those in the third entry; and so on in succession.
According to Section 9 heirs in Class I of the Schedule are to succeed simultaneously, in other words, they form one group of heirs and succeed in a body. Heirs mentioned in Class II are excluded so long as there is even a single heir in Class I. Heir mentioned in Class- I succeeds in preference to all others mentioned in Class II. For instance, if a male dies intestate, leaving only a daughter and father surviving him, the daughter shall succeed in preference to the father in the entry I of class II.
When deciding Class-II heirs, it should be noted that the heir mentioned in higher entries have preference over those mentioned in the lower entry. In the same entry, all of the mentioned heirs have the same weight.
Illustrations:
- A, a male Hindu dies leaving surviving heir a son S, a father F, and a mother M, and a daughter D. In this case, the son S, the daughter D and the mother M will inherit because they are Class I heir as per Schedule of the Act. The whole property will be distributed among them. Father F will be excluded because he is Class II heir as per Schedule of the Act. Thus father will not get any share of the property.
- A, a male Hindu dies leaving surviving him a widow W, and a son of a predeceased son S, sister FD and a brother’s son BS. In this case, the widow W and S will succeed in getting the property because they are Class I heir as per Schedule of the Act. While sister FD (Father’s daughter) and BS (Brother’s son) will be excluded because they are Class II heir as per Schedule of the Act. Thus FD and BS will not get any share of the property.
- A, a male Hindu dies leaving surviving him a brother FS and brother’s grandson FSSS. There is no Class – I heir in this case. So we have to look for Class- II heir. Brother FS is mentioned at the second level in Class – II heir. Brother’s grandson is not present in Class-II heir. Brother’s grandson is related to diseased by blood through males. Hence he is agnate. Under Section 8 of the Act, as Class – II heir is available the whole property will go to brother FS and the agnate Brother’s grandson will not get any share of the property.
- A, a male Hindu dies leaving surviving him brother’s grandson FSSS and brother’s daughter’s son BDS. In this case both Class – I heir and Class – II heir are not present. Brother’s grandson is related to diseased by blood through males. Hence he is agnate. While the brother’s daughter’s son BDS is related to diseased by blood through the female. Hence she is cognate. Under Section 8 of the Act, agnate has a preference over cognate. Hence the whole property will go to brother’s grandson FSSS and brother’s daughter’s son BDS will not get any share of the property.
Section 10: The Hindu Succession Act, 1956:
Distribution of property among heirs in class I of the Schedule.―
The property of an intestate shall be divided among the heirs in class I of the Schedule in accordance with the following rules:―
Rule 1.―The intestate’s widow, or if there are more widows than one, all the widows together, shall take one share.
Rule 2.―The surviving sons and daughters and the mother of the intestate shall each take one share.
Rule 3.―The heirs in the branch of each pre-deceased son or each pre-deceased daughter of the intestate shall take between them one share.
Rule 4.―The distribution of the share referred to in Rule 3—
(i) among the heirs in the branch of the pre-deceased son shall be so made that his widow (or widows together) and the surviving sons and daughters get equal portions; and the branch of his pre-deceased sons gets the same portion;
(ii) among the heirs in the branch of the pre-deceased daughter shall be so made that the surviving sons and daughters get equal portions.
Illustrations of Rule 1:
- A dies leaving his widow Y, two daughters M, N and one son Z. There are four Class-I heirs. Hence Property should be divided into 4 equal parts and each heir will get ¼ th of the property.
- A dies leaving his widows X and Y, two daughters M, N and one son Z. There are 4 Class-I primary heirs. Note that the two widows are considered as 1 entity. Hence Property should be divided into 4 equal parts and two daughters M, N and one son Z each will get ¼ th of the property. The two widows will collectively get ¼ th of the property, which will be divided among them equally, thus each widow will get 1/8 th of the property.
Illustration of Rule 2:
A dies leaving behind his mother M, widow W, two sons S1and S2 and three daughters D1, D2, D3. Thus there are 7 Class-I primary heirs. Hence Property should be divided into 7 equal parts and each will get 1/7th of the property.
Illustrations of Rules 3 and 4:
- A dies leaving a widow W, a son S, a daughter D, three sons of a predeceased son S1 and two daughters of a predeceased daughter D1. The widow W, the son S, the daughter D, the predeceased son S1 and the predeceased daughter D1 are the primary heir and are mentioned in Class – I in the Schedule. The property will be divided into 5 equal parts. The widow W, the son S and daughter D each will get 1/5 th property. The three sons of predeceased son will get collectively 1/5 th of property. Thus each son of diseased son S1 will get 1/15 th of property. The two daughters of the predeceased daughter will get collectively 1/5 th of property. Thus each daughter of diseased daughter D1 will get 1/10 th of property.
- The surviving heirs of A are a son, S, a daughter D, great-grandson S3 by a predeceased son S1 and a granddaughter D1 by another predeceased son. The son S, the daughter D, the predeceased son S1 and the predeceased son are the primary heir and are mentioned in Class – I if the Schedule. The property will be divided into 4 equal parts and each will get 1/4 th of property.
Section 11: The Hindu Succession Act, 1956:
Distribution of property among heirs in class II of the Schedule.― The property of an intestate shall be divided between the heirs specified in any one entry in class II of the Schedule so that they, share equally.
If there is no heir in class I of the schedule property of a male Hindu dying intestate shall devolve upon the heirs in class Ii of the schedule. As regards the order of succession among the heirs of class II, section 11 of the Act lays down that the property of an intestate shall be divided between the heirs specified in any one entry in class II of schedule so that they share equally. One entry shall exclude the next entry. Thus when there is only one heir in a particular entry, he or she alone take the whole of the estate but when there are more heirs than one in the entry then all such heirs shall take equally
Illustrations:
- A dies leaving his father F, brother FS, and sister’s daughter FDD. None of them from Class – I heir list. We have to check the Class-II heir list. Father is in Entry I, brother is in Entry II and sister’s daughter in Entry IV. Thus father is at the top of the list. Hence the father will get the whole property to the exclusion of two others.
- A dies leaving brother, sister, father’s brother, mother’s mother. None of them from Class – I heir list. We have to check the Class-II heir list. The brother and sister are in Entry I, father’s brother is in Entry VII and mother’s mother in Entry VIII. Thus the brother and sister are at the top of the list. Hence the brother and sister, each will get ½ of the property to the exclusion of two others.
Section 12: The Hindu Succession Act, 1956:
Order of succession among agnates and cognates.―
The order of succession among agnates or cognates, as the case may be, shall be determined in accordance with the rules of preference laid down
hereunder:―
Rule 1.―Of two heirs, the one who has fewer or no degrees of ascent is preferred.
Rule 2.―Where the number of degrees of ascent is the same or none, that heir is preferred who has fewer or no degrees of descent.
Rule 3.―Where neither heir is entitled to be preferred to the other under Rule 1 or Rule 2 they take simultaneously
Section 13: The Hindu Succession Act, 1956:
Computation of degrees.―(1) For the purposes of determining the order of succession among agnates or cognates, relationship shall be reckoned from the intestate to the heir in terms of degrees of ascent or degrees of descent or both, as the case may be.
(2) Degrees of ascent and degrees of descent shall be computed inclusive of the intestate.
(3) Every generation constitutes a degree either ascending or descending.
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