Property Inheritance Rights of a Woman

It’s never been a favourable time for a woman in India. Be it equality or property rights. Though the flaws in rights and treatment couldn’t bring a remarkable change but Women are possibly in a better place than ever before. This because of the rising awareness through social media and global forums. Changes in laws to empower them, and proactive governments to implement gender neutral laws have all converged to give women a hearing and heft.

Initially, Indian women have not been dealt a fair hand in terms of property rights. Married women then have had limited rights to their parental property, and the widows were invariably at the mercy of their sons. But, gone are the days when women in India faced such discrimination in matters of property ownership. 

The government has been taking a number of progressive steps to promote property holding among women in the latest times. Providing home loans at concessional rates and keeping stamp duty charges lower for women are some such steps. Actually, the centre has been trying to empower women’s property rights through various amendments to legislation. 

Still, many areas can do with a nudge to empower them, one being the succession and inheritance laws. One, inheritance laws vary from different religious communities governed by their own laws and different state tribals by their customary laws.

Have a look at what your rights are under as per your religion.

Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jain

According to the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, property rights of women in all four faiths are highly fragmented. The rights vary depending on whether the woman is a wife, widow, mother, daughter, or daughter-in-law.

The Hindu Succession Act of 1956 addressed gender equality of inheritance. Today even daughters can enjoy the right to the parent’s property even if they are married. The amended law by the Supreme Court treats all children as equal, irrespective of gender or marital status. All the sons and daughters of the deceased have equal rights to inherit the parent’s property. However, this holds only in case of intestate succession. Intestate refers to a person who dies without making a will. If the will is already being made by the deceased, the children have no right to go against the will, but to accept whatever is mentioned in the will.

This Act states that women have complete control over the property they have earned, gifted, or willed. As per a woman’s desire, the property can be disposed of by them by selling, gifting, or willing to another person.

Muslims

Muslims were earlier governed by customary law, which was unjust, to say the least. Then the law was replaced by the Shariat Act of 1937, which governs personal matters that include property rights. Under this law, husbands and wives can be legal heirs. But the women are not given equal rights to inherit. Females get one-half of a man’s shares. Thus, in a situation where there are two siblings- a man and a woman- the woman gets one share and the male gets two shares.

The law also specifies that an unmarried girl has a right to stay in her parent’s home and inherit one-half of her shares of the family properties. A divorced woman has the right to inherit one-fourth of her spouse’s property with no children and up to one-eight with children. A divorced or widowed mother also has the right to inherit one-sixth of the deceased child’s property.

Christians and Parsis

Under the Christian section of the Act, a daughter inherits an equal share as the son from the parent’s estate. A widow obtains one-third share of her deceased husband’s estate and the remaining two-thirds go to the lineal descendants. If there are no descendants, the whole property goes to the widow. But, if a descendant has left behind people kindred (be it a family or other relation) to him, then one half of the property goes to the widow and the other half goes to the kindred.

The Parsi section of the Act is also gender-neutral. A widow and her children get an equal share in the property. However, the law is not fair to the widow of a pre-deceased son in both religions.

Property rights for women are not equitable or fair in the patriarchal society we live in. Yet, major improvements need to be done, however, this calls for efforts from the government, social and religious bodies. Every woman, especially in India should be aware of the rights she has and is encouraged to exercise the same.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are for informational purposes only based on industry reports and related news stories. Propertypistol does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information and shall not be held responsible for any action taken based on the published information.