{"id":2418,"date":"2012-08-02T22:35:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T17:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/?p=2418"},"modified":"2016-05-28T23:10:55","modified_gmt":"2016-05-28T17:40:55","slug":"what-if-you-die-without-a-will-the-succession-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/what-if-you-die-without-a-will-the-succession-question\/","title":{"rendered":"What if you die without a will \u2013 The Succession Question?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Once you have some assets, <strong>it\u2019s always advisable to make a will<\/strong> for two primary reasons.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>First, after you the legacy would be passed to the people you really wanted to pass on.<\/li>\n<li>Second, it reduces a lot of acrimonious discussions and sour relationships among heirs which almost always happen while the distribution of wealth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But if someone dies without a will in India, <strong>the succession is governed by \u201cMuslim Personal Law\u201d if the person is Muslim and by \u201cThe Hindu Succession Act\u201d if he was Hindu.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We look at the <strong>The Hindu Succession Act in this post<\/strong>. This law came in force in 1956 and later was amended in 2005 to give equal rights to females.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Succession in case of a Hindu Male:<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The property of a Hindu male dying intestate, or without a will, following is the order of preference:<\/p>\n<ol style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Class I heirs<\/li>\n<li>Class II heirs<\/li>\n<li>deceased\u2019s agnates or relatives through male lineage<\/li>\n<li>cognates, or any relative through the lineage of males or females<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The next level is benefited only if there is no one in the level above that.<\/strong> Let\u2019s see who all are in Class I and Class II heirs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Class I heirs include<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Sons\/ Daughters<\/li>\n<li>Widow<\/li>\n<li>Mother<\/li>\n<li>Children of any pre-deceased son\/daughter<\/li>\n<li>Widows of pre-deceased son<\/li>\n<li>Children of a pre-deceased sons of a predeceased son and<\/li>\n<li>Widow of a pre-deceased son of a predeceased son.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The Wealth would be equally distributed among all these Class 1 heirs.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2466\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2466\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2466 \" title=\"Class 1 heirs\" src=\"http:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Class-1-heirs-1024x407.png\" alt=\"Class 1 heirs\" width=\"630\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Class-1-heirs-1024x407.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Class-1-heirs-300x119.png 300w, https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Class-1-heirs.png 1869w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2466\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Class I Heirs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If there is more than one widow, multiple surviving sons or multiples of any of the other heirs listed above, each shall be granted one share of the deceased\u2019s property. Also if the widow of a pre-deceased son or the widow of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased son has remarried, she is not entitled to receive the inheritance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Class II heirs are categorized as follows and are given the property of the deceased in the following order:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Father<\/li>\n<li>Son&#8217;s daughter&#8217;s son<\/li>\n<li>Son&#8217;s daughter&#8217;s daughter<\/li>\n<li>Brother<\/li>\n<li>Sister<\/li>\n<li>Daughter&#8217;s son&#8217;s son<\/li>\n<li>Daughter&#8217;s son&#8217;s daughter<\/li>\n<li>Daughter&#8217;s daughter&#8217;s son<\/li>\n<li>Daughter&#8217;s daughter&#8217;s daughter<\/li>\n<li>Brother&#8217;s son<\/li>\n<li>Sister&#8217;s son<\/li>\n<li>Brother&#8217;s daughter<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The Wealth is passed to the top person present in the hierarchy<\/strong><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_2468\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2468\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2468 \" title=\"Class 2 heirs\" src=\"http:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Class-2-heirs-1024x715.png\" alt=\"Class 2 heirs\" width=\"630\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Class-2-heirs-1024x715.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Class-2-heirs-300x209.png 300w, https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Class-2-heirs.png 1384w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2468\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Class II Heirs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Succession in case of a Hindu Female:<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The property of a Hindu female dying intestate, or without a will, shall devolve in the following order:<\/p>\n<ol style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>upon the sons and daughters (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) and the husband,<\/li>\n<li>upon the heirs of the husband.<\/li>\n<li>upon the heirs of the father, and<\/li>\n<li>upon the heirs of the mother.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Exceptions:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If any person is involved in murder, he is disqualified from receiving any form of inheritance from the victim.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If a relative converts from Hinduism, he or she is still eligible for inheritance. The descendants of that converted relative, however, are disqualified from receiving inheritance from their Hindu relatives, unless they have converted back to Hinduism before the death of the relative.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Disclaimer:\u00a0The above explanation is a broad guideline of The Hindu Succession Act and its always good idea to consult a lawyer in case of doubt or dispute.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once you have some assets, it\u2019s always advisable to make a will for two primary reasons. First, after you the legacy would be passed to the people you really wanted to pass on. Second, it reduces a lot of acrimonious discussions and sour relationships among heirs which almost always happen while the distribution of wealth. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[931,3013],"tags":[934,935,936,932],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/WILL-Succession-Planning-Inheritance.png",694,589,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/WILL-Succession-Planning-Inheritance-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/WILL-Succession-Planning-Inheritance-300x254.png",300,254,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/WILL-Succession-Planning-Inheritance.png",694,589,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/WILL-Succession-Planning-Inheritance.png",694,589,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/WILL-Succession-Planning-Inheritance.png",694,589,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/WILL-Succession-Planning-Inheritance.png",694,589,false],"yarpp-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/WILL-Succession-Planning-Inheritance.png",120,102,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Amit","author_link":"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":3,"uagb_excerpt":"Once you have some assets, it\u2019s always advisable to make a will for two primary reasons. First, after you the legacy would be passed to the people you really wanted to pass on. Second, it reduces a lot of acrimonious discussions and sour relationships among heirs which almost always happen while the distribution of wealth.&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2418"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apnaplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}