The Supreme Court on 1st September ruled that children born out of void or voidable marriages are entitled to get a share in the property of their parents.
Key points
- The ruling is applicable only to Hindu joint family properties governed by Hindu Mitakshara Law.
- The verdict was given by a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud in reference to a two-judge bench judgment in Revanasiddappa vs. Mallikarjun (2011), which had held that children born out of void/voidable marriages are entitled to inherit their parents’ property — whether self-acquired or ancestral.
- The bench however clarified that such a child would not be entitled to rights in or to the property of any other person in the family.
- According to the interpretation of Section 16(3) of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 children born out of invalid marriages are conferred with legitimacy. But Section 16(3) says such children are only to inherit their parents’ property and will have no right over other coparcenary shares (a person who acquires a legal right to his ancestral property through birth in a Hindu Undivided Family).
- The bench explained that as per Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, the interest of coparceners in a Hindu Mitakshara property is defined to be the share of the property that would have been allotted to them if the partition of the property had taken place immediately before their death.
- A voidable marriage is not enforceable in law or is unlawful and has to be annulled through a decree.
- Mitakashara law of succession governing Hindu Undivided Families applies to the whole of India except West Bengal and Assam.
