Why Women dont ask for their Share in Inherited Property and Wealth ?
POSTED BY ON January 21, 2013 COMMENTS (101)
Let’s talk about Women and Inheritance today. Our Indian culture, has for thousands of years treated men as someone who lead families and be the heads of next generation and women as someone who will go to some other family after marriage and start a new life. This has been deeply rooted in all our minds for years and years. This is one big reason why women in India are not aware about inheritance laws and their rights in property.
Some families, where there are sons and daughters both, do not even raise the point of dividing the property equally among all of them equally. Daughters who are married are not even in picture at the times, the wealth is divided and it’s considered natural and something that makes sense. Women on the other hand also do not take any lead or don’t bother asking for their fair share in the family wealth.
Brothers do not share wealth with Sisters
You must have seen cases like these and might be experiencing them in your family as well.
Case 1 : I know a family which had 1 brother and 3 sisters and who had a huge property in Mumbai at a central location, lots of shares, mutual funds and bank accounts, When the father died, people cried and after a month every body was back at home, all 3 daughters who are married didn’t even think for a second that they have a huge 25% share in the wealth, which is a decent amount by today’s standards. All 3 daughters are not so well off and struggling day in and day out, but they are just not considering the option to ask for their share. Legally if they want, it would be just a matter of a few months or years and some bitter experiences, but they might reach their financial freedom if they go to court. But they are too emotional to take that step and worry about relationships and the problems which arise out of it.
Case 2 : In another case, there are 2 brothers and 2 sisters (all married), and after the father’s death, the brothers are fighting with each other for property “Father spend so much on your education, my career was affected because of that, So I should logically get more now.” Fair point logically, but from legal point of view, it does not matter much how father treated whom . The sad part of this story is that brothers are fighting for their share and also sharing their plight with their sisters, but not for a second do they think that even sisters are legal heirs and should also get their share. (Incase you didnt knew – Hindu Succession Law is applied when a WILL is not written)
It’s not Fair!
Just because now they are part of another family, they are not seen as valid heirs. I am raising this point today because this is wrong practice. Women now have to raise their voices and ask for their share from their parents and brothers. If required, ask for it legally. Just because father has spend lot of money on wedding of sister and given her gold does not mean she can be cut off from the family wealth sharing.
If father writes a WILL saying that he wants to give his wealth in some specific proportion, then it’s fine, it’s your father wish. But if a WILL is not present, then you are a valid legal heir, you should ask for your share and you will get it.
Look at it as part of your Financial Plan
If you are a man, your wife might be entitled for her share of wealth from her parents’. In today’s world where money has become so important, see if you can convince her to ask for her share. It might get her valid share of money and can help you in leading a better financial life. I am not saying this because you should be money minded, but because its a fair thing to ask for.
We have created a 2 part video program for Women and Money for our wealth club members. If you are a member there, please show this video series to your spouse.
Do you have any personal experience like this? Can you share?
I have willingly given my share to my brother along with my sisters to my brother. Now I have realised that I have made a mistake. Can I ask for it back ?
Hi Rama Dogra
This is very specific query which you should follow up with the concerned authority only. We wont be able to comment on that
Manish
Just. I’ll give another case.
A low middle class family,
For daughters wedding spent a lot of money, gave her many jewels, and net cash of a lakh, and for son, still younger
His parents won’t see for his education, won’t let him to fulfil his dream job
And he’s hardly earning his daily, and
They have only 1 house ( with debt).
Is father, dies- Who will get that House.
( Remember – for daughters wedding, they spent lot’s of money and they didn’t care about son. Now they have very hard financial condition too).
Sorry, I didn’t get how to post it actually article, can you please do it for me.
And she’s is in rich family.
And she is bad wisher for her brother.
Hello,
I am the elder daughter of my parents. I have only my younger brother who has taken care of my parents whenever they required medical attention all these years. He is married and has a family. I too am married and have 2 sons. Because of family commitments I have not been able to take care of my parents or visit them except last time when my mom was hospitalised for an operation. I was there with her for one full month, fully taking care of her. Now my mother informs me that they have made a will in which it is stated that the whole property( the house including the land) is been written off for my brother as “i am not visiting them often”. Is it fair? I have emotional attachment towards my home as much as my brother has. She mentioned that since my brother is now in a condition to give money for me now( he is constructing a house in Bangalore city limits), he may later give me 15 lakhs. My parents’ home in Cochin is easily worth more than 1 crore. My brother and family are not in a good relation with me, because of some family issues(petty ones!!). I haven’t talked to my brother for more than a year now. Kindly advise what I should do, do I have a share in my father’s property? Apart from this there is another property which my father has inherited from his father, which is not sold(only land which will fetch a very good amount). do I have a share in this property also? If so, how much? Thanks a lot!
please read as “since my brother is not in a condition to give me money”
I can understand your situation, but legally speaking, your father can will their own property to anyone they want.
However for inherited property, your father will have to share it with you. I mean you should be taking your share. I suggest talk to a property lawyer on this matter and take their advice.
My grand father died without writing a will. He is survived by a wife (whom he married after my grand mother died), one daughter, one son (which he gave birth through his first wife), three sons (whom he bore out from his second wife). But after my grand father died, my four uncles had got some passbooks written on their names claiming as the heirs of his full property stating that when my mother was a child my grand father had written some property on her name as a gift. So now my mother is having no share in his property now. Recently approximately one year ago they sold the property and divided the amount among four of them excluding my mother. They had not even informed my mother about this deal. We came to know about this from third party who are our well wishers. My mother is separated from my father and is staying alone with me since my childhood (approximately 30 years). Now my father also is threatening us to write the property he earned on ashram’s name. He is a retired Govt employee. We are not even getting a part of his pension. We are facing a lot of hardships. I am central govt employee (defence person serving in uniform). Please guide us whether my self can file any type of legal claims against my uncles claiming my grandfather’s (mother’s father) property and my father’s property / my mother can file any type of legal claims on her father’s property against her real and step brothers and also any claim on her husband’s earned property or his pension from whom she had separated since approximately 30 years view some personal family disturbances.
Tulas
I think you should get hold of a good lawyer . Why are you not considering a lawyer ?
ACCORDING TO THE SITUATION WHICH I HAD EXPLAINED YOU ABOVE WILL THERE BE ANY STRONG POINTS IN MY CASE IF I CONSULT A LAWYER AND THEN BE VICTORIOUS
To understand this point only you have to hire a lawyer !
Now here is the situation.
My wife has one brother and parents have passed away. Her father just own a home in prime location(father bought it). When he bought that house long back it was only worth of 3 lacs or something BUT TODAY it’s worth of minimum 1.25 to 1.5 crore. Currently, my wife’s brother is staying there. My wife and her brother has fine relation(not very good but also not bad).
Here,
– Property prices have appreciated as a matter of fact but that does not mean people have got income increased drastically. What I mean here is that, although property price of their house is in crore still her brother is earning just fine. He does not have any other another house than what father bought and he lives there.
– so shall a sister ask his brother to sell of the property and take a equal share of it OR leave it for him ?
Your wife has a 50% share in that house. She can talk to her brother about it and then check how they can settle it. Ideally the brother should give her the share she deserves or some arrangement which your wife is ok with, however if his brother does not agree, she can always ask for her share in legal manner, in which case , brother will have to sell the property and give the 50% part to her.
Hello readers,
I’m 30 now, and being a son, I’m taking care of my parents.
My father owns a house, for which I payed off the remaining loan when I just started earning.
I have been spending on the monthly society maintenance and renovate the house once every three years or so, apart from taking the best care of my parents financially, medically and psychologically.
My sister, meanwhile, didn’t have to shoulder any responsibilities as such and didn’t have much of a role to play after marriage.
My question to you is, don’t all these factors make me MORALLY eligible for the property? Let’s keep law, culture and tradition aside for a moment.
I do not intend to say I took care of my parents so that I would claim the property some day.
I am sure that me and my sister wouldn’t get into a dispute over the property, but I would honestly like to know if I can pitch these points to her in case we discuss it?
If we would get into an argument, I have decided to happily give away her share. Just want to know if my thought process is correct, or is it, as some may say, biassed due to my cultural upbringing? I am open to new views as long as I see logic in them.
Both my parents are still healthy by god’s grace but I don’t know if I can discuss these things with them.
Shyam
Thats a great point. I think morally it makes sense that you keep a bigger share. But now the question is , when you were paying back that loan, when you were taking care of your parents, what was behind the mind ? What was the going in the mind, If “I might get more” was never on your mind, then it should never come back later also . It was all you did out of your love and care and because you wanted to do it .
Morally your sister might also give away her share, but the point is how would you feel if she does not, If you feel bad about it, then someone can say that you did all that with those expectations ..
You do not take care of your parents you expect another daughter which is your wife to take care of them, how foolish is the custom to throw away your daughter after certain forget what she did before marriage than those in-laws expect that should take care of them more than her parents, she does not get shares because of this stupid patriarchal customs from her parents and made to depend on a husband as she is not legally own property. First, send your daughter away to fulfil some stupid patriarchal customs then cry about the fact they did not care for you as you did not expect from your own biological the same way that you expect from someone else daughter. Let people take care of their part of biological parents, not in-laws it is their own choice if they want to. Everybody should have obligations towards their parents who raised them not some in-laws. Daughters can take care of parents too if these patriarchal customs do not exist. No son takes care of their parent by themselves they expect from their wife or someone else daughter to take care of them
Hi Manish,
A very nice article and interesting to read the comments as on date…
I personally believe that whatever our parents have earned or accumulated during their entire life should be distributed according to his sweet WILL ONLY afterall it”s his WEALTH and he should dispose it off accordingly to his wish only. For that matter, a father should analyse his own family situation and should discuss about His Wish/Will with both his son & daughter. In that way, he will come to know about the mind set of his children which would enable him to take future course of action on his finances. A father should openly discuss with his children wrt his wish and will on distribution of his fiances.
I personally believe that daughter and son should be treated equally and daughter MUST get her share of right in every bit of finance of her father.
Thanks for sharing your views .. I acknowledge your thinking. I go the same way !
When and how does a property become ancestral?
Is only the immoveable property that can be considered ancestral?
Who could be the beneficiaries of such a property?
When and if the ancestral property can ever be sold?
Yes only the immovable property is ancestral , it should never have been divided and should involve 4 generations !
Hi
Nice post. I want to know if the daughter is adopted as a baby ..in that case does she has the right on her parents wealth. There is no will.
She was adopted from relatives but not on paper.
Thanks
Anuj
Yes , an adopted child has all the rights of a biological child . Just that if things are not on paper, it will get complicated .
Thank you sir!!
thanks manish you have truely touched my heart by raising this issue.
after my father died my brother and his wife kept insluting and misbehaving with my mother.i plan to take care of my mother thoughout her life and give her the dignity which she deserved.can you please quote some cases in india where sisters actually fought in court and what were the decisions so that sisters like me can referto them also some lawers in india who specialse in dealing such cases who can be asked for legal aid if need arises.
THANKS AGAIN MANISH
Thanks for your views and viewpoints Sonia
I have a question here. What if the father has written a will which doesn’t mentioned anything about giving to daughter? Can the daughter still fight legally for the share?
No Chitra
She can not fight in that case .. because father has willed his wealth to someone else by his own choice. However there are two cases where one can contest
1. If you feel WILL is not correct, or fake or was made under pressure then you can contest
2. If there is any ancestral property in question, then you can contest, because ancestral property cant be WILLED ! ..
Manish
In my opinion i can say major chunk of responsibility lies in father(original owner of the property), he should make will paper in such a way that all son and daughter will get equal share after his death… because if you say father spent much of the money as dowry to his daughter then i wont agree because same or greater amount of money father spent as higher education of his son too sometime. So it’s father right how he can spend money to his son/daughter, you can’t quantify this…and if father spent much of his money as dowry..i must say anyways he is giving this money to person who is not 100% man,so he giving his fine as his daughter is not capable to select right person…
Sukomal
Thanks for your views. . I acknowledge your thought process 🙂
Agree with you Manish….Its because of emotions why sisters don’t ask for their share.
Some females feel that whatever was my share , my father has given in form on dowry….
Some females feel that its my husband’s responsibility to take care of me… why should I ask money from my brother?
Husbands don’t ask wife to claim the share because of the same reason that it would be considered as a dowry and not her rights..he would be considered money minded
In case sister is staying in joint family, she has a fear that major chunk of the money I get, will all be used by my in-laws (and she and her children might not get sufficient amt)…in such case why should sister ask her brother for share….
For some, brother comes first than husband…. when husband suggest wife to claim the share, they would keep giving different irrational advices, like cost-cutting/saving etc. to husband rather than asking for their share after the parents….
Legally, I agree with whatever you have written….
Hmm .. yea I get your point .. Thats how things go .. There are cases where female might let it go .. but there are times , when she should ask for it openly without thinking much !
In some peculiar cases, the argument of Manish is valid. But not in all cases.
Daughter’s share is given in the name of dowry. Why do not you call it as equal share?
After marriage, she leaves her parents house and settles in another place. Hence physically, it is difficult to look after her parents. In our male dominated culture (socially, physically, financially) it will be difficult for her to help her parents without the consent of her husband. Hence parents do not expect any thing from her. Parents treat their daughter as beautiful flower to be looked after by them. But they treat their son as a fencing to protect them and their daughters. Hence parents give responsibilities to their sons along with their assets.
Based on the age old tradition, daughters give their love and show tears of love towards their parents. But they, generally(daughters) do not feel financial responsibility towards their parents. When they do not feel financial responsibility, they should not expect any thing from the left over assets of parents.
Minors have right to share profit in the business of partnership concern. But they are not responsible for losses in the business. Like ‘that’ it is not fair to argue that girls should share assets but not financial liabilities.
Above views are based on some conditions and to discuss the other side. No argument can be treated as applicable for ALL conditions.
Yes agree to your points Vanga
All I am saying is that as per law , women has rights and she should exercise it when required by her conditions. What should happen and what can happen is always debatable .
legally very right, emotionaly may not very right from girls point of view.
one can weigh between her emotions and rights and decide, law will help.
even to add, property made by father can be given to any one ( only sons ), but property inherited by father from his parents i. e. from grandparents of the girls can not be willed to any one he wishes to ( legally speaking )
True !
Hi Manish
A well written article. The main reason I think women have not asked for their share is simply because though the husband know this they dont want to ask for their wife’s share. Because they know the day they will do that their sister’s will also ask for their share from them. So the men conveniently calculate that rather than getting a couple of lakhs from the in-laws and spoiling the image there it makes sense to keep quiet and garner the crores from their parents. I may sound a bit harsh on the men but if you look around this is primarily the reason and where the reverse happens the daughters stand up for the right because the husband push them for that by emotionally telling that it will be beneficial for their kids and so on.
Yes .. very much agree with your points Balvir 🙂 . This is exactly what happened with one of my friends recently , what you have mentioned. Thanks for sharing this point !
Why Women don’t ask for their Share in Inherited Property and Wealth : Possibly because they love and care their brothers…Money can’t be over & above the relations.
Yes , to some extent thats correct that they watch out for relations and how the other person will feel, but thats a totally wrong way of looking at it . If the other person “feels” anything when someone asks for a “valid” share, then there is a “problem” there 🙂 . Better to make the other person feel bad then !
Yes you are true & I agree that brothers should offer the share of property to sisters & let them to take decision.
Yes .. But here more than brothers , I feel women should take her stand of ASKING . You never get your valid share in life if you dont ask ..
Exactly !!! Manishji
same applies for brothers too why just they dont give it away bcause it is legally and constitutionly sisters right .when sister ask for share she is culprit when brothers grab money CHALATA HAI.this kind of mentality must change now
Yes.You are true saying that love,care & affection should be from both the side and same applies to brothers too.
I just responded to the headline query :Why Women don’t ask for their Share in Inherited Property and Wealth? .
If post headline would have : Why men don’t offer women share in inherited property : then response may be different.
Hi , this is reshma from Bangalore . I have a concern , if you can suggest on the same . My mom was married to my dad after his first wife passed away . From his first wife , he had 7 daughters and from
My mom he had 5 . So we are 12 of us . My mom n dad was together for 22 years when he passed away in 2001. Only 3 daughters were married till then. My mom is a school teacher and alone she had to take care of 9 kids.so, she had to sell property in the name of my dad to manage our bread and butter. In due course she got power of attorney from
Notary for 3 married daughters. And we’re selling property as and when required to take care of 9 kids. Now 9 daughters are married and only 1 left. My questions are
1. Did she had the rights to sell the property to take care of kids?
2. Now married sisters whose power of attorney is signed is coming back for share in property? Is that applicable?
3 . Whose right will be on ancestral house of my dad which is on his mothers name?
4. The division of property if claimed in court would be on the left property or all property which is sold as well?
5. Who all can claim a share in property , those whose power of attorney is signed as well?
1. Yes. .she can do that ..
2. Once the things are gone .. things are gone now .. they can only claim on the UNUSED part , not the already liquidated part
3. It will be of both the wives (assuming the divorce was not done) , and the daughters
4. ONly on left out property + leftover money
5. All the legal heirs
Manish
Simply awesome Manish. This is such a common practice in our society. Specially liked the last paragraph. I think women should raise their voice and claim their right.
Thanks for sharing your views 🙂
Reading all the comments on your article, I lay below my observations
1. I completely agree with equal inheritance among children be it male or female
2. I fail to understand that in this century also when girls are equally qualified and financially competent, why parents treat her as a burden and arrange for a hefty dowry; which few commentors state a reason for unequal inheritance or inheritance biased among male.
3. As a women, you are expected to know your rights as well as duties towards your family.Ignorance is not a excuse.
Agree !
Yes, sharing wealth among siblings is fare..
These points need to get validated:
1)women should get equal share even in cases where father and brothers incur huge debt due to marriage and dowry expenditure
2)women should be able to take care of parents till their end on equal proportion..
3)women should share their husband’s wealth with their sister-in-laws
4)should be able to save own brothers or father’s financials if they go bankrupt due to non repayment of debt done for their marriages…
now, how many women come forward to accept these conditions…
Naveen
We are talking about legals here .. and sharing of wealth happens after the death of father . So
1. Yes, Agree to that .. it has to be sharing in NETWORTH .. When parents expire, the sharing has to happen only in the networth thats asset – liabilities. In case there is any liability, then as per law no one is liable to bear that , not even Male member. Its a choice he makes if he takes that
2. Agree its their moral law, but which section of law states this ?
3. Does women has a right to take that decision legally, is it not a matter between those who actually own the wealth ?
4. Which law states that point ? Can you share that ?
We are talking about the division of wealth of parents and not siblings with each other.
Manish
If there is no provision in law for point no 2 & 4, Can we say it is unbiased law? if not should we automatically get boosted morally to follow this type of biased law?
Naveen
2. If women does not take care of parents, what stop the parents to write a WILL on son name . Parents can do that .. Its totally on parents decision whom they want to hand over their wealth ,. Only son , only daughter or both of them . Note that I understand the cases where son should get more wealth because of the situation . We are talking about the conditions here where women also should get the share given conditions , but still women do not ask for her share
4. In those cases its clear that there is no wealth, so there is no point of asking for share. I would say its more of the societal trap of dowry which needs to be addressed . Again I would say, understand the context here ..
We are talking about cases where women and men should ideally get equal share, but do not .. I hope you are getting the point here.
In my family, the grandfather in his will wrote that the property will go to the male heir (without naming anyone as there are two – my mother and her brother) specifically and because of this my mother’s brother is not willing to share any part (even 25%) the ancestoral land worth crores!
Is there anyway this could be challenged?
If the property comes under the definition of “ANCESTRAL PROPERTY” then it can be given in WILL , it has to be shared among both your mother and her brother. Meet a laywer to understand if the property comes under ANCESTRAL PROPERTY definition or not .
Manish
DAUGHTERS should always ask for their share and in turn help her biological parents always.its proven and evident that daughters can take care of their parents better than money minded sons.
excellent blog excellent idea .
LETS EMPOWER WOMEN FINANCILY AND SOCIALLY
Thanks for your views Sonia ..
Manish,
I think it depends on the Spouse of the female, For example in my case I clearly advised wife to leave her right on the property because it does not make sense to go after money this way. It just does not sound right, but i know of case where the the sister fought for the property & won the share, leading to fight in the family.
Very sensitive & secretive matter though good that you brought that out in the open will be interesting to read the comments on this one…….
Its your decision based on some situation which you felt right . You might be having a sound finances overall and for you others might might matter .. But there are families where women dont ask for their share even when relations are anyways not worth having 🙂 ..
Dear Manish ,
Thank you for writing about a very sensitive but a completely and deliberately ignored topic . I agree with every thing you write except for the recommendation of men asking their wives to ask for their share in their fathers wealth. In a country where , the patiarchal mindset has already created traditions like dowry , lifelong giving to daughters on various festivals creating huge burden on parents and brothers who cannot afford it , excessive respect being given to the groom and his family bordering on humilation of the brides family , in many cultures across India and then to top it all ,female infanticide which can be directly linked to the fear in a man’s mind of the burden which he will face all his life ,at the birth of a daughter due to these traditions .
Secondally you have not touched on the issue of parental care in their old age which plays the determining factor on why sons will inherit instead of daughters.
Tradionally , it is the sons who take care as with daughters, there is the issue of getting the consent of the spouse and inlaws before taking on the responsibility of taking care of the parents in the old age . It is a unwritten rule that sons will take care of that responsibility in lieu of the property that they will inherit. Ironically , the reality , has inspired many movies like Baghban, when parents suffer gross neglect at the hands of the sons and daughter in law and there are also many heart warming stories of daughters taking care of parents without getting anything from parental property.
So, I would suggest that you recommend that every man who is a brother and /or who has a daughter, should take care that his sister and daughter get a share in the property to begin with . Men can also reduce their expectations from their spouses family on the other side and give them an equal status, gradually bringing about a change in mindsets.
As a daughter , I have not thought of what I will do , should my father not will me anything , and have not asked him either, due to the akwardness around the topic , nor have I spoken to my siblings, a brother and a sister .
What I have done though is that I have gone ahead and done something which is my control. I have gone ahead and made a will of my own assets (due credit goes to your posts on the topic) giving my daughter an equal stake along with my son and have also taken steps to give them a financial education and will eventually give them an equal responsibility of managing those assets and hope that they will jointly and lovingly take care of me in my old age , should that be required .
I would like to draw your attention to another aspect of this problem. Generally children, even sons, do not like to bring up the topic of succession while parents are alive for the fear of being labelled money minded and parents do not do the same for the fear of being accused of partiality incase the division is not equal or if it is equal and the contribution of children involved in family business is unequal or if there are married daughters who have not participated in the business to whom they want to give a stake, leading to an enormous waste of assets which have been built with sweat and blood after the death of a parent, not to mention the heartbreak .
Therefore , as a reader ,I feel that a more wide ranging post / discussion/debate on the need for discussion on property division between sons and daughters and building up skill sets to manage hard earned assets while parents are alive would also be very welcome. Referring to the very popular movie Baghban , once again, I have always wondered why the character , a banker , played by Amitabh Bacchan was not criticised for not giving his children any guidance on financial matters as well as for not practising any financial / retirement planning ?
But ofcourse ! Manish, you had not started writing your hugely popular blog then putting the responsibility squarely on each one of us for our financial well being 🙂
Regards,
Neet
Very well said.
It also depends a lot on the quality of parenting, parents taking for granted that the son has to look after them as their right (sons consent is never asked). Giving dowry to daughter’s in laws (without the consent of daughter) and many a times the money is squandered away leaving the lady financially poorer.
Majority of the parents do not prepare for medical, retirement contigencies. The children may not be able to handle them in old age (financially, job / family / relocation constraints or just the willingness).
Parents in old age get too adamnt to relocate or resist to change/adjust to a new way of life, leaving their child to take sides with the family or move on in life. There is also favoritism by parents and the conditioning by society.
True !
Thanks for the long comment Neet .. Agree with most of your points and mindset matches, but there are few opinion differences , which is valid in itself, because one has its own way of thinking and nothing wrong in it .
Here we are talking about the parents wealth after they are dead and In that case its like there is are 10 units of wealth left, now who gets what ?
What you are saying is that sons should have more share logically because they have to take care of parents . Agreed to some point . This goes back to very deep levels now .. and if you scratch things , I would put the whole onus on parents itself. If they have enough wealth created, then they have to take care of themselves first . Every person has their own responsibility . Does not mean children dont have to take care, they have to .
But now we have to break this cycle of “I did for my parents, and dont have anything now, now its your turn to look after me” .. It should now be “I did my part of making you self sufficient, Now You are on your own” .. Out of moral and love , nothing is stopping children to take care of their parents .. But this should not be a UNSAID rule of life.
What do you think on this ? Try to understand that I am just talking from legal point of view when I talk about division of wealth . I understand the societal side of it 🙂
Manish
These problems usually arise when the deceased does not leave a will behind…
If the deceased leaves a will explaining how his wealth is to be divided amongst his children, more than half of the problems would get solved…
Leaving a will would drastically reduce the problems in dividing the wealth which usually arise on the death of owner of property..
Yes Karan .. agree to that .. but I am talking about the resistance of women talking on these issues because either they are not aware or they feel its not right for them to ask for it .
Manish
I agree with you… More than 90% of the people dont have knowledge about most of the things that are related to them and dont even bother to enquire…
True !
Well I think as RD Said that Brothers should take care of sisters when needed and help them. I may not like if my sisters asks for their share in property. in same way I will not allow my spouse to ask for her share from her parents property.
In the same way if my father has a debit, i will not ask my sister to share that.
I may sound different but this is what I have to say.
Regards,
Amol
are you living in 21 centuary.
what help could you offer to your sisters after grabbing crores of rupees.
do you think your help(to your sisters) outwight crores of rupees you take form sister and their childrens right
No only you are leaving in 21st century. Remember money mindedness is a human quality so a sister can be money minded also. Also remember everybody does not have crores to grab.It can be a old scooter also.
Kumar
Thanks for your views .. Can you share what you think about this topic ? Why do you feel women do not demand their share in wealth , Is it not justified or does not make logical sense ? Or do you feel that sisters are part of “other family” and hence should not get any thing from parents wealth ? Would you think the same way if you were a women ?
Manish
thanks manish ,
this blog shows how gem of a person ur.regarding kumar gupta’s i would like to say that .its not my or manish’s opinion ITS A LAW OF FREE INDIA.we cannot avoid it .it will be implemented soonner or later.
think from a female prespective dont u think females of india deserve more financial and social freedom as their counterparts in developed countries if yes then what is your contribution towards it
It might be the way you think . We are not talking about your personal case.
Can you share why wont you not like your sisters asking for their share ? Whats the reason for that ? Dont they deserve it ? One can always give reasons like they are married to well off people , but does that make sense ? If they were not married to well off people , they would not be given more share anyways ..
Anyways .. thanks for sharing your views on this topic. There can be different cases which might need seperate way of looking at it. but here we are just talking about women rights and about awareness on this topic.
Manish
Hi Manish,
Yes You are right! I expressed my personal opinoin as I read last lines of the blog that says we can ask our spouse/wife to ask for her share to lead better finicial life.
The reason behind my thinking is the family atmosphere where I grew up. obviously as it is right, so no one will be denied if they ask share. But everybody (last two generations) is happy and feel comfortable.
Regards,
Amol
Thanks for sharing your views 🙂
I totally agree with you Amol…
In old times a father or family used to give daughters their part of property in form of Dowry so that she is also finanancily indepedent and get their part before leaving thier parents. Very logical thinking.
Present generation have misused Dowry system very heavily (to get quick money from girls famaily). We never bothered to understand what is the actual use of dowry system and why our forefathers introduced this concept. They were far ahead in terms of thinking than us.
in present scenerion woman have to take decision based on many factors. Law permits a woman to ask for her part doesnt mean that they must ask. They should think rationalyy before asking their part. I think most important reason to ask for their part is that if her brother(s) are not taking care of her well after passing away of parents. Its thier brother(s) responsibility to take care of her or always be there when she needs them if thats not the case she can ask for their part.
Very old , actual and forgotten analysis of dowry system. The dowry system can not be judged with newspaper headings/pictures woman burned by their husbands/in laws. This is abuse of the system.
In some AP villages,husbands has no right in wife’s property (derived from her family as dowry). It is only controlled by the women and being used as insurence in bad financial condition of their family. In some way they are following proper system. But then again if these women are being controlled by any dominent male, Situation may change.
If dowry would do the work of giving her share the time of marriage , I would still day its fine .. but as you said , now its not like that .. also we are talking about the fair share. if wealth is 5 crores and 50 lacs you give to her at the time of marriage , is it fair . We are only talking about 1 point here.. WHy women do not ask for their valid share in wealth after parents are no more .. especially when WILL is not written . At that time, she is a valid legal heir legally and by all means should get her share .. Now she choosen to not take it because her brothers are nto in good condition or have done a lot of spending on her or various other things, it her choice at the end of the day out of love or care . You can make it a rule saying that she should not ask for anything because we spent some money on her. If thats a male thinks, he should have either not spent money or should have done it on papers with conditions ..
not every thing done in past is standard imagine you were female and have to burnt alive in name of sati pratha in past.old is old and has to be changed dowry system is no answer of sharing equal assets to your sisters.if you give love and care to your parents and sisters they will surely give the assests to you
My view is: son or daughter are the same blood of parents then why differentiate? I firmly of the belief that the onus is on the son to be fair. It is for the daughter/son to decide whether brother/sister deserves more, then daughter/son should be generous to give a larger share to the deserving.
Yes . agree
Dowry is the traditional form of giving the share of girls to them at the time of marriage. Because at later stage of life when father become old he can’t convince his son to give money to his daughter., so the SYSTEM is followed like that
But we in name of modern reforms oppose dowry and again demand equal rights for girls in property. The second one although sounds logical is practically impossible. Fathers are not in a position to command their sons in their old age.
You presented a case of poor women who didn’t got any inherited property., for every case u said there is also a case where the married of girl’s family become too affluent (or married into one of those families) but the son didn’t improve much from there or even became more poor. In this situation what happens if some daughter comes and asks for her share in whatever left (although she is more well off)????
Nobody will reply you. Talking in favor of women and doing oposite in reality is always a trend in modern INDIA.
we all have a very sympathetic attitude towards women but nobody is ready to face the reality and the reality is that, men are basically deprived from their right .
Also in real India very few people are ready to marriage a girl without dowry and this is the very brutal reality, in that time law maker do not have any law to conduct the marriage of a girl or a arrange a person for marriage to them without any cost ,and that cost which is basically break the financial backbone of the girl’s family is bear by father and some time by his son .
Again in a paternal property lawmaker has given right to women, and that actually give his spouse and his family an opportunity to ask for his share, is this not encourage the dowry , this is ridiculous for man’s family, if men and women are equal then why after marriage of girl, she goes to her sasural if she is equal then she also need to take the responsibility of her parents why these responsibility only share by the son and his family.
all I am saying is that all the law is favoring only girls. same thing happened with the dowry law , and article 498 was the best example of that which was amended by supreme court recently. can anyone tell me about who are using these law, I think mostly by them, who have plenty for themselves and the real culprit don’t even know about these law .
it would be far better if law maker make some arrangement for good quality school and education, not like the current education system and sarkari school. children need to get good education to know their right and duties and also girls can make themselves independent and no dowry is required for their marriage .In a nutshell lawmaker making law like in panctentra stories andhernagri which is very bad for country like india and their people
Anon
First point is dowry is not in that form now .. it might have got made for good , but is now abused and thats the reality .. and whatever is given is anyways not in name of the daughter, so daughter does not have the control over it . So the point is defeated ..
Also you can also present situation where emotionally it makes sense that daughter should not ask for her share . Its like you are using others situation to decide what you have to do . Her husband financial condition has nothing to do with her asking her share in parents wealth . You cant think emotionally , you have to go as per law.
At least in my hometown and the place where I live dowry will be in the name of GIRL. Although dowry is given the girl’s parents insist to deposit it in name of girl or jewels or land in her name. Only in 10% of cases it is used by the family.
ABUSE is everywhere. You only see dowry abuse of girls in newspapers and didn’t see ill-treat of old people by their daughter-in-laws in newspapers.
While studying I saw many of my lady friends talk against DOWRY but in reality they got married by paying DOWRY and demanded more dowry when their brothers got married 🙂
“LAW” had to be reasonable, but not be biased.
p.s: I personally hate taking dowry (inspired by so called reformist movies) but the SYSTEM around me doesn’t accept that. Even If I say I don’t want it, my in-laws will doubt on my abilities 🙂
thanks for sharing that .. would be interested to know which part of India are you? I know north east is very liberal in these things .. but other parts of india, I am not sure !
sir,
Can you clarify and give ur valuable suggestion if time permits –
I know one person he is the only “son” 3 sisters.. before his marriage his father done all to their daughters and after that also.. not done any single “pai” to his “son” not even a single deposit also.(done marriage only but any special gift like that) after his death.. elders transferred all to his “wife” name (they all know she donno anything( just 8th std ) she can’t count even a 5 K ) since 10 years she also doing everything to daughters only… the same story not a single “pai” to her own son. still the person kept “mum” he never object or opened his mouth about anthing as he is very scary..
Now can u suggest me the solution what should he do after his mother’s death? what he will get??? u mean to say that ‘all 4 has to equally share” the cash and jewels??? all these years he didn’t get anything… so after that also he will not get anything extra…as he is only “looking after his mother” not even touched a single pai from her. time permits give your legal solution. i want to do something for him as he is my “close relative” , it’s strange.. the person is “so cool”
regards
The lady can always write a WILL and give away everything to someone whom she likes, it totally her choice .
Only when she does not write a WILL , then all 4 children will have equal share in wealth .
I would argue, the law is skewed in favor of women. They have rights in paternal assets but also have rights on their spouse assets.
Sons has rights in paternal assets and demand (against law) dowry from in laws.
But the second part is a social norm not a law 🙂
thats because of the two relationships ! 🙂 enjoyed by the same person of daughter and wife .
During marriage parents give dowry to their daughters. Hence married women do not ask/or are discouraged to ask for inheritance. That happened even in the case of
Dhirubhai Ambani!
When Dhirubhai Ambani passed away in Jul 2002 without leaving a will,a public battle was fought between the two brothers can be traced back to early November 2004. Dhirubhai’s daughters Dipti and Nina were not involved and did not get anything. Finally On June 18 2005, Kokilaben D. Ambani, announced a settlement between the brothers.
Yes .. agree to some extent that its the reasons, but thats not a right thing 🙂 .. do you agree ?
It is not so black and white there are various shades of grey in between. It is better to make your child self-sufficient so that woh apne paoon par khade ho sake! (they can stand on feet)
True .. agree to that
ambani’s are not god or ideal for every family of india who can be copied blindly upon every family matter of india.if dipti and nina doesnt ask for their share either its their problem which future generations of amabani sister will face.
Rightly said Sonia. That was just an example if in rich house-holds that happen then what about other classes. But typically that is the way it is in middle class. Parents give lot of gold etc for marriage and then expect her husband to take care of her. What they have is left for son.
It actually does not matter..how much money you leave for your children. If you give them a good foundation, teach them values they will earn for themselves and earn more than you could have ever given them.
If they are not good with money then they will loose all that..