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.

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.

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

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…

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.