Settlement Deed and Inheritance Question
Hi
I have a question on settlement deed and Inheritance. My wife’s dad Mr.T has a house in Chennai that he bought 25+ years ago. Mr.T died in 1990’s and his his wife and 3 daughters have been staying in that place ever since till date. The are all legal heirs of Mr. T but till date they have not registered or transferred the house into their name. It now more that 20 years and the house is still in Mr. T name.
Question is now my wife mother Mrs. T wants to make a settlement deed without splitting, transferring or registering this house. My wife’s mother wants to distribute her share i.e 1/4 of the house to her sister Mrs. R via a settlement deed. If she does a settlement deed to transfer her shares to Mrs. R will that be valid. Mrs. T is the wife of Mr.T but she did not take ownership of this house yet i.e registering it, changing the deeds, dividing the house to 1/4 etc. What is the best course of action to battle such a settlement deed. Can this deed be cancelled or battled in court.
3 Replies
assumption : there was no will left by Mr. T
assumption 2: Mrs T is planning to give property to Mrs. R after Mrs. T death
Disclaimer : without looking at relations, reasons and a further detailed study, depnding purely on the coming note, is at your own risk.
Your wife’s mother, cannot possibly part ways with property that she does not own. There was a legal procedure that was to be followed after the death of Mr. T. This procedure of transfer is mandatory. in the absence of which, there is a massive legal ambiguity as to who the owner(s) of the property is/are
As far as Mrs. T. bequeathing her rights in property to Mrs R is concerned, well, settlement deed wont do the job.
But far more important for you is whether the remaining sisters can stop Mrs. R from coming to the property and prevent Mrs. R from taking possession. Because legally, even the daughters have no rights to the property.
Therefore, it is imperative for you to make sure that Mrs. R does not get possession of the property under any circumstances.
since I do not know the cost of the property or where its located and further that the transfer to Mrs R is for her financial support, I would wait before initiating litigation.
Once the litigation is initiated, the three sisters can seek transfer / mutation of the property in their respective names as being class 1 heirs. there would be no need to inform/involve Mrs. R. such litigation should ideally be initiated after the death of Mrs T.
inspite of poor finances and old age, In case Mrs. R initiates litigation, on the basis of the settlement deed in her favor and that the sisters are preventing her from entering the premises. then this should be easy to defend as Mrs. T legally does not have legal ownership of what she seeks to transfer.
Fantastic answers and advice, on the available information! Great stuff!
Mrs. T cannot transfer 1/4th of her share by a settlement deed for the following reasons:
1. She is a joint owner of the property with her three daughters and her share has still not been demarcated. Therefore she cannot transfer her 1/4th share without getting her share demarcated.
2. Transfer of Property requires that an immovable property can only be transferred by a registered sale deed. At the time of registering the settlement deed, the Registrar will ask her prove her ownership right over the property. My experience has been that in case of inheritance, the Registrar usually ask for the name of all class 1 legal heirs and no objection or a power of attorney from all other legal heirs.