Indian Property Laws
Indian property laws (atleast so far as the Hindu Succession Act is concerned) have been amended a long time ago, to ensure that women get an equal share in property gained from parents, as well as in cases where the husband passes away. Much attention was not, however given to womens’ self-acquired property; probably because when these amendments were made (1954), not too many women had acquired assets on their own. Now of course, the situation is different. Accordingly, the Law Commission has suggested changes so that, if a woman passes away without a heir, the property would move to the husband’s as well as parent’s families. I guess this reflects a change in mindset - when a woman got married, she was seen as having “left” her parents’ family; the law is now recognising that women continue to have ties and obligations to their original families as well.
Personally, I am all in favor of this - along with adding on to women’s rights, I strongly believe women must share in certain duties as well. In this country, we place such emphasis on taking care of our parents and siblings. It will be good if more and more people acknowledge that this applies to women as well.
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Hey Apu, there you are! Just wanted to say Hola! nice to see you at one place again.
Also, that header of yours is tres creepy
I feel like Faceless Woman is a-comin’ for me! Love the design though. Don’t tell me DG did it, that clever little thing!
Apu: AM, thanks! here i was thinking that faceless woman looks all businesslike
yes, DG has set up the whole thing, including adapting the design…
Apu:
When I bought my first house, I wrote a will. Because I live in a country where intestacy could mean the government can take over the property. Or there are long legal wrangles.
It almost does not matter what the laws say if a person, who owns assets, protects them pre-emptively with a will.
That said, the unwillingness to write a will is enormous in India. In which case, such laws can do little more than provide a framework to facilitate legal wrangles resulting from intestacy. After all fraudulent asset transfers are hardly uncommon in India, no?
Oh yes, yes, thanks for bringing in that point. I forgot to mention that all these provisions are only in cases where the deceased does not leave a will. So that is the ideal situation. But, of course, almost no one writes a will in India. In any case, legal wrangles or no, the law has to provide for every situation.