Succession / Successio /

Succession is the legal process by which a deceased person's property passes to their heirs or beneficiaries upon their death. Succession is of two types: (1) Testamentary succession — the deceased left a valid will specifying how their property is to be distributed; the property passes to the persons named in the will (legatees) as specified; and (2) Intestate succession — the deceased died without a valid will; the property passes to the legal heirs in the order and shares prescribed by the applicable personal law. The applicable law depends on the deceased's religion — Hindu Succession Act, 1956 for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs; Indian Succession Act, 1925 for Christians, Parsis, and some others; Muslim Personal Law (Shariat Application Act, 1937) for Muslims.

Under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, male intestate succession is governed by Section 8: the property goes first to Class I heirs (Schedule), then if none to Class II heirs, then to agnates (male-line relatives), then to cognates (other relatives). Class I heirs include: son, daughter, widow, mother, and son/daughter/widow of predeceased son/daughter. By the 2005 Amendment, daughters have coparcenary rights equal to sons in ancestral (joint family) property under Section 6 HSA — affirmed in Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020).

Muslim succession is governed by Hanafi or Shia principles of Muslim personal law. Key features: (1) No distinction between ancestral and self-acquired property — all property is treated as individual property; (2) Two categories of heirs: Sharers (entitled to a fixed fraction) and Residuaries (take what remains after Sharers); (3) A maximum of 1/3 of the estate can be disposed of by will (bequest) — the rest passes compulsorily to legal heirs; and (4) A Muslim cannot make a bequest in favour of an heir who would inherit from the estate. These rules differ significantly from the Hindu Succession Act framework.

For advocates, succession matters involve: (1) obtaining probate or letters of administration for wills; (2) succession certificate proceedings for recovering debts due to the deceased's estate; (3) partition suits — where co-heirs inherit jointly and seek division; (4) challenging mutations of property in revenue records where property is wrongly recorded in one heir's name; and (5) Hindu joint family partition — severing the joint family and determining each member's share in ancestral property.