We are residents of Mumbai and have an HUF in the name of our father, who owns various movable and immovable properties. It has three married sons, and their family members are members of the HUF. After my father's death, my eldest brother worked as a Karta at the HUF. We plan to partition the HUF fullyand distribute the assets equally amongst its coparceners. Do the assets received by the married sons belong to their respective HUF, or will it be their individual property?
Since you are a resident of Mumbai, you are governed by the Mitakshra School of Hindu Law. Under the Mitakshara school of Hindu Law, all the descendant male and female children of a common male ancestor up to three generations are coparcener, and other females (wives of male coparcener) are members of HUF. After coming into force of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the concept of ancestral property is no longer valid unless the property was inherited before the commencement of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
The law relating to HUFs is not fully codified and is generally derived from judicial pronouncements from time to time. Over the years, various amendments to the Hindu Succession Act have complicated the law relating to the succession of assets of an HUF.
Each coparcener acquires the assets as his property on the total partition of a HUF. Since three generations of sons and daughters constitute coparceners of the HUF of the male ancestor, the sons and daughters are entitled to get a share in the assets allotted to the coparcener representing the family. In such case, the properties received by the male coparcener on the partition will not be treated as belonging to HUF of that son but of all the coparceners of his family in their individual capacity. The asset such a coparcener receives shall be equally divided among his family members.
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Balwant Jain is a tax and investments expert and can be reached on jainbalwant@gmail.com and @jainbalwant on his X handle.
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