Law & Justice

Madras High Court Rejects Granddaughter’s Claim to 2.5‑Acre Land Gave to Step‑Mother

By TOI Business Desk

A 2.5‑acre parcel in Chennai was left by a man to his wife in 1953, with a life interest that could not be sold or transferred. The will was intended to pass the land to his son. The son, who was still a minor, did not receive the property directly. In 1975, he and his mother executed a gift settlement deed that transferred the entire land to his second wife. The man continued to live on the property until his death in 1986. In 1996, the second wife sold the land to a third party. The man’s daughter from his first marriage contested the sale, claiming the land was ancestral and that the step‑mother had no authority to sell it. She argued that her father had owned the land as ancestral property and that the sale was unlawful.

On 8 September 2026, the Madras High Court dismissed the granddaughter’s case. The court held that the land was self‑acquired, not ancestral, and that the father and his mother were legally entitled to transfer it to the son’s second wife. The court applied Section 14(2) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, noting that the life interest granted under the will was not linked to maintenance. The Supreme Court’s 1953 decision in C.N. Arunachala Mudaliar v. C.A. Muruganatha Mudaliar was cited to determine that the will’s intention made the property separate. The court also found that the 1975 settlement deed was valid and that the subsequent 1996 sale was therefore lawful. The granddaughter’s acknowledgement of the deed and the absence of any challenge by her father during the 11 years he lived after the deed further supported the court’s ruling. The High Court therefore upheld the sale and rejected the granddaughter’s claim.