r2i forum

I knew from the very beginning that my maternal grandfather had a lot of land ? how much exactly I didn?t know .

Over the last few years I have come to know that the total ancestral land that he owned is close to 500 acres.

He had one son and 2 daughters (one of whom is my mother). Now, my mother is from the old school of thought and she feels that she has got her share in the ancestral property since her father married her with a nice man (my father). 37 yrs back when she got married, they had paid dowry worth 1 L to my grandfather. I am huge opponent of dowry but this is the real truth.

I am a very liberal woman and I don?t agree to this. My uncle (mother?s brother) thinks he has the birthright over this property. And my mother also feels the same. I on the other hand feel, my mother deserves her share. It really pains me to see how brothers gulp down the entire ancestral property . Legally a women is entitled to half the ancestral property but in India I don?t think anybody follows it. I have seen many new age so called educated people also passing off the entire ancestral property to only the son.

What can I do about it. You might feel that I am greedy and am looking at my share in my mother?s property. But the fact remains that even if this land was very less and of insignificant value, I would have still felt the same. I don?t mind giving x number of rupees to charity but I cant let anybody cheat me or my family of that x rupees.

I do not have any documentation about the property. It is all with my uncle. What are my options ?

1. I understand that there were recent changes in inheritance laws and if your grandfather was alive when the law came into being, your rights will be unalienable.

2. However, if your rights cannot be supported by the law and if you are asking about the ethics, then we will have to go higher into family tree to find out who actually bought the land and then start distributing it equally among all heirs.

3. If it was your grandfather who bought the land, he has every right to give it to whoever he wanted.

4. [DELETED BY ADMIN] usually accumulate money, gold and properties so their children and grandchildren can pay to the lawyers.

5. You could have bought 100 acres of land in rural India in 1974 for Rs 1 lakh (and some more if you consider the wedding expenses of your mother and other expenses that are incurred due to sisters).

6. Ask your self if you are interested in the land because of recent price hikes or you always wanted to be a farmer

7. Don't assume that your uncle is a greedy man. I suspect that he rightfully owns the land.

mn_op;4038521. I understand that there were recent changes in inheritance laws and if your grandfather was alive when the law came into being, your rights will be unalienable.

My grandfather died in 1976.

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2. However, if your rights cannot be supported by the law and if you are asking about the ethics, then we will have to go higher into family tree to find out who actually bought the land and then start distributing it equally among all heirs.

3. If it was your grandfather who bought the land, he has every right to give it to whoever he wanted.
He was a zamindar and he did not buy this land himself. Lot of his land was taken by govt post independence as per some law which was drafted post independence. This 500 acres is the remaining land that he saved and did not surrender to govt.

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4. Idiots usually accumulate money, gold and properties so their children and grandchildren can pay to the lawyers.
rightly said
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5. You could have bought 100 acres of land in rural India in 1974 for Rs 1 lakh (and some more if you consider the wedding expenses of your mother and other expenses that are incurred due to sisters).
wedding expenses and dowry are two totally different things and shouldnt be equated. The share in property is the daughter's and the dowry is paid to the grooms father. I am totally against dowry. It was wrong in the first place. And then taking away a girls share of property in the garb of the dowry paid to somebody else is plain simple unjust.
Moreover, paying the dowry was the grandfather’s decision and why should my uncle gain out of it and why should my mother lose. Similar amount of money was spent on uncles education . He was sent to best school in England to study but my mother being a girl was not sent abroad and she had to contend with studying in India. But my mama argues, that womenfolk anyways never went abroad for studies and it was his birthright to go abroad.
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6. Ask your self if you are interested in the land because of recent price hikes or you always wanted to be a farmer
I am not interested in the land per se. I am ok to take that land and donate it for charity but we are not comfortable with giving it to the uncle because he feels that girls dont deserve a share. Its basically to teach him what the law says. I always stand up in arms when unjustice is done to a girl/woman.

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7. Don't assume that your uncle is a greedy man. I suspect that he rightfully owns the land.I think legally the land belongs to all the siblings in equal share and not just the uncle.

You didn't answer que 2.
Why stop at grandfather's children? Why not go to great grandfather's children and see whether the injustice had started there? Or even before that?

IMO, You should forget the land. Almost all Indian landowners have received their pieces of lands this way and so no point in blaming your uncle. I would say bury the hatchet and try being good sister to your cousins.

If your mom doesn't want it, why do you? Fair or unfair, its between her and her brother and her parents. Such fights never end well.

From what I read, your mother and living grand-children(of your grand-father) at the time, had a right to the property since it was anscetral property. Indeed even he could not have sold it without agreement of his grand-children. Your grand-father could not have willed otherwise even if he wanted to. She did not have right to half the property but one-third. Three direct decendents = two sisters and the brother. Each inherits equally. Even if one was no longer alive, her children would inherit her share.

Getting documents is tough work but the Patwaris would have record of the land in 1976. RTI may help. But your mother has to be convinced.

One question remains that is of the delay in asserting a claim. I have no idea whether it is time-barred.

What about your aunt (mother's sister) and her children. They would also have a share. Find out if they are interested in pursuing it. You could join hands.

As for argument about wedding expenses, etc. The son would have had his marriage expenses and an education in all probability more expensive than the sisters'. His wife would have been given a lot of anscetral jewellery.

Go for it. The only issues in my opinion are the family dynamics and the time delay.

dbs;403861Go for it. The only issues in my opinion are the family dynamics and the time delay.

dbs ji, These cases last forever....sometimes for generations. Making enemies out of close relatives on the way.
OP, before you go for a court battle, talk to somebody who has been fighting a property war. God knows most houses in India have one.
Don't trust the lawyers.

mn_op;403863dbs ji, These cases last forever....sometimes for generations. Making enemies out of close relatives on the way.
OP, before you go for a court battle, talk to somebody who has been fighting a property war. God knows most houses in India have one.
Don't trust the lawyers.

Agree.. we have one in our family and everyone gets dragged into it..they get blackmailed..nobody sees eye to eye..it is useless to go the courts and remember even the next generation gets dragged into it..people lie...to the extent of making false wills etc etc..ekdum filmi style..and mind you this war has been going on for more than 15 years now with absolutely no results..
If you had more concrete evidence...i would have still said go for it..but your case is weak and just emotions will nto carry you through this..why bother about changing your uncles opinion..he is old school and he will hate women more after this..channelize your anger towards more productive initiatives rather than pitching it against one person of no importance to your family

mn_op;403863These cases last forever....sometimes for generations. Making enemies of close relatives on the way.

Very true.

Often elders sit together and come to a settlement. That is why family dynamics play an important part in these issues. R2Noida is already annoyed by uncle's behaviour. Apparently no love lost there.

I agree with R2Noida that it is worse to feel cheated than to loose money.

Wow... Greed has no bounds!!!

dbs;403872I agree with R2Noida that it is worse to feel cheated than to loose money.

She feels cheated???????
It wasn't her money to begin with. She is just feeling bad because somebody else got it. Do we know how the gradfather and his ancestors came into such humoungous pieces of lands? And how they cultivated it?

If one has to be rightous then you have to all the way. You cannot make grand statements like "its worse to feel cheated than to lose money", without fully understanding where the money that you are losing has come from. Its not her earned money or her fathers/mother money or even her grandfathers money. God knows who was th eoriginal guy who managed to get stronghold on that farmland (now probably costing several crores).

Its amazing how one can convenietenly forget rights of sisters of grandfather (if he had any). God bless his soul.

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OP, FOr legal understanding of the issue, you will have to talk to an attorney/lawyer. Go only for consultation and don't start the court battle without exhausting all otehr alternatives.