Court evicts son from flat for neglecting parents: Can he still claim inheritance rights?

Recently, there was a case in Bombay High Court where a son was ordered by the court to vacate his father’s property. This was because the property was gifted to him on the promise that he would take care of his parents, which he failed to do.

Shrusti Shah, Associate Partner at King Stubb and Kasiva, explained to ET Wealth Online that when his parents transferred the flat to him, the gift deed clearly stated that he would take care of them in every way going forward. This wasn't just a sentiment, it was a condition laid out in the document

The Bombay High Court referenced Section 23 of the Senior Citizens Act, which says that if a senior citizen transfers property on the condition that they will be looked after, and the recipient doesn’t fulfill that obligation, the transfer can be treated as fraudulent or coerced, and can be cancelled.


Shah pointed out: “Here, both parts of that test were met: there was a clear condition in the deed, and the relationship broke down so badly that the parents actually had to leave their own home.”

Also read: Parents win back their flat gifted to son as tribunal finds son failed to take care of parents; Bombay HC orders son to vacate the property

Keep reading to know more about the son’s inheritance rights and know if there is any impact on it.

Does the son have any inheritance rights in this flat now that the gift deed is cancelled and he has been ordered to vacate it?

In this case before the Bombay High Court, the parents, who were senior citizens, had daughters and sons. The son, after marriage, started living with his wife in the parents’ Lower Parel flat. This flat was a self-acquired property purchased by a Hindu male (his father) and the Hindu Succession Act applied in this case.

(For others, the Indian Succession Act applies).

Explaining the Hindu Law, Shah says that once a gift deed is struck down under Section 23, it's as if the transfer never really happened. So the property reverts back to the parents. Since this flat was bought by the parents in 2005, and not something inherited through the family line, the son doesn't have any birthright claim to it while his parents are alive.

Shah says: “Under Hindu law, self-acquired property is for the owners’ to do with as they please.”

According to Shah, the son can inherit this Lower Parel flat only after his parents pass away, and then also if they don’t leave any Will, in which case, he would share it with his mother and sisters as a Class I heir or if they choose to leave it to him in a Will.

Also read: Youngest son tortured, humiliated elderly father and forced him out of ancestral home; Odisha High Court orders son to vacate property on this ground

In such cases, when does a Hindu son have inheritance rights?

This Bombay High Court case was about self-acquired Hindu property but the dynamics change if it was an ancestral Hindu property.

Shah says: “If it's ancestral property, meaning something that's been passed down through the male line without being divided, then yes, a son has a right to it simply by being born into the family. Interestingly, since 2005, daughters have that same right too.”

But it is different for a self-acquired property like this flat which the parents had bought with their own money. There, the son has no automatic claim at all. Shah says: “He'd only inherit it if his parents die without a will, in which case succession law kicks in, or if they specifically choose to give it to him in a Will.”

So essentially, whether a son has rights over a property depends first on how that property came into the family, and in the case of self-acquired property, on whether the parents ever put their wishes down in writing.

What can a senior citizen parent do to prevent a son's inheritance rights in such property?

For self-acquired properties, senior citizen parents have more control than ancestral properties.

Shah says: “Self-acquired property doesn't automatically pass to children while the parents are alive or even necessarily after if the parent has executed a Will or a gift deed disinheriting the son or daughter.”

According to Shah, a Will overrides the default succession rules.

Shah says: “Parents can also just go ahead and transfer or gift the property to someone else during their lifetime, as long as it's done freely and without conditions attached, because once a transfer is unconditional, it generally can't be undone.”

And if a parent wants to gift property to a child but wants some protection, that's exactly what Section 23 is there for. Shah explains that this is because attaching a condition that the child will look after the senior citizen parents gives them a legal way to take the property back if that promise isn't kept, which is precisely what happened in this case before the Bombay High Court.

Also keeping everything properly documented and registered helps senior citizen parents a great deal, because as this Bombay High Court judgment shows, courts tend to go by what's written down rather than what someone claims verbally after the fact.