Property & Succession

In regard to service of summons to Indian residing outside India, a Three Judge Bench of the High Court of Kerala laid down the following conclusions in Charuvila Philipose Sundaran Pillai & Another v P. N. Sivadasan & Other.

Possession, in regard to immoveable property, can be classified into ten categories and they are listed with a brief description of each category.

The limitation period for a specific performance suit will run from the date fixed for the performance of the contract but not from the expiry of the validity of the agreement., says the Supreme Court (SC) in Usha Devi & Others v Ram Kumar Singh & Others [2024 INSC 599].

The succession process cannot go forward without a determination of the dispute regarding the Will, says the Supreme Court (SC) in Dinesh Goyal @ Pappu v Suman Agarwal (Bindal) & Others [ 2024 INSC 726].

A conjoint reading of Sections 17, 18, 32, 34 and 35 enjoins to the clear inference that upon a document, which is compulsorily registerable as provided u/s 17, the registering authority, upon satisfying himself that the document is presented by the proper person and being satisfied with the same as per the provision provided u/s 34 is bound to admit the document for registration, unless contrary to the aforesaid provisions unfolds, which alone could cause the registering authority to deny execution of the document, says the Supreme Court (SC) in Satya Pal Anand v State of Madhya Pradesh & Others.

Any property or a share in any joint property owned by a minor, cannot be sold or disposed of by other means, by the natural guardian of the minor, without taking permission from the court. The disposal of property of a minor or creating a charge on it, by the natural guardian under Hindu law is governed by Section 8 of HMGA and Section 29 of the HMGA.

Adverse possession is a peculiar kind of possession of land where a person not having legal title to the land enters and occupies the land for long period with no continuing permission of the legal owner and the true owner subsequently loses his ownership rights after a legally permissible period of his inaction in recovering the possession from the possessor. The owner might have initially permitted the possessor in entering the land on the basis of a lease or licence.

If the attachment of the judgment debtor's property takes place during the execution proceedings, then the executing court shouldn't order the sale of the whole property when the part of the property could satisfy the decree, the Supreme Court says in Bhikchand S/O Dhondiram Mutha (deceased) thru LR’s v Shamabai Dhanraj Gugale (Deceased) [2024 INSC 411].

If someone tries to transfer property rights to another person through a legal document but doesn't actually own those rights, the new owner or their successors won't have the legal right to claim those rights from that document, says the Supreme Court in Kizhakke Vatakandiyil Madhavan (D) Thr LRS v Thiyyurkunnath Meethal Janaki [Citation : 2024 INSC 287].

Income Tax from Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) is exempted under Section 54 of the Income Tax Act in case a taxpayer sells his residential house and acquires another residential house from the sale proceeds.

Will is a solemn document executed by a person for planned disposition of his property after his death. If the Will is properly executed it would prevent many future clashes and court cases regarding ownership of property. In the absence of any suspicious circumstances, the presumption of genuineness of the Will would remain undisputed. Even though some infirmities exist they can be wholly neglected.