Does a grandson have a right to his grandfather’s property? The answer may be yes, but it is important to understand when the grandson will be able to assert his right to his grandfather’s property. The property belongs to his grandfather.

It is believed in Hindu families that the grandson gets the right from birth. But is this true or a myth and we need to understand what is the legal position in this regard. There are many cases registered in the country, in which the grandson has asserted his right to his grandfather’s property after his lifetime.

Explain in the light of the decision given by the Supreme Court in the case of Uttam Singh vs Saubhag Singh in the year 2016. That decision is also on the same subject, which we will try to understand.

Uttam Singh vs Saubhag Singh is a very important decision of the Supreme Court which clears this confusion on Hindu succession or say clarifies the legal position.

It would be better if we understand the legal position based on the facts of this case. So, it was basically a partition claim. The argument put forward by Uttam Singh was that his grandfather Jagannath Singh Ji died in the year 1973. At that time Jagannath Ji’s heirs included a wife and four sons.

After some time Jagannath Singh Ji’s wife also died and one share was divided among each of his four sons. Out of the 1/4 share received by the father of Uttam Singh plaintiff, Uttam Singh claimed partition by claiming his right on half share i.e. total 1/8 share.

This claim of Uttam Singh was rejected first in the trial court and then in the High Court. The matter reached the Supreme Court where there were mainly three questions before the Supreme Court. First, whether the nature of the property is still that of joint property.

Second, did Uttam Singh have any right on the basis of being a coparcener of the property. The third and most important question was whether Uttam Singh was entitled to a share in his grandfather’s property while his father was alive.

The simple question is whether the grandson has a right in the grandfather’s property. So the answer could be yes, but it is important to understand when the grandson will be able to claim his right to his grandfather’s property.

This is important because when a Hindu man dies, his class one heirs will be looked at at the time of his death, which mainly includes the person’s widow, his mother and his sons and daughters.

Now the situation of the remaining 12 people in the list is different from these four people and we also need to understand this. Out of these, the first four people i.e. son, daughter, widow and mother fall in such category for whom there is no obstacle or hindrance in getting the property through succession.

But for the rest of the people who fall in the category of class one legal heirs, it is necessary that the elder of their generation has died, like in this list there are grandson, granddaughter, son-in-law and others, but the Act does not directly use words like grandson, granddaughter, grandson and granddaughter,

Rather words like son of pre-deceased son, daughter for son of pre-deceased daughter have been used which means that if the son and daughter of the deceased person are still alive then they will get their share in the property acquired by the deceased person and their future generations will not have any right.

This means that if the son of the deceased person has died before him then his property will be given to his grandson. Let us try to understand it a little easier and clearer.

Suppose the property is acquired by Mr. A and Mr. A dies. At the time of death he has two sons B and C, one daughter D and wife E alive. Both the sons are married.

B has two children F and G and C has two children H and I. Now in this current example, A belongs to the first generation. B, C, D, E, A and G are the second generation people followed by H and I.

All are third generation people, i.e. F, G, H and I are the grandchildren of deceased person A. Hopefully till here everyone is clear. Now we can discuss only two situations regarding this. First, a person dies and if at the time of A’s death all his sons and wife are alive,

then the same property will be divided among his second generation, i.e. B, C, D and E in equal proportion, i.e. 1/4 and 1/4 parts. Now in the second situation, suppose on the day of A’s death, some time before that, one of his sons C also died, i.e. at the time of A’s death his son C was not present,

then his second generation heirs B, D and E will get their 1/4 share, but A’s son who has died, his 1/4 share will go to C’s heirs i.e. H and I.

It will go to A’s grandchildren, meaning that the grandchildren have a share in their grandfather’s property but they will be able to claim it only if their previous generation i.e. their father died before their grandfather.

So when the matter of Uttam Singh vs Saubhag Singh reached the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court had to determine this situation in which the Supreme Court also determined that the grandson will get the right in grandfather’s property only then When the father of the grandson making the claim has died during the lifetime of his grandfather, that is, a grandson cannot make any claim on his grandfather’s property while his father is alive.

And one more thing, if the grandfather has made a court registered will in the name of any of his survivors, then that property cannot be divided, that property will be in the name of the one to whom the will is made.