Is property allotted to a member under a partition his separate property and not family property?
Coram: Justice R.Sakthivel
Property allotted to a member under a partition is his separate property and not family property.
Yes. Property allotted to a member under a partition is his separate property and not family property. Since the father's share under the oral partition recorded in the Koor Chit was his separate property, the gift settlement deed by which he settled it on the second defendant was valid.
Registration — Memorandum of past oral partition — Indian Succession Act, 1925 — s.63 — Indian Evidence Act, 1872 — s.68 — Hindu Succession Act, 1956 — s.8 — Koor Chit — Separate property — Proof of Will — Oral partition — Memorandum recording an earlier partition — Registration and stamp — Held: A document written only to record an earlier oral partition creates no rights in praesenti; it needs neither registration nor stamp and is valid and admissible as such. (¶20) Evidence — Denial of signature — Duty to seek forensic examination — Held further: A party who denies his signature on a document must take steps to send it for forensic examination and signature verification, and a denial first raised sixteen years after execution carries little weight. (¶19) Partition — Property allotted on partition — Character in the allottee's hands — Held further: Property allotted to a member under a partition is his separate property and not family property, and he may settle it on whomsoever he pleases. (¶21) Indian Succession Act, 1925 — s.63 — Will — Suspicious circumstances — Held further: A registered Will proved through its attestors raises no suspicion where the testator bequeathed only a portion of his separate property. Second Appeal partly allowed. (¶22, 25)
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