How To File A Partition Suit In Court | अदालत में संपत्ति के विभाजन का मुकदमा कैसे दायर किया जाए

Partition of properties & wealth among owners & rightful heirs concern every household and owner is contested in Civil Courts by filing Partition Suits . Here are the prerequisites and procedure fo filing Partition Suits.

Publish date: 13-09-2020

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Partition of properties & wealth among owners & rightful heirs concern every household and owners, and often turn to civil courts to in filing the partition and claims suit.  They need to know the basic law and procedure governing the ways of partition in a legally valid manner. Here you a get a ready reference manual answering general queries about the procedure and essential aspects of filing a partition suit.  

 

 

Who can file a ‘Partition Suit’  

Although anyone who does not have a vested interest in the property can file a partition suit, Indian civil law for inheritance and division of immovable property is guided by the acts provisioned specially for specific religions.  Primarily the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, and Hindu Undivided Family act comes into force for effectuating the partitions among the legal heirs and owners of assets.

 

Brief insight into Hindu Succession Act 1956,

Brief insight into Hindu Success Act 1956

 

  • Any person who is a Hindu by religion in any of its forms like  Virashaiva, a Lingayat or follower of the Brahmo, Prarthana or Arya Samaj;
  • Any person who is Buddhist, Sikh by religion; and
  • to any other person who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion unless it is proved that the concerned person would not have been governed by the Hindu Law 
  • any child, legitimate or illegitimate, both of whose parents are Hindus, Buddhists, Jains or Sikhs by religion; 
  • any child, legitimate or illegitimate, one of whose parents is a Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or Sikh by religion and who is brought up as a  member of the tribe, community, group or family to which such parent belongs or belonged; any person who is convert or re-convert to the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or Sikh religion.

 

 

What Are the Documents Essentially Needed To File a Partition Suit?   

 

Is there a preliminary procedure or prerequisite for filing a partition suit?

  1. Indian Civil Law requires that you shall be having certain essential document for proceeding with the partition suit, if you are legally valid owner / co-owner or inheritor of a property.  Even if you provide a document for your claim in the suit, its validity and applicability is to be proved.
  2. If document is in possession with other party, then the court has a procedure for production of document.
  3. You need to prove your lineage, and ownership.
  4. You may even obtain certified copies of documents from the office of sub-registrar. Also the sub-registrar office does the valuation of property upon which you intend to file the partition suit.
  5. It is always preferable if you are in possession of original copies of the documents of ancestral property, wills, sale deeds, power of attorney, gift deed legal heir certificate.

Is there a preliminary procedure or prerequisite for filing a partition suit?

  1. A legal notice must be sent to other claimants before submission of suit
  2. The legal notice if not accepted or replied, is treated as disregard of law
  3. A lawyer is adept in aiding you on sending legal notice and then leading to suit.

Is there a time limit for filing a partition suit?

  1. The limitation is governed by the The Limitations Act¸ by which limitation period for partition suit is 12 years. The calculation of 12 years since the serving of notice to defendant parties. It is the burden of opposite party to prove that the partition suit is time barred.  

 

Where can a person file a partition suit

 

  1. Where the cause of action arises wholly or partially arises.
  2. Where the property in question is situated
  3. If the property is spread over geographies: estates or farm lands, in several states – separate suits are filed, but a SC based Special Leave Petition is filed for allowing clubbing of the multiple suits.

 

 

Procedure to File a ‘Partition Suit’ in Civil Court    

 

The general procedure of filing a civil suit is listed below:

 

  

Sequence

Step

Description

01

 Filing of suit / plaint:

This should be typed in the prescribed format of court and aligned accordingly.

 

02

Vakalatnama / Power of Attorney:

This is a legally recognized document for authorizing your lawyer / attorney to represent your suit with facts & materials during trails & all proceedings of suit in the court.

 

03

Payment of Court Fees :

The submission of suit is essentially accompanied with payment of accurate court fees. This court fees varies for various states

04

Merit Evaluation & Submission for Trail:   

 Based on the submissions you have done from point 1 -3, the court assesses the merit in the suit, and either accepts it for further hearing and trails. Else the court can reject the suit if it doesn’t find the merit appropriate enough for leading to trail.

 

05

Notice to Opponent Party:

Basis the merit found in the suit, the court issues the notice to opposite party and ask them to appear in court on a further date, which is mentioned by court.

06

Plaint Party Action (Assisted by Lawyer ) :

A court notification is required to be sent to by speed post and ordinary post to opponent party.

07

Opponent Response:

The opponent (defence) is required to revert on the plaint, within the timeframe specified by court (usually 30 days). The defendant can deny the statements in plaint, and those statements that aren’t denied are assumed to be accepted. A replication is the written statement submitted by opposite party.

 

08

Filing of Relevant Documents:

The court gives opportunity to both parties to submit relevant documents. With an expert guidance of your lawyer, you need to identify the document for submission for suit. Both parties can raise objections on other's document with valid reasons.

 

09

Framing of Issues :

The court on analysing the documents and evidence materials, will frame the issues to be discussed and passing of order.

10

Witness Examination:

Examination of witnesses considered in the issue, are done.

11

Final Hearing:

On the day of final hearing, both parties can argue and put forward their views. On listening the final argument, the court passes the order, either on the same day or any further date.

12

Obtaining the Court Order:

You shall obtain the certified order from the order post the order has been delivered.

 

An Interesting Question:  A person has four sons. The person owns a property in the name of 04th son. Can the 1st son (or any of the other brothers) file a partition suit?

Answer:  As the father had owned the property, legally (by Indian Inheritance Act), it is to be equally partitioned among the sons; all the sons are legally valid inheritor.

In the present scenario, the 1st son can easily file the partition suit, provided the following conditions are fulfilled:

  1. Petitioner can obtain and shall be able to prove the original ownership of the concerned property belonged to his father.
  2. The petitioner shall be able to provide documentary evidence & prove his lineage as direct inheritor of his father’s property

 

Key Takeaway: There are numerous scenarios of inheritance and legally valid rightful ownership, which can be discussed with the learned civil counsel for advisory before going to file the partition suit.

 

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