The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 – Table of Contents

The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (Act No. 30 of 1956) is the principal legislation codifying the law of intestate succession among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs in India. It lays down uniform rules of inheritance for both male and female Hindus dying intestate, replacing the earlier fragmented mitakshara, dayabhaga, marumakkattayam, aliyasantana and nambudri systems for matters it covers. Its most significant modern reform, the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, made daughters coparceners by birth in Mitakshara joint family property on the same footing as sons. Text current as amended by the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 (39 of 2005), with State Amendments for Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra noted at the relevant sections.

CHAPTER I — PRELIMINARY

• Section 1 — Short title and extent
• Section 2 — Application of Act
• Section 3 — Definitions and interpretation
• Section 4 — Overriding effect of Act

CHAPTER II — INTESTATE SUCCESSION

General

• Section 5 — Act not to apply to certain properties
• Section 6 — Devolution of interest in coparcenary property
• Section 7 — Devolution of interest in the property of a tarwad, tavazhi, kutumba, kavaru or illom
• Section 8 — General rules of succession in the case of males
• Section 9 — Order of succession among heirs in the Schedule
• Section 10 — Distribution of property among heirs in class I of the Schedule
• Section 11 — Distribution of property among heirs in class II of the Schedule
• Section 12 — Order of succession among agnates and cognates
• Section 13 — Computation of degrees
• Section 14 — Property of a female Hindu to be her absolute property
• Section 15 — General rules of succession in the case of female Hindus
• Section 16 — Order of succession and manner of distribution among heirs of a female Hindu
• Section 17 — Special provisions respecting persons governed by marumakkattayam and aliyasantana laws

General provisions relating to succession

• Section 18 — Full blood preferred to half blood
• Section 19 — Mode of succession of two or more heirs
• Section 20 — Right of child in womb
• Section 21 — Presumption in cases of simultaneous deaths
• Section 22 — Preferential right to acquire property in certain cases
• Section 23 — [Omitted]
• Section 24 — [Omitted]
• Section 25 — Murderer disqualified
• Section 26 — Convert’s descendants disqualified
• Section 27 — Succession when heir disqualified
• Section 28 — Disease, defect, etc., not to disqualify

Escheat

• Section 29 — Failure of heirs

CHAPTER III — TESTAMENTARY SUCCESSION

• Section 30 — Testamentary succession

CHAPTER IV — REPEALS

• Section 31 — [Repealed]

THE SCHEDULE

• The Schedule — Heirs in Class I and Class II

Note: The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 was enacted on 17 June 1956, one of the four codifying Hindu Code Bills of that era alongside the Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, and Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act. It was substantially amended by the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 (39 of 2005), which conferred coparcenary birthright on daughters and abolished the pious-obligation doctrine, and has also been amended by several States (Andhra Pradesh, 1986; Tamil Nadu, 1989; Maharashtra, 1994; Karnataka, 1994; Kerala, 2016) prior to and in parallel with the central reform. This site’s build-out covers all 31 sections and the Schedule in full.