Eligibility to have share in ancestral property

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An ancestral property is a property acquired by your great grandfather (Hindu) which has been passed down from generation to generation (your grandfather and father) up to the present generation (you) without being divided or partitioned by your family.

So, it has to primarily meet two conditions for the property to qualify as your ancestral property;

The property should be four generations old &
It should not have been divided or partitioned by the previous three generations.
Then, what is a Self-acquired property?

Self acquired property is the one that you have purchased/ acquired from your own income / resources. It also includes property obtained or inherited as a legal heir or by Will or through a Gift deed.



You get a share (inherit) in your ancestral property by birth. In case of self-acquired property, you can inherit only on the death of the owner of the property. If your father owns a self-acquired property and also an ancestral property, he has the right to exclude you (son/daughter) from inheriting his self-acquired property. However, he can’t deny your share in the ancestral property.

If you would like to sell, dispose, or partition a property, are the rules for these two different kinds of properties same? What about the rules concerning inheritance / succession related to ancestral property based on your religion?

Concepts Ancestral Property & Hindu law

Below are some of the important points on Ancestral property;

As discussed above, the property should have been acquired by your great grand-father and no partition has been done.
It should not have been divided by the members of a joint Hindu family as once a division of the property takes place, the share or portion which each member (Coparcener) gets after the division becomes his or her self acquired property.
The right to a share in the ancestral property comes by birth.
The share of each generation is first determined and the successive generations in turn has to sub-divide what has been inherited by their respective predecessor.
Kindly note that if a property has been inherited from your mother / grand mother / uncle or even your brother, such property is not considered as an ancestral property

Advocate Siddhant Sharma LawRato