Intestate Succession Under Hindu Law: Who Inherits (2026)

How-to · Succession · Hindu Law

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

When a Hindu dies without a valid will, their property does not simply go to the eldest son or to one chosen relative. It devolves by a fixed order of heirs set out in the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. For a male Hindu the order runs first to the Class I heirs, who take together and to the exclusion of everyone else. This guide explains who inherits, in what order, and how each share is calculated. Last verified October 2026.

01When this rule applies

Intestate succession decides who inherits when a person dies without a valid will. For Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, the rules are in the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. The Act applies to self-acquired and other separate property that does not pass by survivorship.

Two separate questions often get mixed up. The first is succession, which is who inherits a deceased person's own property. The second is coparcenary, which is the right by birth of certain family members in ancestral joint-family property. The Act deals with both, but through different provisions, so it helps to keep them apart.

02The order of succession for a male Hindu

Section 8 of the Act sets the order for a male Hindu who dies intestate. The property passes in this sequence:

• first, to the heirs in Class I of the Schedule;
• if there is no Class I heir, to the heirs in Class II;
• if there is no Class I or Class II heir, to the agnates (relatives through a wholly male line);
• last, to the cognates (relatives not wholly through the male line).

The key rule is that Class I heirs take together and exclude everyone below them. If even one Class I heir survives, the Class II heirs and the rest get nothing from that property.

03Class I heirs

Class I heirs inherit at the same time and in their own right. The core Class I heirs of a male Hindu are:

• the son;
• the daughter;
• the widow;
• the mother;
• children of a predeceased son or predeceased daughter; and
• the widow of a predeceased son, among others listed in the Schedule.

The 2005 amendment added further heirs to Class I, such as certain descendants of a predeceased daughter and of a predeceased son's predeceased son. The point to remember is that a son and a daughter stand on an equal footing in Class I, and have done so since the Act began in 1956.

04Class II heirs

Class II heirs inherit only if there is no Class I heir at all. The Schedule arranges Class II heirs in a set of entries, and an heir in an earlier entry is preferred over one in a later entry.

The father stands in the first entry of Class II. Later entries cover relatives such as brothers and sisters, grandchildren of certain lines, and more distant relatives. Within a single entry, the heirs share equally.

Class I heirs take together and exclude everyone else. Class II heirs inherit only when no Class I heir survives.

05How shares are divided

Section 10 sets out how the property is split among Class I heirs. In plain terms:

• the widow takes one share (if there is more than one widow, they share one portion between them);
• the mother takes one share;
• each surviving son and daughter takes one share each; and
• the heirs of a predeceased son or daughter together take the one share that the son or daughter would have taken (this is called taking "per stirpes", meaning by the branch).

So the estate is not always divided by simple head count. A branch of a predeceased child shares the single portion that the child would have received.

06Daughters and coparcenary after 2005

The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 rewrote Section 6. A daughter of a coparcener in a Mitakshara joint Hindu family now becomes a coparcener by birth, with the same rights and the same liabilities in the ancestral property as a son.

The Supreme Court settled the main questions in Vineeta Sharma v Rakesh Sharma (2020). It held that a daughter's coparcenary right comes from birth, and that the right applies even if the father had died before the 2005 amendment came into force. This is separate from the Class I succession right that a daughter has always had under Section 8.

07When a female Hindu dies intestate

A female Hindu who dies intestate follows a different order, set out in Sections 15 and 16. Her property passes first to her sons, daughters (including children of any predeceased child) and husband, then to the husband's heirs, then to her mother and father, and so on.

There is a special rule for the source of the property. Property she inherited from her parents, if she leaves no son or daughter, goes back to her father's heirs. Property inherited from her husband or father-in-law, in the same situation, goes to her husband's heirs. So the origin of the property can change who finally takes it.

08Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

Succession rarely stays on paper. When heirs fall out, the dispute becomes a partition suit, a declaration suit, or a caveat in a probate matter before a civil court. That is where Claw earns its keep. You can search a store of 30 crore+ judgments to read how courts have applied Section 8, Section 6 and the 2005 amendment, with each search answered in under 5 seconds and reaching the Supreme Court from 1950 and the High Courts from 1990. Alongside the research, you can follow a live partition or succession matter, its orders and hearings, by party or advocate name, across the 9,102 courts, benches and forums Claw tracks.

Claw does not use the documents customers upload to train its AI models. Create a free Claw account to keep your partition or succession matter under watch by party or advocate name. To research the wider body of law, see case search across Indian courts.

09Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 and the 2005 amendment): indiacode.nic.in
• Supreme Court of India (judgments, including Vineeta Sharma v Rakesh Sharma): main.sci.gov.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Succession turns on the exact facts, the source of the property, and the family tree, so take advice from counsel before you act.

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