Property, Streedhan & a Daughter's Equal Share

The Supreme Court settled this in 2020, and families across Tamil Nadu are still settling partitions as though it had not. A daughter takes a coparcenary interest in ancestral property by birth. Her right does not depend on her father being alive when the 2005 amendment came into force, it does not depend on her being unmarried, and it is not extinguished by a partition deed she never signed. Separately and just as often ignored: streedhan — the gold, cash and gifts given to a woman at and around her marriage — is her absolute property under Section 14. It is not the household's, it is not her husband's, and refusing to return it is not a family matter.

Most of this work is documentary before it is ever contentious. We trace the chain of title, identify whether the property is genuinely ancestral or self-acquired — the distinction decides the case — and check whether any purported partition was registered, when, and who was actually party to it. Where an oral partition is alleged to defeat a daughter's share, the burden on the family is a heavy one and the contemporaneous records rarely support them. On streedhan we build the inventory early: wedding photographs, jeweller's invoices, gift lists, insurance and locker records. Where the property has already been sold to a third party we advise honestly about what is recoverable and what is realistically compensation rather than restoration.

A declared and recorded share, or a negotiated settlement that reflects it — and in many families, a partition finally registered correctly so that the next generation does not litigate it again. On streedhan, recovery of the articles or their value, pursued as a civil claim and, where retention is wrongful, alongside a criminal complaint.