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Women's property rights are complicated. The problem becomes considerably more complicated once they marry and become members of a different family.
In this note, we'll try to analyse the rights of a spouse in the in-law's property.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled in 2016 that a daughter-in-law had no claim to her in-laws' self-acquired property. Jitender Kumar accused his son and daughter-in-law (Varinder Kaur) of abusing him and his wife in this lawsuit.
The son and daughter-in-law had started living separately due to family disagreement, but after the birth of their daughter, the two returned to the joint property where she had been living since she got married. As dissatisfaction grew once more, the son moved out. On the other hand, the daughter-in-law went to court, claiming she has a legal claim to her matrimonial home. The Court ruled against her, declaring that she had no claim.
However, this position of the Courts changed in 2020, when the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India ruled that every married woman has a right to reside in her matrimonial home even if she has no ownership rights. This landmark judgement was stated in the case of Satish Chander Ahuja v. Sneha Ahuja where the judges also stated that the daughter-in-law will have the right to reside in those properties also that was self-acquired by her in-laws.
However, If a residence belongs solely to a father-in-law and his son lives separately, then the daughter-in-law has no legal right to dwell there. In this situation, the house won't come under 'shared household,' which would disqualify the daughter-in-law from having any legal rights over the property.
A shared household is one in which the person who is being sued resides or has lived in a domestic relationship with the respondent, either alone or with others. This includes both rented and owned properties.
Moreover, If the property was self-acquired, a widowed daughter-in-law has no right to live in it against the desires of her in-laws. The woman has no title to the deceased husband's ancestral property until and until she inherits it from him.
However, in the event of a joint family property division (between her husband and his sons), the wife gets a share equal to that of a son.
She becomes free to own and enjoy such property without the consent of her husband.
The husband's personal responsibility is to provide for his wife. As a consequence of Section 4 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, any duty for the maintenance of the daughter-in-law in the event of the son's death cannot be imposed on the parents-in-self-acquired law's property.
In a nutshell, spouses have residential rights on a property of it gets the term of 'shared household' but no ownership rights can be claimed by them. The properties listed entirely in the names of the parents cannot be attached or used to enforce a wife's entitlement to maintenance against her husband.
For a more detailed understanding, refer to the" Satish Chandra Ahuja Vs. Sneha Ahuja" case study by clicking the case below.