By S&S Co. Advocates & Solicitors · Published 27 January 2026 · Informational content, not legal advice
About this article: A general explainer prepared by S&S Co. Advocates & Solicitors on a recurring type of dispute. It does not report a specific judgment or order, names no parties and gives no case citation, so it should not be cited as authority. Law and practice change; please verify against the current statute and primary sources before relying on it.
The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 changed Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, so that a daughter of a coparcener becomes a coparcener by birth in her own right, in the same way as a son, with the same rights and liabilities in coparcenary property. In Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020), the Supreme Court held that this right does not depend on whether the father was alive on 9 September 2005.
A daughter's coparcenary status is not lost by her marriage. Family members sometimes argue that dowry or gifts at the time of marriage amount to a settlement of her claims. Courts have generally been reluctant to accept an informal or oral understanding as a relinquishment of a statutory right, and a relinquishment is ordinarily expected to be shown by a registered release deed or a court decree, with the circumstances examined closely.
Section 6(5) of the amended Act protects a partition effected, or a will made, before 20 December 2004, if it was by a registered deed or by a court decree. Partition of an undivided family is otherwise carried out by dividing the property into shares among the coparceners, and any property already settled on a daughter by a proper instrument may be taken into account.