By S&S Co. Advocates & Solicitors · Published 8 August 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.
Many families who hold property in India have members who have settled abroad. A partition suit does not become unmaintainable merely because one or more co-sharers live outside India. The right to seek partition flows from co-ownership, and it is not lost by living abroad.
The practical difficulty is service and participation. The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 provides for service of summons on a defendant who resides outside India, including through agents and diplomatic channels, and for substituted service in appropriate cases. A co-sharer can also take part through a duly executed power of attorney in favour of a representative in India, which can make the process quicker. A power of attorney executed abroad usually has to be authenticated or apostilled according to the rules of the place where it is made.
Delay in service on overseas parties can lengthen a suit, but courts are expected to use the available procedures and not to dismiss the suit at the threshold for that reason. Whether a particular suit can be decided against a party who has not been served is a different question, and depends on the stage and the order the court passes.