Only Blood Relations Can Call Themselves Heir ,Stepson cannot be a son, says Bombay HC

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has ruled that only blood relations can claim to be heirs and demand a stake in family property. In her ruling on a property dispute, Justice Roshan Dalvi denied a claim by Albert D’Souza saying he did not enjoy the rights of a biological son and hence his petition was dismissed.



“If the child has no relationship with the deceased by blood, full or half, he would not be entitled to be called an heir and consequently, to succeed to his estate,’’ said the verdict delivered last week but only made public this week.
The court was asked to decide the rights of the heirs of one Mary Powell after her death. Mary’s family, including her late brother Dennis’s children, claimed a share in her property. Albert, who was Dennis’s stepson (his second wife’s son from her first marriage), filed an application as an interested party in Mary’s property.
Under the Indian Succession Act, a person claiming to be an heir must have a blood relationship with the deceased. For the purpose of succession, a person must be shown to be related to the deceased by full blood or half blood. Indian law says that two persons are said to be related to each other by full blood when they are descended from a common ancestor by the same wife. They are related to each other by half blood when they descend from a common ancestor but by different wives.
The court pointed out that Albert was related only to Dennis’s second wife by blood. “He is not related to his stepfather, by blood. He is, therefore, not related to the deceased (Mary) by blood,’’ held the judge.
The court referred to Supreme Court judgments, which had said that even under the Hindu Succession Act, stepsons can’t get rights of a son.
(Names of family changed to protect identities)