Punjab & Haryana HC Upholds Will Transfer of Land from Sister to Adopted Daughter
A property dispute involving a six-room house in Ludhiana has escalated to the Supreme Court after the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled in favor of the elder sister’s adopted daughter. The case centers on a house owned by a childless widow, who had previously intended to leave the property to her younger sister. Following the widow’s death, her adopted daughter has been granted ownership, but the younger sister has challenged this decision.
The widow had a younger sister and a brother who lived nearby. After revoking her initial Will on February 15, 2008, which favored her younger sister, she adopted her sister’s daughter. In January 2010, while attending a function, the widow locked her house, during which time her younger sister and brother-in-law allegedly took possession of the property. The widow sought legal recourse about five months later. She executed a new Will on March 15, 2013, designating her adopted daughter as the beneficiary. The widow passed away before the High Court’s ruling on July 15, 2026, which favored her adopted daughter. The younger sister has since filed a special leave petition with the Supreme Court.
High Court’s Rationale for Upholding the Second Will
The Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the validity of the widow’s second Will, treating the matter as one of testamentary succession rather than intestate succession. According to Jyoti Sinha, a partner at Khaitan & Co, the court found that the widow’s ownership of the property was well-documented, while the younger sister’s claim lacked substantiation. The High Court accepted the second Will after it was validated by an attesting witness.
The court referenced a Supreme Court ruling in the case of Mathew Oommen vs. Suseela Mathew, which clarified that a person can serve as both the scribe and an attesting witness to a Will. Justice Vikas Suri, who presided over the case, distinguished between a mere scribe and someone who fulfills both roles. The High Court concluded that the advocate who drafted the Will also acted as an attesting witness, as evidenced by his intention to attest the document. This legal interpretation will be reviewed by the Supreme Court in the pending special leave petition.
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