Hindu Succession Act, 1956: All Sections Explained

In short: The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (Act No. 30 of 1956) covers the law of inheritance among Hindus when a person dies without a will, the rights of daughters in coparcenary property, a Hindu woman’s property and wills. It came into force on 17 June 1956 and was significantly amended in 2005 to make daughters coparceners. It has 31 section entries, listed below with a plain-English summary of each. Part of our Law Library.

हिंदी में: हिन्दू उत्तराधिकार अधिनियम, 1956 की सभी धाराएँ नीचे सरल भाषा में दी गई हैं।

All sections of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956

Section	Title	What it covers
Preliminary
1	Short title and extent	Name of the Act and its extent.
2	Application of Act	Applies to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, and others who are not Muslims, Christians, Parsis or Jews; not to Scheduled Tribes unless notified.
3	Definitions and interpretation	Defines agnate, cognate, heir, intestate, full and half blood and related terms.
4	Overriding effect of Act	The Act overrides earlier Hindu law and customs on matters it covers.
Intestate succession: general
5	Act not to apply to certain properties	The Act does not apply to certain estates, such as those under special laws and impartible estates.
6	Devolution of interest in coparcenary property	Since the 2005 amendment, a daughter is a coparcener by birth with the same rights and liabilities as a son.
7	Devolution of interest in the property of a tarwad, tavazhi, kutumba, kavaru or illom	Succession to interests in property under marumakkattayam and aliyasantana systems.
8	General rules of succession in the case of males	A Hindu man’s property passes first to Class I heirs, then Class II heirs, then agnates, then cognates.
9	Order of succession among heirs in the Schedule	Class I heirs take together; Class II heirs take in the order of the entries.
10	Distribution of property among heirs in class I of the Schedule	How the estate is divided among Class I heirs such as widow, sons, daughters and mother.
11	Distribution of property among heirs in class II of the Schedule	Heirs in the same entry of Class II share equally.
12	Order of succession among agnates and cognates	Rules of preference among agnates and among cognates.
13	Computation of degrees	How degrees of relationship are counted.
14	Property of a female Hindu to be her absolute property	Property held by a Hindu woman is her absolute property, not a limited estate.
15	General rules of succession in the case of female Hindus	Order of heirs when a Hindu woman dies without a will, with special rules for property inherited from parents or in-laws.
16	Order of succession and manner of distribution among heirs of a female Hindu	How the estate of a Hindu woman is distributed among her heirs.
17	Special provisions respecting persons governed by marumakkattayam and aliyasantana laws	Modified rules for persons governed by these systems.
General provisions relating to succession
18	Full blood preferred to half blood	Relatives by full blood are preferred to those by half blood in the same degree.
19	Mode of succession of two or more heirs	Two or more heirs take per capita as tenants in common.
20	Right of child in womb	A child in the womb at the intestate’s death, later born alive, inherits as if born before.
21	Presumption in cases of simultaneous deaths	Where it is uncertain who died first, the younger is presumed to have survived the elder.
22	Preferential right to acquire property in certain cases	Class I heirs have a preferential right to buy a co-heir’s share before it is sold to an outsider.
23	[Omitted]	Omitted by the 2005 amendment (earlier restricted partition of a dwelling house).
24	[Omitted]	Omitted by the 2005 amendment (earlier barred some remarried widows).
25	Murderer disqualified	A person who commits murder is disqualified from inheriting from the victim.
26	Convert’s descendants disqualified	Descendants of a convert born after conversion are disqualified, unless Hindus when succession opens.
27	Succession when heir disqualified	A disqualified heir is treated as if he died before the intestate.
28	Disease, defect, etc., not to disqualify	No one is disqualified because of disease, defect or deformity.
Escheat
29	Failure of heirs	If there is no heir, the property goes to the Government.
Testamentary succession
30	Testamentary succession	A Hindu may dispose of his or her property, including a coparcenary interest, by will.
Repeals
31	[Repealed]	Repealed.

Need help with a case under this Act? See Partition suit and ancestral property, Legal heir certificate (UP), Succession certificate, NRI partition and inheritance, or book a consultation. Back to the Law Library.

Prepared by Adv. Mridul Jindal, Law Chambers of Mridul Jindal, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad. Last updated 11 November 2026. Summaries are in plain English for general information and are not the text of the law or legal advice; always read the official text on India Code. Disclaimer.