My query is regarding 'will' and 'ancestral' property!

Dear Client,

Under Hindu law, to claim a share in an ancestral property, you must prove that (a) the property is held undivided and has passed up to four generations of male lineage (e.g., from great‑grandfather onward) and (b) your title through that chain, and courts indeed expect documentary evidence (like old sale deeds, revenue records, mutation entries, family settlement or partition deeds, and genealogical proof), although oral evidence may supplement documents if they show continuous possession and identity of the property. If no such documentary trail is produced, the claim can be weak or rejected on lack of title‑proof.

Regarding a Will, a signature‑mismatch report by a forensic handwriting expert can be a strong ground to challenge the Will, but the court will ultimately look at the total evidence including the authenticity of the execution, witnesses, testator’s capacity, and other circumstances under the Indian Succession Act and Evidence Act. Courts have held that handwriting‑expert opinion is not mandatory if the signature is not specifically disputed in pleadings, but where the opponent clearly alleges that the signature is forged or feigned and produces a credible expert report showing a significant mismatch, the Will can be set aside if the prosecution/testamentary side fails to satisfactorily rebut the doubt over execution.

I hope this helps and if you have any further issues do not hesitate to contact us.

Dear Client,

To claim a share in ancestral property, you do not need to prove four generations of male lineage through elaborate documentary evidence in every case. For any property to become ancestral property, it needs to be passed on through at least four generations that is, from great-grandfather to grandfather to father to son, all on the paternal side. 

You must show four generations of inheritance to qualify a property as ancestral. Undivided properties must be backed by documentation; examples include ancient real estate documents (title deeds, occupancy), historical tax records, etc., and genealogy charts can help establish the status of the property. The level of proof required to ascertain the property has been inherited under ancestral conditions is the ‘balance of probabilities’, not ‘mathimetical certainty’. These records may include historical tax records, or ‘mutations’, agreements and testimonies from more than 1 person are required. You do not have to provide a complete documentary verification chain for all four generations; other relevant evidence is sufficient.

Challenging the Signature of a Will can be done if there is a mismatch as an independent issue. Challenging a will based upon the signature being different from that of the Testator can be done with the assistance of forensic handwriting analysis. This evidence will also weigh heavily in support of your case provided the testimony was obtained under the provisions of Section 45 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (previously known as the Indian Evidence Act). Under the above Act, an expert in handwriting is an acceptable and admissible piece of evidence for purposes of the Will being executed as required by law. However, the Supreme Court has recently reiterated in C. Kamalakkannan v. State of Tamil Nadu that care must be taken when accepting opinions from forensic experts on signature comparison because the science of handwriting comparison has never been determined to be exact; and that because of the nature of the analysis, it is not a reliable means of identification conditioning the value of the comparison to the more recent studies of fingerprint analysis. To clarify, the Supreme Court has expressed that all expert evidence, including opinions based on handwriting analysis, under Section 45 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam are advisory only and do not prevent the Courts from accepting direct evidence of the verification of a Testamentary document by attesting witnesses, as such, the Courts do not have an obligation to follow the forensic proof if there are identifiable witnesses to the execution of the Wills and the witnesses are able to state that the Testator executed the Will in accordance with the Order of the Court . Therefore, a forensic report showing 60% mismatch is a strong starting point, but you must supplement it with evidence that the testator was under pressure, had a failing hand, or that the attesting witnesses are unreliable. File a probate challenge in the civil court supported by both the forensic report and these surrounding circumstances together.