When ancestors die without making a gift deed or a Will (interstate) or any deed of family settlement, the joint family has a right over the ancestral property and all the living heirs require the signing of a partition deed or a filing of a petition suit in order to carve out specific shares of each heir. Legal notice for partition of property is a formal intimation to another person, informing them of the intention to partition the joint property and undertake legal proceedings if need be. In the case of many joint owners of the property, if you are willing for partition, you can send a partition legal notice to the other joint owner is showing your intention to do so. Joint owners can send a partition suit legal notice if either of them tries to sell its portion without written consent of the other.
As stated above a legal notice for partition of property is the first step to actualising the partition of a joint property. A legal notice for partition is required in most scenarios, but more so when one or more than one member of joint undivided property sells, gifts, mortgages, leases out or dispose of such property in any way without written consent of other co-owners. This illegal action by a joint owner can be opposed through other joint owners by way of legal notice for partition of property. Another scenario where legal notice for petitioner property is required is when one or more than one owner in the joint property is willing to partition the property , however, other joint owners deny to do so, a legal notice for partition of suit can be sent to them.
The legal notice for property partition must contain the following:
Sub: Notice for Partition of Property bearing No. _______.
Under instructions from and on behalf of my clients _________ son of _________ resident of _______, the following legal notice is being served on you for your compliance: -
1. That __________ wife of _________ resident of property bearing No. ______ died on ________.
2. That at the time of her death _______ was the absolute/ sole owner of the property bearing No. ___________________________.
3. That __________ died intestate, that is, without making any ‘Will’ in the favour of any person(s) before or at the time of her death.
4. That _______________ died leaving behind the following legal heirs at the time of her death: -
Name Relation with Deceased Residence
5. That after the death of _______ it was orally agreed between you and my clients: -
(i) That you will use the aforesaid property bearing no. _______ for the purpose of residence only till none of the legal heirs has any objection to it.
(ii) That any of the legal heirs of ______ may call upon the rest of the legal heirs to partition the aforesaid property by meets and bound and delivers the vacant possession of their respective share, at any time.
(iii) That you will not deal with the aforesaid property in any manner except for use as residence.
6. That in pursuance of the aforesaid oral agreement, you continued residing in the aforesaid property with the permission of my clients.
7. That it has came to the knowledge of my clients that you are now trying to sell the aforesaid property by manipulating and forging some false documents illegally, dishonestly, fraudulently and in gross violation of the terms on which the property was given to you i.e., for residence only.
8. That the aforesaid property was given to you only for residential purpose and you were further forbidden to deal with it in any other ways. Further you have no right to deal in any way with the share of my clients and before partition of the aforesaid property.
I, therefore, by means of this notice, call upon you to partition the property bearing no. _____by meets and bound, and deliver the vacant possession of the shares of my aforesaid clients within fifteen days of the receipt of this notice failing which I have clear instructions to institute the necessary Civil as well as Criminal Proceedings against you and in these events you shall be held liable for all the costs of and incident to such proceedings.
Copy retained for record and further necessary action.
The following documents must be scrutinized while drafting a legal notice for partition of property:
No set procedure is applicable in the making of a legal notice for Property Partition. However, a legal notice must be drafted and signed by a lawyer, with all the necessary details/contents as mentioned above. Once the notice is drafted it should be examined by the sender. It should then be sent to the other parties. If no action is taken or no reply is received within the number of days mentioned upon the notice, a partition suit against the defendant can be filed in the court of proper jurisdiction.
Property partition in India may be governed by Hindu Succession Act 1956, the Partition Act 1893, Code of Civil Procedure 1908, the Indian Succession act 1925. If there is an infringement of right over the property in the scenario when other relatives or members of your family try to dispose of the undivided property in an illegal manner, a suit for declaration and permanent injunction can be filed. If the property has already been sold or disposed of by the co-owners to another third party, then a legal notice for partition suit can be sent to the co-sharer along with the other person who has purchased such property. Once a notice has been sent, or file for permanent injunction and cancellation of sale can be filed before the concerned civil court.
The legal notice serves the purpose of giving a reasonable time to the person to sign partition deed or go for partition suit. The notice also acts as valid proof before a Court of Law.
Since, a legal notice is the first step towards recovery litigation, it is highly recommended that you hire a family law lawyer. A lawyer has the requisite expertise and knowledge to draft such legal notices. He/she will be able to accumulate important information for the client and draft the notice accordingly. He/she will ensure that you are on the right path in attaining justice. A lawyer can manage all legal paperwork effectively. Therefore, hiring an expert family law lawyer is of prime importance in order to ensure that your legal notice for property partition is sent correctly, keeping in mind the possible litigation that may ensue.