00:00Do you own your spouse's house? The answer, no. Imagine this, a Hindu woman, a widow with no kids.
00:07Her in-laws throw her out. She rebuilds her life from scratch, starts a business, earns her own
00:13money, creates her own property. But then, years later, she dies. And guess what happens to everything
00:19she built? It does not go to her parents, not to her siblings. It goes to her husband's family,
00:26the same people who abandoned her. Why? Because the law allows it.
00:34Under the Hindu Succession Act, Section 15, if a Hindu woman dies without children,
00:40her self-acquired property goes first to the husband and after him to his heirs.
00:45Her own parents or siblings inherit only if the husband has no surviving heirs at all.
00:50In November 2025, the Supreme Court clearly said that to avoid such injustices and family disputes,
00:56women must make a will and clearly state who gets what out of their property.
01:03And this brings up a big myth many people believe, that husbands and wives automatically own each
01:09other's property. But the answer is no, you do not. Under Indian law, marriage does not mean
01:15joint ownership of property. Each spouse owns their own property unless they've specifically bought it
01:22as joint property. That means a wife cannot sell her husband's property and a husband cannot take over
01:28his wife's property as long as the other spouse is alive. However, wives do have one important
01:34protection. Under the Domestic Violence Act, a wife has the right to live in the matrimonial home,
01:40even if it belongs to the husband or his family. If the house belongs only to the in-laws and there is
01:45a serious conflict, the husband must provide a suitable alternative residence. But the question
01:51is of inheritance. Under Hindu law, husband and wife are primary heirs. If one spouse dies,
01:57the property is divided equally between the surviving spouse and the children. But here's the imbalance.
02:03If the husband dies, his mother, if alive, gets an equal share to the wife and the children.
02:09The wife's mother, however, has no such right in her daughter's property. When it comes to ancestral
02:14property, a wife inherits her husband's share of his family property. And if there are children,
02:19that share is divided between her and the children. But if a woman inherited property from her parents
02:25and she dies without children, that property goes back to her father's heirs, not the husband's.
02:31Now, different religions have different rules, but one rule remains the same.
02:35Marriage does not automatically give property rights. And that is why knowing succession laws,
02:41making a will and planning inheritance is not optional, it's essential.
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