Hindu undivided family
A Hindu undivided family (HUF), also called a joint Hindu family, is created by law, not by contract. It includes all persons lineally descended from a common male ancestor, their wives, and unmarried daughters. Within it is the narrower coparcenary: the members who acquire an interest in the joint family property by birth and can demand partition. The family is managed by the karta.
After the 2005 amendment to s.6 of the Hindu Succession Act, a daughter is a coparcener by birth in the same way as a son. In Vineeta Sharma (2020) the Supreme Court held that this right does not depend on the father being alive on 9 September 2005. The HUF is also a separate taxable entity under the income-tax law. Students should not use HUF and coparcenary as synonyms: a widow is a member of the HUF but not a coparcener.
Example
The father's widow is a member of the Hindu undivided family, but she cannot demand partition as a coparcener.
In Indian law
- Section 6, Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (as amended in 2005)
- Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma, 2020 INSC 487
See also
coparcenary · karta · mitakshara · partition
Read more in the study notes
- Kinds of accounts, opening an account, and special classes of customers (Banking Law)
- Suits by or against firms, minors and persons of unsound mind, indigent persons, and interpleader suits (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
- Computation of limitation: exclusion of time, fraud, acknowledgment, part-payment and continuing wrongs (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
- Allotment of shares, private placement and membership (Company Law)
- Partnership: meaning, nature and existence (Contract II)
- Schools of Hindu law: Mitakshara and Dayabhaga (Family Law I - Hindu Law)