spes successionis
The expectation of an heir apparent to inherit, or of a relation to receive a legacy, is not property but only a possibility. Section 6(a) of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 bars its transfer, and Section 43 (feeding the grant by estoppel) does not cure such a transfer. A Hindu son cannot sell during his father's lifetime the father's self-acquired property he hopes to inherit.
Under Muslim law also, an heir has no interest in the estate before the ancestor's death, so a relinquishment of expectancy is void. But the Supreme Court has held that an heir who received consideration for such a relinquishment may be estopped from claiming his share, on the facts.
Example
The son's sale of his share in his living father's self-acquired house was void, since he had only a spes successionis.
In Indian law
- Section 6(a), Transfer of Property Act, 1882
See also
transfer of property · succession · vested interest
Read more in the study notes
- Modes of execution: arrest and detention, attachment, and sale (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
- Growth, development and the features of the Indian economy (Economic Development in India)
- Economic growth versus economic development, and the determinants of development (Economic Theory and Public Finance)
- Wills under Muslim law (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Muslim law of inheritance: Sunni and Shia (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Utmost good faith, non-disclosure and section 45 (Insurance Law)