Intestate Succession under Other Religions

Christians and Parsis are subject to intestate succession laws under the Indian Succession Act of 1925. There are some ideas that are shared by all faiths, even if each one has its own unique set of laws regarding intestate succession.

(i) Heirs: Ascendants, Descendants, and Collaterals

An heir is a person who has the legal right to inherit assets following the death of an intestate. There are three possible categories of heirs: collaterals, descendants, and descendants.

• Ascendants: An individual’s maternal and paternal forebears are referred to as their ascendants. The mother and father are the immediate ascendants. Paternal grandfather (FF), paternal grandmother (FM), maternal grandfather (MF), maternal grandmother (MM), father (F), mother (M), and so on are included. The degree of growth has no bounds.
• Descendants: A person’s descendants are their children. A person’s sons and daughters are their direct descendants. Son (S), daughter (D), grandson (SS), granddaughter (SD), great-grandson (SSS), and so on are included. The degree of fall is infinite.
• Collaterals: Collaterals are those who descended from a common ancestor or ancestress in parallel lines. For example, collaterals include siblings and their offspring, as well as maternal and paternal uncles and aunts and their offspring. These heirs may be related to one another via uterine, half, or whole blood.

(ii) Relation by Full Blood, Half Blood, and Uterine Blood

• Relationship by Full Blood: When two people have the same mother and father, they are connected to one another by full blood.
• Relation by Half Blood: When two people have the same father but separate mothers, they are connected to one another by half blood.
• Relation by Uterine Blood: When two people share a mother but have separate fathers, they are connected to one another by uterine blood.

Every community has roughly the same laws regarding intestate succession, which give the deceased person’s spouse and any of their direct descendants first dibs. Collaterals that are close to the deceased are given priority in their absence.