Property Purchased In Homemaker Wife's Name Belongs To Family: Court

The Allahabad High Court has held that a property purchased by a husband in the name of a wife, who is a homemaker and has no independent source of income, is a family property.

Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal said that it is common and natural for Hindu husbands to purchase properties in the name of their wives.

The Judge was hearing a case involving a son's claim for declaration of co-ownership of his dead father's property.

"This court under Section 114 of the Indian Evidence Act may presume the existence of fact that the property purchased by a Hindu husband in the name of his spouse, who is a homemaker and does not have an independent source of income, will be the property of family, because in common course of natural event Hindu husband purchases a property in the name of his wife, who is homemaker and does not have any source of income for the benefit of family," the court observed.

It said that unless it is otherwise proved that the property was purchased with the income earned by the wife, the property is deemed to have been purchased by the husband using his own income.

The appellant, Saurabh Gupta, the son, had filed a civil suit seeking the status of co-sharer of one-fourth of the property purchased by his father.

He contended that since the property was purchased by his dead father, he was a co-sharer in it along with his mother, who is a defendant in the suit and respondent in the present appeal before the high court.

Since the property was purchased in the name of the mother, i.e., wife of the dead father, the appellant (son) filed an application seeking an injunction (stay) against the transfer of property to a third party.

In a written statement, the mother pleaded that the property was gifted to her by her husband as she had no independent source of income.

Accordingly, the application for interim injunction was rejected by the trial court.

Allowing the appeal filed by the appellant, the high court in its February 15 judgement held that the property purchased by a Hindu husband in the name of homemaker wife, without any independent income, is deemed to have been purchased from his personal income.

Such property, prima facie, becomes the property of the joint Hindu family.

The court further held that in such circumstances, it is necessary to protect the property from creation of third-party rights. "In such a case, the protection is necessary against further transferring the property or changing the nature of the same."

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