Delhi HC - Daughter in Law cannot claim share in in-laws property
Delhi High Court has held that the old parents whose relations with their son and daughter-in law turn sour have every right to show them the door and the daughter-in law cannot claim any right to stay in their house claiming to be having a legal right to live in the matrimonial home. Justice S N Dhingra observed yesterday, ''that the matrimonial home may not necessarily mean the house of the parents of the husband. In fact the parents can allow the children to live in the house as long as their relations are cordial and full of love and affection with them. Matrimonial home is not merely a dwelling unit.It is a place used by husband and wife for dwelling,'' Justice Dhingra said. In the present case, an old couple staying in Ashok Vihar filed a suit in the Delhi High Court stating that their daughter-in-law forcibly wants to stay in their house whereas she has her own house in Rohini.
A woman can assert right over spouse’s property, but not on that of her in-laws
Earlier, the supreme court had sought to redress the grievance of several aged in-laws who had been harassed by their daughters-in-law over their property.
“Sympathy or sentiment can be invoked only in favour a person who is entitled to it,” observed the apex court, while quashing several criminal cases filed by a daughter-in-law against her in-laws living in Gujarat.
A bench of justices SB Sinha and VS Sirpurkar also held that “maintenance of a married wife, during subsistence of the marriage, is on the husband. It is a personal obligation. The obligation to maintain a daughter-in-law arises only when the husband has died,” the court added.
“Such an obligation can also be met from the properties of which the husband is a co-sharer and not otherwise. For invoking the said provision, the husband must have a share in the property. The property in the name of the mother-in-law can neither be a subject matter of attachment nor during the life time of the husband, his personal liability to maintain his wife (mother-in-law) can be directed to be enforced against such property’’, Judges had ruled.
Labels: Delhi High Court, Property Laws