Recently, the Madras High Court made a significant ruling regarding property inheritance under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act of 1956. Judge GK Ilanthiraiyan, in a judgment dated June 5, clarified that an adopted individual cannot be claimed as a legal heir by their biological relatives.
According to Section 12 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, the court emphasized that upon adoption, the adopted person's ties with their biological family cease to exist.
"Therefore, it is explicitly stated that the adopted child's connections with their biological family are considered severed from the date of adoption and are replaced by those formed in the adoptive family," the court declared.
The case arose when A V Sakthivel filed a writ petition seeking rights to the property of his first cousin, who was adopted. Sakthivel sought a relationship certificate and legal heirship certificate after his cousin passed away in 2020 without leaving a Class I legal heir.
Sakthivel's claim was contested by the biological siblings of the adopted person. The petitioner argued that the adopted child should be seen as having no ties to their biological family and that these ties should be supplanted by those created in the adoptive family.The court accepted this argument, overturning the Revenue Divisional Officer's previous decision to deny Sakthivel's request for the certificate. Consequently, the court granted Sakthivel's petition, affirming his rights to his cousin's property under the law.
