A Partial Partition Did Not End The Joint Family, So The Daughters Get Their Share
Two sisters sued their father for a share in the family's Chetpet property. The single judge dismissed the suit. A Division Bench has held they are coparceners and entitled to shares.
The Court held the old partition deed was only a partial partition: the suit property remained joint family property, and one member cannot unilaterally turn such property into his own. Because it was never partitioned before the 1989 State and 2005 Central amendments, the daughters became coparceners by birth. They get a preliminary decree, and the trial court must draw up the final decree on its own within six months.
- Daughters are coparceners by birth where the property stayed undivided.
- A partial partition does not end the joint family character of what remains.
- No one member can convert joint property into personal property.
- The court must move to a final decree itself, without a fresh application.
- Court
- High Court of Judicature at Madras
- Bench
- Justice HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE P. VELMURUGAN, Justice HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE GK.MUTHUKUMAAR
- Citation
- O.S.A. No. 338 of 2025
- Case
- O.S.A. No. 338 of 2025
- Decided
- 16 September 2026
- Outcome
- Appeal allowed; preliminary decree for partition with suo motu final decree proceedings
The family property
The main suit property in Chetpet, Chennai, was ancestral property of the sisters' great-grandfather, Dr M.R. Guruswamy Mudaliar. It passed to his son, G. Viswanathan, who in June 1972 executed a registered partition deed with his own son, the sisters' father.
The deed allotted this property, along with two others that were later sold, to the father. A portion was set apart as a memorial to Dr Mudaliar. The sisters were born after the deed.
They sued for partition, claiming a one-third share each alongside their father. A single judge dismissed the suit in February 2025, and they appealed.
Why the daughters succeeded
Justices P. Velmurugan and G.K. Muthukumaar read the 1972 deed as only a partial partition. The suit property remained joint family property, and nothing showed any later partition of it.
Joint family property keeps its character as long as it is not partitioned among the coparceners, and one member cannot convert it into his personal property by his own act.
Under Tamil Nadu's 1989 amendment, and then the Central amendment of 2005 which removed any bar based on the date of marriage, daughters became coparceners by birth in undivided property, with shares equal to sons. There is no son in this family.
The decree
The single judge's judgment was set aside. The sisters get a preliminary decree declaring them entitled to a two-thirds share together in the main property and a one-third share in the memorial portion.
Following the Supreme Court in Kattukandi Edathil Krishnan, no separate final decree application is needed. Because the suit has been pending since 2017, the single judge is to start final decree proceedings on the court's own motion and complete them within six months. No costs were ordered.
Who argued it
Appearances as recorded in the judgment of the Court.
Frequently asked
Is a daughter born after an old partition deed a coparcener?
Yes, if the property in question stayed undivided joint family property, as the Court found here.
Does a partition deed always end the joint family?
No. A partial partition leaves the undivided property joint.
Claiming a daughter's coparcenary share
- Trace how the property came into the family, generation by generation.
- Read any old partition deed closely: was everything divided?
- Look for evidence of any later partition of the property.
- After a preliminary decree, press the court to proceed to a final one.
Source. High Court of Judicature at Madras, O.S.A. No. 338 of 2025, decided 16 September 2026 by Justice HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE P. VELMURUGAN, Justice HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE GK.MUTHUKUMAAR. This explainer is written from the judgment text as reported.
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