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What heritage laws are applicable in India?

There are no uniform codified heritage laws in India.

India's Constitution provides freedom of conscience (i.e., religious faith as a fundamental right). Family law was always a part of the law of religion. This means that there is no uniform code of civil law in India, even though it has been incorporated in the Indian constitution's Directive Principles of State Policy. As marriage and succession laws are the most complex of the religious laws, issues relating to heritage are very complicated in India. used cars

The main laws on foreigners' estates and heritage in India are: the Foreigners' Act (provision by the government for orders restricting or banning foreign citizens' rights) and the Foreign Exchange and Management Act (Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property in India).

In India, various religious groups subscribe to various laws. Hindus are enacted by their own enactment (Hindu Succession Act), Muslims by their own textual inheritance law (Islamic Succession Law), parsees by the Indian Succession Act, as do Christians and others as well as by the Indian Succession Act (e.g. spouses with different religions married under The Indian Marriage Act).

The applicable inheritance law depends on the deceased's personal law.

The personal law to which the deceased subscribed applies to heritage matters in India. This may be the textual law of the religion of the deceased or the codified law of the nation to which the deceased belonged at the time of death.

If a foreign citizen inherits from a deceased Indian citizen, the laws applicable to the relevant Indian religious group shall apply.

If the deceased was an outsider, then his religion or nationality's personal law applies. If the law of the nation of which the deceased foreigner was a citizen at the moment of death refers back to India (i.e. the location of his or her property), the law applicable to the deceased's heritage takes precedence in India.

When can problems occur?

In view of the complexity and diversity of the laws applicable in India, issues of foreign national heritage will arise mainly from the following:

A deceased citizen of India with foreign citizens as his successors;

a non-resident Indian, or a person of Indian provenance, who dies intestate, leaving foreign citizens as successors;

An alien who owns a property in an allowable area of India or an alien who owns property while residing in India who dies intestate with foreign nationals.

Foreign successors claiming their heritage at the death of a foreign citizen, a legacy owner in India.

The District Civil Court deals with all heritage issues.

The main civil court of original jurisdiction (District Judge's Court) shall deal with heredity issues, where the property lies or if the deceased used to live in India before death or departure.

If more than one civil court has jurisdiction over the property, the High Court (HC) may transfer the case to one civil court. Up to two appeals may be referred from there to the HC. In particular circumstances a Special Leave Petition (SLP) may be allowed at the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, the Apex Court but will be exhausted only after the second appeal and if specific law issues are concerned.

The local laws of the state in which the property is located fix the stamp duty and court charges.

Inheritance and succession disputes may take as long as any other civil suit, which depends on the complexity of the claims, on the nature of the law interpretation and on the number of appeals. The original court may take four to seven years and each appeal may take two to three years. The inheritance proceedings in India may not be concluded for two decades in exceptional cases.

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