“Dear Daughters, Please Write a Will”

The Supreme Court, in Snidha Mehra vs Union of India (WRIT PETITION 732/2020 decided on 19.11.2025), did not strike down section 15(1)(b) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. It refused to rule on the constitutional validity of that clause in this PIL (public interest litigation) and left the question open for a future case brought by directly affected parties.

The petition was filed by a young woman lawyer who argued that where a married Hindu woman dies without a will, and leaves behind no husband or children, it is unfair that her property first goes to the “heirs of the husband” before her own parents. She pointed out that this is especially harsh when the woman’s property is self-acquired and her parents, who educated and supported her, are pushed down in the queue.

The Court reproduced the existing legal position and kept it intact. In plain terms, when a Hindu woman dies intestate (without a will), her property goes in this order:

§  First – to her children (including children of any predeceased child) and husband

§  Second – to the heirs of the husband

§  Third – to her own mother and father

§  Fourth – to the heirs of her father

§  Fifth – to the heirs of her mother

There are separate sub-sections in section 15(2) which say that property she had inherited from her parents or from her husband/father-in-law “returns” to that side of the family if she dies childless, and the Court left those rules untouched as well.

At the same time, the Bench recognised that in the year 1956—when Parliament may not have imagined many women owning self-acquired property—is not the India of today. Women now study, work, run businesses and build assets in their own name, so handing all of that to the husband’s heirs alone can naturally cause hurt in her own family.

So, while not changing the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the Court did two practical things. First, it directed that where parents or their heirs claim a share in the estate of a Hindu woman who has died intestate (and section 15(2) does not apply), parties must first attempt pre-litigation mediation before filing any suit; any settlement reached there should be treated like a court decree. Second, and most significantly for everyday life, it made an earnest appeal to women—especially married Hindu women—to make a Will, preferably a registered one, under section 30 of the Hindu Succession Act read with the Indian Succession Act, so that their property goes exactly where they want it to go and future family fights are avoided.

In effect, the law itself stays as it is for now, but the Court’s message is clear: do not leave your family to battle over succession—write down your wishes clearly in a Will while you can.