Kerala High Court: Daughters Born After Dec 20, 2004, Entitled to Equal HUF Share

The Kerala High Court has ruled that daughters of Hindu fathers who died after December 20, 2004 are entitled to an equal share in ancestral (HUF) property, regardless of the Kerala Joint Hindu Family System (Abolition) Act, 1975. These state provisions—Sections 3 and 4—were found repugnant to the Central Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 and are therefore inoperative to the extent they conflict.

The Court clarified that:

Since the 2005 Amendment (effective September 9, 2005), daughters have coparcenary rights by birth, identical to sons, unless partition occurred before December 20, 2004).

The Kerala Abolition Act merely deemed HUFs partitioned, but did not abolish the underlying nature of joint family property—hence it cannot override Central law.

Consequently, daughters born into families before or after 2005 have a rightful claim to ancestral property.

Judgment Date: July 8, 2025
Effective Cut-Off: Father died after Dec 20, 2004
Legal Significance: Confirms the supremacy of the 2005 Hindu Succession Amendment over conflicting state law
Bench: Justice Eswaran