Stepchildren can’t inherit property of parent’s 2nd spouse: Hry rev court

Chandigarh: A revenue court headed by a financial commissioner in Haryana has ruled that the stepchildren would not inherit the property of their stepparent after her death. According to the revenue court, allowing a stepchild to be treated as a child of the stepparent would result in the problem of double parentage. It must be kept in mind that remarriage by one of the parents does not sever the parental linkage between the child and the other parent.
“The act of marriage is a bilateral act that binds only the spouse qua each other. Therefore, by an act of marriage, stepparents link themselves only as a spouse to the person he/she marries, and not as a parent to the child such a person brings from their former marriage,” the financial commissioner’s court, headed by senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka, has observed.
The financial commissioner’s (FC) court headed by Khemka passed these orders while deciding a revision petition filed by Jagiro Devi, widow of Raghbir Singh, a resident of Dhudla village, Kurukshetra, and others. The court determined “whether stepsons or stepdaughters are sons and daughters respectively within the meaning of the Hindu Succession Act.”