Can a Divorced Mother and Her Children Be Evicted from Her Father's Ancestral Property by Her Sister-in-Law?

Priya Verma's life had not gone the way she had planned. Her arranged marriage to a man in Nagpur turned out to be deeply troubled — her husband had little formal education, was largely unemployed, and struggled with alcohol dependency. Priya, a commerce graduate, eventually divorced him and returned to her parents' home in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow, along with her two daughters, sometime around early March 2024.

Her father, a retired government employee, had passed away the previous year. Before his death, he had included all five of his children — four daughters and one son, Rakesh Verma — as nominees and co-signatories in various documents relating to his property and pension. After his passing, Rakesh took full control of the pension and related paperwork, with the consent of all siblings at the time.

The trouble started when Priya's mother expressed a wish to manage her own pension independently, as she needed funds for cataract surgery. Rakesh's wife, Sunita Verma, who had long harboured resentment toward Priya, turned openly hostile. She began making pointed remarks that the house "belongs to us," and that Priya and her daughters were merely guests who had overstayed. Things escalated sharply in late March 2024 when Priya's daughter gently confronted Sunita about her behaviour. Sunita responded with a dramatic episode — she began striking her bangles on the kitchen counter, injuring her hand, and eventually lay down in the street outside the house while making threatening statements against Priya and her daughters. Neighbours intervened. A doctor at the local clinic cleaned and dressed the wound.

Priya came to Advocate Sudhir Rao after her attempts to resolve things within the family had gone nowhere, and a general civil advocate she had previously consulted was unable to give her a clear picture of her property rights or the legal remedies available. The matter required a careful reading of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the specific property documents, and the pension transfer papers. Once the legal framework was properly assessed, Priya received definitive advice on her right to reside in her father's property, her share in the estate, and the steps available if any attempt at eviction was made.

You can read about this case in detail at https://sudhirrao.com/divorced-mother-eviction-fathers-property-sister-in-law-indi/