Daughter as HUF Karta: Why Wives Are Excluded from the Role
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Daughter as HUF Karta: Why wives are excluded despite legal reforms
M
Moneycontrol•07-03-2026, 10:19
Daughter as HUF Karta: Why wives are excluded despite legal reforms
•The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, granted daughters coparcenary rights, making them eligible to be Karta if they are the eldest coparcener.
•Traditionally, only the eldest male member was Karta; now, seniority among coparceners, not gender, determines the role.
•Wives cannot be Karta because they are members of an HUF, not coparceners, and do not acquire rights by birth.
•Coparceners (sons, daughters) have birthrights in ancestral property and can demand partition, unlike members (wives, daughters-in-law) who are only entitled to maintenance.
•Courts, including the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court, have affirmed that the Karta role is not gender-restricted but based on seniority among coparceners.
