Co-parcenary property under Estate Duty Act. - Income Tax - 984/CBDT

INSTRUCTION NO. 984/CBDT Dated : July 23, 1976 Section(s) Referred: 7 ,39 Statute: Estate Duty Act Attention is invited to para 4 of the Board's Circular No. 11D/59 dated 17-10-1959, wherein it had been stated that if the deceased was, at the time of his death, the sole surviving co-parcener of a Hindu Undivided Family the whole of his property including the co-parcenary property, will pass to his heirs by succession. As such, the whole of the co-parcenary property passes on the death of such a member for the purposes of the Estate Duty Act. 2. A case has recently come to the notice of the Board where the deceased, a sole surviving co-parcener, was survived by his wife, unmarried daughters and the widow of a predeceased brother. The Board are advised that as the sole surviving coparcener has powers of disposition over the joint family property, the entire coparcenary property will, in such a case, pass on his death u/s 6 of the Estate Duty Act. The fact that the family included the widow of a pre-deceased brother will not affect this position because she did not have a son nor had she adopted one.