ISLAMABAD — The Supreme Court has ruled that an heir's right to inheritance takes effect immediately upon the death of the property owner and does not require the acceptance or consent of other heirs. It adds that the right to inheritance cannot be extinguished merely by the passage of time.
In a unanimous judgment, a five-member larger bench held that the limitation period for filing an inheritance claim begins only when an heir is informed of a clear denial of their ownership rights. The bench observed that fraud was one of the oldest threats to inheritance rights, often taking the form of forged thumb impressions on gift deeds, fabricated claims of oral gifts, omission of daughters from affidavits, or obtaining relinquishment documents from women who could neither read them. The verdict, authored by Justice Shahid Waheed, clarified that although inheritance claims are subject to the Limitation Act 1908, the limitation period cannot be presumed to have started merely because several years have passed since the owner's death. It held that under Article 120 of the Limitation Act, the six-year limitation period in disputes among co-heirs begins only when an heir's right is clearly and effectively denied and the denial is brought to that heir's knowledge.
Both conditions must be met for the limitation period to start.