My father died. Does my mother get everything, or is it divided between us?
It is divided. When a Hindu man dies without a will, his widow, each of his children, and his own mother if she is alive all inherit together, one equal share each. Your mother does not receive everything unless she is the only one of those people left. Many families choose to leave everything with the mother in practice, and that is entirely their right — but it should be done deliberately, with the children's shares recorded and released, not assumed.
The split the law makes
Section 10 of the Hindu Succession Act distributes a man's self-acquired property among his Class I heirs: the widow one share, each son and daughter one share, and his mother one share. A family of a widow and three children, where the man's own mother has died, has four equal shares — one quarter each. Sons and daughters take exactly the same, whether married or not.
If the family wants the mother to have it
Nothing stops the children from letting their mother keep everything, and it is common and kind. The clean way to do it is for each child to release their share to her in a written family settlement or release deed, so the institutions can pay her and no child can later be accused of having been done out of a share. The messy way — everyone simply agreeing verbally while the accounts are settled in her name as nominee — leaves the shares legally undistributed and invites a dispute years later.
Ancestral property is different
The split above is for what your father acquired himself. Ancestral property — inherited undivided through the male line — is a coparcenary in which the children, sons and daughters alike since the 2005 amendment, already hold a share by birth. That share was theirs before he died, and only his own share in it passes by succession. Distinguishing the two is often the hardest question in a family's estate, and one to have an advocate confirm.
Find out what your case needs
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Related
Last reviewed 2026-08-31. This is general information, not legal advice. Institution requirements change — confirm before you file.