My husband died without a will. What am I entitled to?
As a widow you are a Class I heir, and you inherit alongside your children and your husband's mother, each of you taking one equal share of his self-acquired property. You do not automatically get everything — only if he left no children and his mother has also died. Your own property, your stridhan and anything held in your own name stays yours entirely. And being nominee on his accounts lets you collect them, but the shares above still apply.
Your share
Under sections 8 and 10 of the Hindu Succession Act, the Class I heirs of a man who dies without a will are his widow, his children, and his mother, and they take simultaneously. The widow takes one share, each child one share, and the mother one share. With two children and a surviving mother-in-law, that is four equal shares and yours is one quarter. With two children and no surviving mother-in-law, one third. With no children and no mother-in-law, everything.
If your husband had more than one widow — a situation the Act addresses — all the widows together take the one widow's share, divided among them. Children of a child who died before him take that child's share.
What is yours regardless
Everything in your own name, your stridhan — gifts and jewellery given to you — and your share of any joint property you contributed to. None of that is part of his estate and none of it is divided. Your right to live in the matrimonial home is also protected, whatever the shares in it.
Nomination, and the family pension
If you were nominee on his accounts and policies, you collect them quickly, but you hold the other heirs' shares for them; record the division in an affidavit at the same time to protect yourself. Separately, if he was a government employee or a member of the Employees' Pension Scheme, you are entitled to a family pension for life — claimed separately, and often forgotten.
Find out what your case needs
The free check applies all of the above to your actual family and your actual accounts, and tells you the shares and the document list in two minutes.
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Last reviewed 2026-08-31. This is general information, not legal advice. Institution requirements change — confirm before you file.