“The exclusion of one of the natural heirs from the bequest, cannot by itself be a ground to hold that there are suspicious circumstances – Cases in which a suspicion is created are essentially those where either the signature of the testator is disputed or the mental capacity of the testator is questioned. There is no place for the Court to see whether the distribution made by the testator was fair and equitable to all of his children. The Court does not apply Article 14 to dispositions under a Will.”

Above was the observations made by the Hon’ble Supreme Court Of India in the case of Civil Appeal No.1565 of 2022 (Arising out of Special Leave Petition (C) No.13840 of 2019) Swarnalatha & Ors. Versus Kalavathy & Ors.Decided on March 30, 2022

A probate granted to the appellant by the District Court in respect of two last Wills and Testaments were set aside by High Court of Madras. SC held neither individually nor collectively creates a suspicion on looking into the facts and circumstances of both the cases hence allowed the appeal.

Case Ref: Swarnalatha & Ors. Versus Kalavathy & Ors. Special Leave Petition (C) No.13840 of 2019

Decided On March 30, 2022