Who would be the legal heir of a spinster?

An unmarried lady dies at 60 years. She has not adopted any one. Her parents died 10 years ago.She has two brothers who are alive. One of them is elder and the other younger. She has among other things a flat. This is put on sale.Who would sign as the legal heir: Elder brother or both the brothers? In case both of them sign, will there be any problem to the elder brother who does have not issue and wants to donate almost all of his self earned assets to a charity?

Elder brother was told verbally by his deceased sister that she did not want the remaining asset to go the younger brother as she all along taken care of his daughter and son and spent generously on them. She wanted a small portion of her asset to go the charity, which the elder brother proposes to do to perpetuate her memory. Elder brother too has spent generously on younger brother's childdren who later on turned out be utterly disrepspectful and ungrateful.

Parents died before her death. She was unmarried. She had not adopted anyone. Under the circumstances, her elder brother becomes the guardian. But as far as her property is concerned it has to be divided between the two brothers. It would therefore be fair if both signed on the sale deed of the said flat, and got the money divided into two equal parts each brother taking 50% of the total money.

thank you for your compliment. I would not have presumed to answer if I knew it was a Hindu family, but I think the law is the same. Thank you for your kind words. Report It

Youe question assumes she does not have a Will, right? Without a Will, her 2 brothers take equally under the laws of intestate succession. The age of the brothers is not relevant. Both would sign for the sale of the flat. There exists no impediment to the elder brother donating his sales procedes to a charity. Everything the spinster owns is halved and each brother receives 1/2. If a brother disputes a particular item, the Court would have to determine ownership. I try not to answer UK legal questions, but I'm an American lawyer and our laws come from the British Statute of Wills in this matter and are the same.

I can say both of them have legal rights over the assets and of course the elder can do what ever he wants over his share including donating to a charity. They both should sign when they are on sale showing that they are the real brothers of her.

All of the above is valid only is she has not written a will before she die.

this is giving rise to speculation and legal tangle

one bro is also issueless and would donate his property

Now if the inheritance of the spinster to issueless brother is going to charity ,why not younger brother be made the legal heir to Dead spinster's property .

Elder brother is charitable and is so service minded that his property be used for society. then if his brother gets bigger portion of the cake , elder shoud be happy.. because Charity begins at home....

so good luch to Inheritor and happy Partition

David M is right, I do have an English Law Degree and the legal position is as he describes. Without a will, probate will have to be obtained for this estate.

Your case I suppose is with regard to Indian people in India but whatever David M stated hold good for India too in this particular case if these people happen to be Indian Hindu the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 clearly provides that heirs of her father in this case her two brothers are the legal heirs of her property as she was a spinster & died intestate. Hence both brothers get equal share of her property. Now she had not left any written will regarding the succession of her property hence any thing she had wished & told orally to the elder brother will not be admissible in the court unless some independent witness confirm this to the satisfaction of the court which seems very unlikely & in India if such matter linger on it can take many years to be decided so its always better for both the brothers to share amongst themselves this property & settle the matter amicably to avoid unnecessary delay in the matter. What the younger brother does with his share or the elder brother do with his is not a matter for court to decide hence the best course is for both of them to take their individual share & do the needful as they wish.

Both david and Vijay are right. I would add:
(1) Answers will apply, only if the deceased was a Hindu female.
If a Muslim, the answer would be different.
(2) The property will be shared by the legal heirs of the father of the deceased, In this case, the two surviving brothers are claa 1 heirs. Another presumption is that there was no predeceased son or daughter, whose branch has survivors.
(3) Father's class 1 legal heirs include the mother of father, and if the said paternal grandmother is surviving she too has a share.