A Hindu male dies intestate, is his step-mother a legal heir?
The Class 1 heir under the Hindu Succession Act,1956 include the following relatives of the deceased who died intestate ie without leaving any Will :- His Widow or widows as the case may be, all his sons and daughters, his mother, the heirs in the branch of each predeceased son or daughter as the case may be. Father and sisters are Class 2 Heir. Now pertinent question here is with regard to step mother or his father’s another wife. As this woman becomes mother of the deceased after her lawful marriage with his father, she acquires the status of his mother. There is nowhere mentioned that the mother has to be real & not step, rather in relationship full blood, half blood as well uterine blood relationship has been recognised, the child born to this step mother through common father will be his half brother or sister who gets right as his Class 2 heir hence the Step mother in such circumstance can be considered as his mother under Class 1 heir.
