Shakuntala Bai & Ors. v. Mahaveer Prasad
Background
After Kanhaiya Lal died in 1992, his adopted son Mahaveer Prasad sought a succession certificate relying on a 1978 Will that superseded two earlier Wills (1962 and 1974) and left Kanhaiya Lal's property to him. Other family members, the appellants, contested the 1978 Will as fabricated, arguing the 1974 Will (which disinherited Mahaveer Prasad) was the true last Will. The trial court sided with the appellants and rejected the 1978 Will, but the Rajasthan High Court (both at single-judge and division-bench level) reversed this, finding the 1978 Will genuinely executed and attested, and ordered the succession certificate issued in Mahaveer Prasad's favour.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's findings and dismissed the appeals. It held that the attesting witnesses had satisfactorily proved execution of the 1978 Will, that both handwriting experts and a Forensic Science Laboratory report confirmed the testator's signatures on it were genuine, and that the testator's wife and daughter had themselves supported Mahaveer Prasad's claim, all of which corroborated the Will's authenticity. The Court found no suspicious circumstances invalidating the bequest, noting it was plausible that the testator, after initially favoring an earlier Will out of temporary displeasure, later reconsidered and restored his adopted son's position as the family's only son.
Lesson Learnt
A Will that revokes an earlier one in favour of a different beneficiary can still be upheld as valid if its execution and attestation are properly proved through witness testimony, expert handwriting analysis, and forensic examination: courts will not second-guess a testator's genuine final change of heart simply because an earlier Will said something different.