Bombay High Court Upholds Goa Succession Amendments on Inheritance Rights

The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court has upheld the constitutional validity of the Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceedings (Amendment) Acts, 2022 and 2023, while clarifying that inheritance rights vest immediately upon the death of the estate holder.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Bharati Dangre and Justice Ashish S. Chavan observed that legal heirs obtain ownership and possession rights the moment succession opens. However, inventory proceedings merely determine and crystallise the exact shares of the heirs rather than creating those rights.

The dispute arose after amendments changed the order of succession by giving greater priority to surviving spouses over siblings and ascendants. Petitioners argued that the retrospective application of the amended law unlawfully deprived them of vested inheritance rights in pending proceedings.

Rejecting this challenge, the Court held that although succession rights vest on death, they become final only after partition through a decree or registered settlement. Therefore, the legislature could validly apply the revised succession rules to cases that were still pending and where rights had not yet crystallised.

The Bench further noted that the amendments protected already finalised inheritances while allowing pending disputes to be governed by the new succession framework. Consequently, the writ petitions challenging the amendments were dismissed.