The Release Deed and Law. : Adv. ROHiT ERANDE ©

 The Release Deed and Law

Adv. ROHiT ERANDE ©

A Release Deed or a Relinquishment deed is another legal mode  of Transferring ownership rights in the property InterVivos (i.e. given between living people)  but between the Co-owners.  

Pre-existing right is the condition precedent :

The basic precondition of a Release Deed is that both the parties to the Deed must be having some right in the property. such situation generally arises when a person dies intestate i.e. without making any Will. e.g. a hindu male dies intestate, then his property would devolve upon his Class-I legal heirs equally  and then said legal heirs  can decide to Release their respective undivided right/share to and in favour of other Co-owners, but not in favour of other third party who is not having any such subsisting right.   

Must be Registered and stamp duty :

Any person legally competent to Contract (Major by age and of sound mind) can execute and accept the Release Deed. The Release Deed must be Registered and necessary stamp duty has to be paid. 

Effect of Release Deed.:

The Person (Releasor) who is Releasing his/her share infavour of the other Person (Releasee) loses his all right, title and interest in the said property and the Releasee's share increases by that proportion. 

In Practice, the Release Deed is often called as "Brother-Sister deed". . Why So, one might wonder... e.g. a Hindu person dies leaving behind him a son, 2 daughters and a Wife, who all are having 1/4th undivided equal rights in the property of the deceased and legally speaking they can do so, as four of them can be termed as Co-owners. Now practically it is expected that the daughters and if they are married then as if a mandatory requirement, should Release their undivided share in favour their brother. 

Stamp duty :

As Far as Maharashtra is concerned, as on this date, if the property is ancestral and there is no consideration given by the Relasee and if a Releasor wants to Release his/her undivided share in favour of his parents or brother or sister or spouse, then by merely paying only Rs.200/- as stamp duty can execute and Register the Release Deed. In all other cases, full stamp duty like that of conveyance would be attracted. 

Cancellation of a Release Deed :

There is a presumption in law that Registered Deed is validly executed. Any Registered Deed cannot be revoked /cancelled unilaterally. It can be either reversed by all the parties to the document mutually or through Decree of a competent Court. In the latter case, the Releasor would require to prove that the Release Deed was executed under Fraud /coercion/misrepresentation and the suit should also be filed within the limitation period prescribed by law i.e. within 3 years from the date of knowledge of such deed executed. Practically it is very difficult to prove the same.

Thanks and Regards,

Adv. ROHiT ERANDE ©

Pune.