Bombay High Court Upholds Goa Law Giving Surviving Spouse Priority Over Parents In Intestate Succession

The Bombay High Court at Goa has upheld the constitutional validity of the Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceedings (Amendment) Acts of 2022 and 2023, which altered the order of legal succession by placing the surviving spouse above ascendants in cases of intestate succession. The Court observed that according precedence to the surviving spouse over parents or other ascendants cannot be termed manifestly arbitrary or unconstitutional merely because the legislature chose to alter the existing order of succession.A Division Bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Ashish S. Chavan was hearing two writ petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceedings (Amendment) Act, 2022 and the Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceedings (Amendment) Act, 2023. The challenge was directed against amendments to Sections 52, 72, 76, 77 and 83 of the Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceedings Act, 2012. The petitioners contended that the amendments arbitrarily altered the historical order of succession prevailing in Goa by placing the surviving spouse immediately after descendants and ahead of ascendants and siblings.The Court examined the scheme of the Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceedings Act, 2012 and traced its historical roots to the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867. It noted that the Legislature was competent to amend the law governing succession and observed that no person possesses a vested right in a statutory order of succession before the succession actually opens upon death of the estate-leaver. The Court held that the Legislature was entitled to restructure the order of succession, keeping in view changing social conditions and evolving notions relating to the protection of the surviving spouse.Rejecting the challenge under Article 14, the Court observed that merely because the Legislature altered the order of succession after more than a century would not render the amendment arbitrary. It held that the surviving spouse forms a distinct class and granting such a spouse precedence in succession cannot be said to lack intelligible differentia or rational basis. The Court observed that under the Goa matrimonial regime, spouses share a close proprietary relationship and therefore the legislative decision to prioritize the surviving spouse in succession matters could not be termed irrational or manifestly arbitrary.“… On examining the intention of the state legislature in enacting the amending Acts 2022 and 2023, we do not find any arbitrariness in resetting the order of succession, as we find that the surviving spouse was found to be more suited for taking the share of the deceased estate leaver by immediately succeeding the children,” the Court observed. The Court rejected the contention that the retrospective effect given to the amendments was unconstitutional. It observed that the Legislature was competent to enact retrospective legislation and that the amendments merely regulated the order of succession applicable to pending proceedings where rights had not crystallized. Holding that the petitioners failed to establish manifest arbitrariness, discrimination or violation of constitutional rights, the Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Amendment Acts of 2022 and 2023 and dismissed the writ petitions.Case Title: Xavier Agnelo Minguel Jose Gracias v. State of Goa [Writ Petition No. 81 of 2025]Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Bom) 260Click Here To Read/Download Order

Bombay High Court Upholds Goa Law Giving Surviving Spouse Priority Over Parents In Intestate Succession

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Bombay High Court Upholds Goa Law Giving Surviving Spouse Priority Over Parents In Intestate Succession

Saksham Vaishya

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