Yes, and this is an important procedural reassurance for families in Mumbai involved in partition litigation, since the death of a party during a pending partition suit does not cause the suit to abate or fail — Indian civil procedure has clear mechanisms to ensure litigation continues seamlessly through the deceased party's legal representatives. Under Order 22 Rules 1 to 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, where a party to a suit dies during its pendency and the right to sue survives, the suit does not automatically end but continues with the legal representatives of the deceased brought on record in their place.

In partition suits specifically, the right to sue almost always survives the death of a party, since partition disputes fundamentally concern property rights that pass to legal heirs upon death rather than being personal to the deceased individual — this means the surviving co-owners or the deceased party's legal representatives can apply to the court to have the deceased's heirs substituted as parties, allowing the litigation to proceed to its conclusion with the correct current parties before the court. The application for substitution must generally be made within ninety days of the death under the Limitation Act, 1963, and failure to apply within this period can result in the suit abating against the deceased party specifically, though this consequence and its remedies depend on the specific circumstances.

Where substitution is not applied for within the limitation period, the affected party can still apply for setting aside the abatement by showing sufficient cause for the delay, and courts generally take a liberal approach in genuine cases, particularly in partition suits where excluding a deceased party's legitimate heirs from ongoing litigation would create serious injustice and incomplete adjudication of the property rights actually at stake. Courts are especially cautious about allowing partition suits to be defeated merely on technical grounds of delayed substitution, given the substantive property rights involved for the deceased's heirs.

Once legal representatives are properly substituted, the suit proceeds essentially as before, with the substituted heirs now representing the deceased's share and interest in the property, and the final decree will determine and allocate that share among the deceased's own legal heirs according to applicable succession law, in addition to resolving the shares of the other original co-owners who remain parties to the suit. This ensures the partition ultimately reflects the correct and complete picture of all rightful claimants to the property.

Given how procedural requirements around substitution and limitation can affect an otherwise strong partition case, prompt action upon a party's death during litigation is important to avoid unnecessary complications. Reach out via Aapka Legal Advice to ensure proper and timely substitution of legal representatives in your ongoing Mumbai partition suit. The Top Property Lawyers in Mumbai team has successfully managed substitution proceedings to keep partition suits on track across Mumbai's civil courts, supported by a panel of retired judges and criminal lawyers for related succession disputes. If a party has died during your Mumbai partition suit, ensuring timely substitution of their legal heirs is essential to keeping your case moving forward without unnecessary delay.