Yes, and this is an important protective question for legal heirs in Mumbai who discover that one family member has sold property belonging to a deceased relative before succession has been formally and legally established through proper legal process. Where succession has not yet been determined — meaning no succession certificate, letters of administration, or probate has been obtained, and there has been no formal partition or agreement among all rightful heirs — any single heir who purports to sell the entire property, or even a specific portion, without the involvement and consent of the other legal heirs, is acting beyond their actual legal authority, since their own share remains undetermined and unascertained until succession is properly established.

Under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, or applicable personal law depending on the deceased's religion, all legal heirs simultaneously acquire an undivided interest in the deceased's property upon death, but the exact proportion each heir holds requires either mutual agreement, a formal partition, or judicial determination where disputes exist. This means a single heir attempting to sell the property as if they were the sole or exclusive owner, without disclosing the existence of other legal heirs or securing their consent, is exceeding their legal authority, and such a sale can be challenged by the excluded heirs to the extent it purports to transfer more than the selling heir's own rightful, if still undetermined, share.

The excluded heirs have strong legal grounds to file a suit for declaration that the sale is void or voidable to the extent it exceeds the selling heir's actual entitlement, combined with a suit for partition to formally determine each heir's rightful share and, where necessary, recovery of their proportionate interest from the property or its value if the sale has already been completed to a third party. Where the selling heir misrepresented themselves as the sole legal heir, deliberately concealing the existence of other rightful heirs from the buyer, this element of fraud strengthens the challenge considerably and can support a claim for cancellation under Section 31 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963.

Buyers purchasing property from someone claiming to be an heir should always conduct thorough due diligence, including verifying through public notice, succession certificates, or family declarations that the seller is indeed either the sole legal heir or has proper authorization from all other legal heirs before completing any transaction, since failure to do so exposes them to exactly this kind of subsequent challenge, potentially years after the original purchase.

Given how these disputes require careful establishment of the complete succession picture and the selling heir's actual authority, prompt legal action upon discovering an unauthorized sale protects your interests most effectively. Our legal experts at Aapka Legal Advice help excluded heirs challenge unauthorized sales and assist buyers in verifying heir status before transactions. The Top Property Lawyers in Mumbai team has successfully challenged sales made by heirs without proper authority before Mumbai's civil courts, supported by a panel of retired judges experienced in succession law and criminal lawyers where fraudulent misrepresentation of heir status is involved. If a family member has sold deceased's property in Mumbai before succession was properly established, asserting your rights as an excluded legal heir promptly is essential to protecting your rightful share.