REUNION
INTRODUCTION
■ Reunion – to unite again
■ A Reunion suggests that members, who were earlier joint, separated from each
other and then came back together.
■ In relation to a HJF, it signifies a joint status, followed by a partition and then,
followed again by a restoration of the joint family status.
■ A Partition is presumed to be the result of a well thought out, voluntary and
conscious act, that is not permitted to be revoked at the whims and pleasures of the
parties. It does not merely involve a separation of status but causes a division of the
properties as well.
■ If after a partition, the separated members want to come back together, they can do
it in 2 ways:
1. They can maintain the severance but can dwell together or trade together. This is
usually done for the betterment of the family members, but they do not regain the
status of coparceners and this coming together again, is totally different from a formal
reunion.
2. They can come together under a formal reunion.
■ A reunion under Hindu law is a restoration of the status of coparceners to
the members and a merging of their separate families into the joint family
again.
■ A reunion is different from a formation of a joint family for the first time,
even amongst close family members, and only those members are permitted
to reunite, who originally or at one point of time, had a joint status in a
coparcenary.
■ As per Dharmashastras:
A reunion is possible only between father and son, brothers, and paternal
uncles and nephews, and it is not available generally, to all coparceners.
Accordingly, it cannot take place between a grandfather and a grandson, or a
great-grandfather and a great-grandson, or between cousins.
MODE OF EFFECTING A REUNION
■ The first and foremost element of a reunion is an agreement
based on a desire of the parties to come back together again.
There must be an intention of the parties to reunite in estate
and interest.
■ Just as in the case of a partition, a reunion may be oral or in
writing.
■ Desirable that it should be in Writing.
EXISTENCE OF SAME
PROPERTIES NOT ESSENTIAL
■ The quantum of the property that each member had taken as
his respective share, may decrease or increase marginally or
substantially, but it will not have any effect on the reunion.
■ A reunion is viewed as a desire on the part of the close
relatives, to come back as part of the family and live together
again for the sake of love and affection, and is not seen as a
profitable, commercial opportunism.
CONSEQUENCES OF REUNION
■ A reunion restores the joint family and the coparcenary for
members who destructed it earlier through a partition. They
regain the status of undivided coparceners and are subject to all
the incidences of coparcenary.
■ Under Mitakshara and Dayabhaga schools of law, status quo
ante (the previously existing state of affairs) is fully restored
after the partition.
REUNION WHETHER BINDING ON
MINOR
■ As per the court in Balabux v. Rukhmabai (1903), an agreement for
minor’s reunion, entered into on his behalf, by the father or guardian, will
not be valid or binding on him.
■ But the correct position would be that a reunion entered into between the
father and his brothers, or by his father or guardian, on his behalf, would
bind the interests of the minor.
■ Welfare of the minor is paramount consideration.
PROOF OF REUNION
■ Under Hindu Law, the general presumption is that every Hindu family is
joint unless the contrary is proved. But once a partition is proved, the
presumption is that the family remains divided or separate. Secondly,
partition is a very common phenomenon and a reunion is a rarity and an
exception.
■ The burden of proof whether reunion has taken place is on the person
who alleges reunion.
■ A reunion, therefore, has to be very strictly proved, like a disputed fact. If
it is in writing, it can be proved easily, otherwise, it has to be proved by
incontrovertible conduct.
■ Reunion must be proved by cogent, convincing and unimpeachable
evidence.
