Settlement Deed Registration
A settlement deed is a disposition in writing of movable or immovable property made in consideration of marriage, love and affection, for the purpose of distributing properties of the Settler among his family members or for the purpose of providing for some person dependent on him, or for any religious or charitable purposes. In other words, settlement is always given to someone you love free of cost say father to son husband to wife etc. Thus ' love and affection' is considered as a consideration here in settlement. Family members , in general, means mother , spouse , son, daughter , grand children , wife of predeceased son. Here, the executant is called as Settlor and the claimant or the beneficiary is called as Settlee.
A settlement can be made as absolute or conditional and it can be made to take effect or to come into force immediately or after lifetime of the executant /s . The settlor can impose certain conditions that the settlee has to take care of the settler or pay certain amount every month to the settlor towards the maintenance which implies that the event of non fulfilment of the condition or direction shall invalidate the settlement and the deed becomes voidable revocable by the settler on the ground that the condition is not complied. On the other hand, if the settlement is made as absolute , without any duty or conditions, then it shall transfer the title and ownership completely to the claimant/ settlee , settlor shall not have any lien or interest over the property and the settlement cannot be revoked . The settlor can retain the life interest and enjoyment right and receive the benefits , yields , rental income from the property during his / her life time along with spouse .
There is a marked difference between a gift and a settlement. A gift is not made for any consideration, where as a settlement may be in consideration of marriage love and care. Like-wise, a gift may be made to any person, where as a settlement is mostly made in the favor of dependents. Also, gift requires an acceptance, whereas a settlement does not.
Settlement deed is mostly done by a single person to distribute his properties to close blood relatives, whereas family settlement/ partition deed is done by all the members of family amicably settle their ancestral intestate properties among themselves by metes and bounds.
The stamp duty and registration fees for settlement deed is 1% each subject to the maximum ceiling of Rs.25,000/- and Rs.4,000/- respectively depends on the value of the property in Tamilnadu.
Registration Boss opines that, “the settlement deed cannot be validly revoked.1997 (1) CTC 256 (Kuppuswami Mudali, J v. Mahalingam), where-under it has been held that once it is proved that settlement deed has been accepted by way of mutation effected and acted upon, it cannot be revoked/ cancelled unilaterally by registrar authority. The Settlement Deed which is registered can only be cancelled by the Court since an act on the terms of the deed has taken place. If cancelled by the settler unilaterally in sub-registrar office, it is advisable to file a case for declaration that the deed which was cancelled is null and void. Further, it could not have been done without any notice to you. In the case which you file, you will have to make the sub-registrar also as a party to the petition. Along with the suit for declaration, you must file a suit for injunction in order to restrain the settle from alienating any property or creating third party rights. A petition under RTI can be filed seeking the authority under which the sub registrar has registered the cancellation deed. that would be handy while file a case in the court”.
So it’s better to prepare and write a settlement deed in a prudent manner in order to avoid future conflicts among family members. For any assistance required to prepare a deed, you may contact to our Registration Boss…
