The Supreme Court on Monday said that if a man and a woman live together for a long time, then as per the law it will be treated as marriage and their son cannot be deprived of a share in ancestral properties.
The top court set aside the Kerala High Court’s decision that an “illicit” son of a man and a woman living together in the absence of proof of marriage was not entitled to share in ancestral properties.
However, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer and Justice Vikram Nath said,
“It is well established that if a man and a woman live together as husband and wife for a long period of time, it will be treated as marriage.”
Such an inference can be made under section 114 of the Evidence Act.
