Query related to Challenging a biased will(Registered)

1 year ago

It is regarding an issue that I am facing related to Will created by my father. Recently, I got to know that a Will has been prepared by him in which my name is nowhere mentioned and the commercial property that we bought together by contributing equally in 1995 (50-50) has been given to my brother's dependents. Before getting into further details, I would like to give a brief introduction of my background:

I (a retired government servant) am the 5th child in a family of 9 people. I have 5 elder sisters all married and had a younger brother who passed some years back. He was married and has two sons. I have a son and a daughter along with my wife.

My brother was unemployed and was staying in my village along with my parents. My father is a retired ex-serviceman and is getting a generous pension. My father was looking after my brother and his family for daily expenses as he was unemployed and whatever he earned was not enough to sustain his family alone.

In the late 90's I was posted in Kochi and was with my family when I got a call from my father asking me for Rs 40k to be sent urgently as a money order or cash in order to purchase the land. He said he will be adding another 40k from his side so that the entire land can be bought in time. The discussions related to splitting the property were also done and it was decided that the commercial building will be built in such a way that it can easily be divided(50-50) in the future so that there is minimum friction among the brothers. Later, the construction began and everything was going as expected. 6 years down the line, my brother passed away due to health issues. All the rituals were done and we decided that whatever income comes from the commercial shall be given to my brother's family as they needed it at that time. Please note, my father's pension was still continuing and he was also helping them from his side. We never asked and money from them as I was earning and working. I was regularly visiting my hometown to check if everything is fine.

I slowly started observing certain changes in my father's behavior towards me and my family along with my relatives. I tried enquiring about the same from all of them but they never said anything. From my friends, I got to know that he started selling all the ancestral property on his own without informing me or anyone, and whatever money he got was taken by him. On confronting him, he would initially deny it and when I used to show proof he would say "Yes I did it. Do whatever you can!".15 years down the line, I got to know that he created a will and in that he has directly mentioned by brothers wife and his children to whom the property must be transferred. Again, on confronting him, he initially denied it but later said "Yes it is done."

I want to know what options are available for me to challenge the will (He is still alive). All these things were done at my back without any information.