Notional partition under estate duty law treats a sole coparcener's interest as one-half where the family includes only his wife.

Section 39(1) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 values the cesser of a coparcenary interest on the footing of a partition immediately before death, so the deceased's interest is the share that would have fallen to him on that deemed partition. In a Hindu joint family consisting only of the sole surviving coparcener and his wife, the family can still subsist, and the wife would take a share if partition occurred. Applying the notional-partition fiction, the deceased's interest was correctly treated as one-half of the joint family property, so only that extent was exigible to estate duty.

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Issues: Whether, on the death of a sole surviving coparcener in a Hindu joint family consisting of himself and his wife, only the share that would have fallen to his allotment on a notional partition immediately before death is exigible to estate duty under section 39(1) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953.

Analysis: Section 39(1) requires the value of the cesser of coparcenary interest to be computed on the footing of a partition immediately before death, and the deceased's interest is the share that would have been allotted to him on such partition. A Hindu joint family can consist of a single coparcener and female member(s), and the wife, though unable to demand partition herself, would be entitled to a share if partition occurred. Applying the deemed-partition fiction, the deceased's interest must be determined as one-half where the family consisted only of the deceased and his wife. The provision is reinforced by the principles underlying the Supreme Court decisions on notional partition and valuation of female heirs' interests in joint family property.

Conclusion: Only one-half of the joint family property passed on the death of the deceased, and section 39(1) was correctly applied.

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