Will-based inheritance remains individual property unless the testament clearly shows an intention to create ancestral or family property.

Property received under a will is treated as the beneficiary's individual property unless the testament clearly shows an intention that it should be held as ancestral or family property. On the will's construction, the absence of any such indication meant the immovable property and shares devolving on the assessee could not be treated as HUF property. The assessee therefore held them in his individual capacity and not as Karta of a Hindu Undivided Family, and the prior view that the inherited property was personal property was followed.

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Issues: Whether the half share in the immovable property and shares received under the will of the assessee's were held by him as Karta of a Hindu Undivided Family or in his individual capacity.

Analysis: The issue was governed by the construction of the testamentary disposition. In the absence of any indication in the will that the testator intended the property to be taken by the sons as ancestral property in their hands, the property devolving on the assessee could not be treated as property of the Hindu Undivided Family. A prior decision on the same controversy had already held that the property inherited under the will was personal property and not family property.

Conclusion: The property was held by the assessee in his individual capacity and not as Karta of the Hindu Undivided Family; the answer to the reference was against the assessee and in favour of the Revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: Property received under a will is treated as individual property unless the testament clearly evinces an intention that it should be held as ancestral or family property.

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