Evidentiary Value of Family Arrangement not Stamped not Registered

A.C. Lakshmipathy And Another vs A.M. Chakrapani Reddiar & Ors AIR 2001 Mad 135, (2001) 1 MLJ 1 

http://indiankanoon.org/doc/836133/

After discussing the law prevailing on family arrangement, Madras High Court neatly summed up the position as under at Para 42 :

A family arrangement can be made orally.

(II) If made orally, there being no document, no question of registration arises.

(III) If the family arrangement is reduced to writing and it purports to create, declare, assign, limit or extinguish any right, title or interest of any immovable property, it must be properly stamped and duly registered as per the Indian Stamp Act and Indian Registration Act.

(IV) Whether the terms have been reduced to the form of a document is a question of fact in each case to be determined upon a consideration of the nature of phraseology of the writing and the circumstances in which and the purpose with which it was written.

(V) However, a document in the nature of a Memorandum, evidencing a family arrangement already entered into and had been prepared as a record of what had been agreed upon, in order that there are no hazy notions in future, it need not be stamped or registered.

(VI) Only when the parties reduce the family arrangement in writing with the purpose of using that writing as proof of what they had arranged and, where the arrangement is brought about by the document as such, that the document would require registration as it is then that it would be a document of title declaring for future what rights in what properties the parties possess.

(VII) If the family arrangement is stamped but not registered, it can be looked into for collateral purposes.

(VIII) Whether the purpose is a collateral purpose, is a question of fact depends upon facts and circumstances of each case. A person can not claim a right or title to a property under the said document, which is being looked into only for collateral purposes.

(IX) A family arrangement which is not stamped and not registered cannot be looked into for any purpose in view of the specific bar in Section 35 of the Indian Stamp Act.