Partition deed among co-heirs: how an inherited flat is divided and what stamp duty applies

Rules and rates as of 25 October 2026.

When heirs need a partition deed

When a parent dies leaving more than one flat, the heirs usually start out owning everything together. Each sibling holds an undivided share in every property. Nobody can say "this flat is mine" until the family divides the estate.

A partition deed is the document that does that. The Indian Stamp Act, 1899 defines an "instrument of partition" in section 2(15) as any instrument by which co-owners of property "divide or agree to divide such property in severalty". The definition also covers a final partition order of a civil court or revenue authority and an arbitrator's award directing a partition.

This is different from the situations covered elsewhere on this site. If one heir simply gives up a share to another, that is a release deed. If the flat is being sold, it is a sale. Partition is for the case where there is enough property to go round, and each heir walks away owning specific flats outright.

This explainer is general information. A lawyer should draft the deed, and the stamp office in your state has the final word on the duty.

How stamp duty on a partition is worked out

Partition is Article 45 of Schedule I to the Indian Stamp Act. The central text charges "the same duty as a Bond (No. 15) for the amount of the value of the separated share or shares of the property".

The key words are "separated share". Duty is not charged on the whole estate. A note under the article explains the trick: the largest share remaining after the partition is treated as the one from which the others are separated. If two or more shares are equal and none is smaller than the rest, one of them plays that role. Duty is then charged only on the value of the other shares.

So the heir who takes the biggest portion is, for stamp purposes, treated as staying put, and the others are treated as moving out. The bigger the largest share, the smaller the duty base.

The article has three provisos worth knowing:

• Agreement first, deed later. If co-owners first sign an agreement to divide, and later a deed carrying it out, the duty on the second document is reduced by the duty paid on the first.
• Court orders. If a court's final partition order or an arbitrator's award has already been stamped as an instrument of partition, a deed signed afterwards to carry it out pays only a nominal amount.
• Revenue land. Agricultural land on a revenue settlement is valued by a multiple of its annual revenue, not its market value.

Stamp duty is a state subject for rates. Most states have replaced the 1899 bond scale with their own Article 45 or their own Stamp Act, which is why the duty on the same partition varies so much across the country.

What two states charge

Maharashtra. The state has its own Stamp Act. Article 46 of its Schedule I (as printed in the compilation modified up to 1 June 2022) charges 2% of the market value of the separated share or shares. The same "largest share" note applies. Agricultural land has a separate flat duty of ₹100. A 2024 ordinance that raised many fixed duties in Maharashtra did not touch Article 46.

Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu amends the central Act. Its Article 45 splits partitions into two kinds. Among family members, the Indian Stamp (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 2004 set the duty at one rupee for every ₹100 of the market value of the property under partition, that is 1%, subject to a maximum of ₹10,000 per share. Other partitions pay the same duty as a bottomry bond on the separated shares. A later amendment, Tamil Nadu Act 13 of 2024 (in force from 3 May 2024), switched that non-family base to the market value of the separated shares and widened "family" to include the legal heirs of a deceased family member. That second change matters when a sibling has died and their children step into the partition.

We could not confirm from an official page whether the ₹10,000 per-share cap has been revised since 2004, so treat that figure as one to check with a Tamil Nadu document writer or the sub-registrar.

A worked example

Suppose a mother's will leaves her estate to her three children in shares of 50%, 25% and 25%. The estate is three flats with market values of ₹1 crore, ₹50 lakh and ₹50 lakh, total ₹2 crore. The children agree that the eldest takes the ₹1 crore flat and the other two take one ₹50 lakh flat each. Each child's allotment exactly matches the share under the will, so no money changes hands.

Step 1: find the duty base. The largest share is the ₹1 crore flat. It is treated as the share from which the others are separated. The separated shares are ₹50 lakh + ₹50 lakh = ₹1 crore.

Step 2: apply the rate.

• Maharashtra: 2% × ₹1,00,00,000 = ₹2,00,000.
• Original central bond scale: ₹5 for the first ₹1,000, plus ₹2.50 for every ₹500 or part above that. The excess is ₹99,99,000, which is 19,998 blocks of ₹500. So ₹5 + 19,998 × ₹2.50 = ₹50,000. This applies only where a state still uses the 1899 scale.
• Tamil Nadu, family partition under the 2004 text: 1% × ₹2,00,00,000 (the whole property under partition) = ₹2,00,000, but capped at ₹10,000 for each of the three shares, so ₹30,000 if the cap is unchanged.

Rule	Duty base	Rate	Duty
Maharashtra, Art. 46	₹1 crore (separated shares)	2%	₹2,00,000
Indian Stamp Act, 1899 bond scale	₹1 crore (separated shares)	₹2.50 per ₹500	₹50,000
Tamil Nadu, family (2004 text)	₹2 crore (whole property)	1%, max ₹10,000 per share	₹30,000

Unless the heirs agree otherwise, section 29(g) of the Stamp Act makes them share the cost of the stamp in proportion to their shares. In this example the eldest would bear half. Registration fees and any local cess are extra and vary by state.

If the allotments do not match the shares, for instance one heir takes a bigger flat and pays the others cash to even things out, the deed is no longer a plain partition in substance. How the state treats that payment should be settled with the lawyer before the deed is drafted.

Does a partition deed have to be registered?

Yes, if it is a written deed that itself divides the flats. Section 17(1)(b) of the Registration Act, 1908 makes registration compulsory for non-testamentary instruments that "create, declare, assign, limit or extinguish" a right in immovable property worth ₹100 or more. A partition deed declares who now owns which flat, so it falls squarely in that clause. The only partition exception in section 17(2) is for a partition made by a revenue officer.

Skipping registration is costly. Section 49 says an unregistered document that should have been registered shall not "affect any immovable property comprised therein" and cannot be received as evidence of the transaction, with limited exceptions. Societies, banks and buyers will usually ask for the registered deed.

What about families who divided things informally years ago? In Kale v. Deputy Director of Consolidation (1976), the Supreme Court said a family arrangement "may be even oral in which case no registration is necessary", and that a memorandum written later merely to record an arrangement already made does not create or extinguish rights and need not be registered. But where the document itself brings the arrangement about, registration is required. Whether a particular paper is a record or the arrangement itself is exactly the kind of question to put to a lawyer, because stamp offices often take the stricter view.

Before you sign

• Get the market value of each flat as your state's stamp office will see it (ready reckoner, guideline or circle value), not just the broker's estimate.
• Check that every heir is a party, including the children of any heir who has died.
• Collect the succession papers first: the will (and probate, if one was taken) or proof of heirship, death certificate and title documents for each flat.
• After registration, apply to the society, municipality and land records office to record each heir as sole owner of the flat allotted to them.