In Brief
A widow claiming partition of her late stepmother's property was opposed by the stepmother's relatives who asserted an earlier sale agreement and will. The Trial Court found both documents fabricated. The High Court upheld this for the will but reversed it for the sale agreement. The Supreme Court allowed the widow's appeal on three grounds: the respondents' appeal became incompetent when a co-respondent died without substitution; partition suit required no declaration against the sale agreement; and the sale agreement, inextricably linked to the fabricated will, bore similar hallmarks of forgery, including implausible financing and failure to register despite opportunity.
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