The Supreme Court has ruled that children born out of a live-in relationship cannot inherit ancestral property, but only the self-acquired property of their parents.<br/><br/>A bench of Justices B S Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar passed the order while quashing a Madras High Court judgement which took the view that children born out of live-in<br/>Relationships are entitled to a share in ancestral property.<br/><br/>Interpreting the Hindu Marriage Act, the apex court said that Section 16 recognised the right of a child to inherit properties of their illegitimate parents, provided it was self-acquired.<br/><br/>It said, in view of the legal fiction contained in section 16, the illegitimate children for all practical purposes, including succession to the properties of their parents, have to be treated as legitimate.<br/><br/>Citing an earlier judgement in the PEK Kalliana Amma (1976) case , the Apex court said, they cannot, however, succeed to the properties of any other relation on the basis of this rule, which in its operation is limited to the properties of the parents.<br/>