Every Hindu family is presumed to be joint in food, worship and estate, and the burden of proof lies on those who affirm the contrary. A family in the normal state of affairs is joint. A family may have separated in food and worship, while remaining joint in estate, but the fact that the family has separated in food and worship is good evidence that it has also separated in estate.
The presumption of union is the greatest in the case of a father and sons. The strength of presumption necessarily varies in every case. The presumption is stronger in case of brothers than in the case of cousins, and the further you go from the founder of the family the presumption becomes weaker and weaker. (See Vallappa v. Tipanna, 59 I.A. 18).
There is no presumption that when one coparcener separates from the others, the latter remain joint.
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If the property is said to belong to a person who is a member of a joint family, such property is presumed to be joint property. This presumption, however, does not arise, unless there is a nucleus of ancestral property, or other property, sufficient to contribute substantially towards the acquisition. If the property stands in the name of a noncoparcener, e.g. female member or a son-in- law of a member, the presumption does not arise.
The presumption that a Hindu family continues to be joint is mainly available when the question arises whether a specific property which was admittedly joint at one time has continued to be joint or it has ceased to be joint by virtue of a separation.
If a joint family possessed property which was admittedly joint the presumption would be that the property continues to be joint, and the burden would be upon the member who claims it as his separate property to prove that there was a petition and that he got it on such partition. Where it is proved on admitted that partition has already taken place, the burden lies upon him who claims that a portion of the Hindu family property is still joint property.