Transfer of Property Act, 1882 · Chapter II: Of Transfers of Property by Act of Parties
Section 27: Conditional transfer to one person coupled with transfer to another on failure of prior disposition
In plain words
If a transfer gives an interest to one person and, if that fails, to another, the second gift takes effect whenever the first fails, even in an unexpected way, unless the parties meant it to work only on a particular kind of failure.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official text
Where, on a transfer of property, an interest therein is created in favour of one person, and by the same transaction an ulterior disposition of the same interest is made in favour of another, if the prior disposition under the transfer shall fail, the ulterior disposition shall take effect upon the failure of the prior disposition, although the failure may not have occurred in the manner contemplated by the transferor.
But, where the intention of the parties to the transaction is that the ulterior disposition shall take effect only in the event of the prior disposition failing in a particular manner, the ulterior disposition shall not take effect unless the prior disposition fails in that manner.
Illustrations
(a) A transfers Rs. 500 to B on condition that he shall execute a certain lease within three months after As death, and, if he should neglect to do so, to C. B dies in A's life-time. The disposition in favour of C takes effect.
(b) A transfers property to his wife; but, in case she should die in his life-time, transfers to B that which he had transferred to her. A and his wife perish together, under circumstances which make it impossible to prove that she died before him. The disposition in favour of B does not take effect
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 15 October 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 27
No Supreme Court judgment in our database cites this section yet.