A will is a legal declaration of a person about his wishes to distribute his/her properties, assets and wealth to family, relatives, outsiders or charities after their demise.

If you have not made a will, your assets, properties and wealth would be distributed as per Successsion Laws applicable to you on the basis of your religion (e.g Hindu Succession Act, Indian Succession Act, etc. These laws have fixed proportion of distributing assets among family members, which may not necessarily be the wish of the deceased. This could also lead to family disputes.

Yes, different religions follow different succession laws. Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains come under the category of Hindus. For Hindus, it is Hindu Succession Laws, for Parsi and Christians, it is Indian Succession act, and for Muslims, it is as per Sharia Laws. However, there are different rules for different types of Muslims, i.e. Shia, Sunni, and Khoja.

Any person with a sound mind and above 18 years of age can make a will. They should be capable of understanding their actions and should be free from any improper influences.

Will can be handwritten or typed on plain paper (no need for stamp paper). It should be in a language that is understandable to the person making it and should cover all details of your family, properties, assets, liabilities and your wishes on distributing the property. The names of two witnesses, date and place of signing and the signature of the person making the will and the witnesses must be included in the will.

Yes, a person owning any joint property is allowed to mention his wishes in his will for his part in the joint property. It is necessary to mention all joint properties to avoid unnecessary disputes.

No, ancestral properties which are co-owned by all or many family members cannot be bequeathed.

Yes, ownership as proprietorship in a proprietorship firm or share owned in a company can be bequeathed.

It is advisable to have a will written by a lawyer.

Yes, a Will can be executed by any person (either typed or hand written) by affixing their signature and would need to be signed by two witnesses. It is not mandatory to register a Will.

Any person, body, trust, charitable institute, or society can be a beneficiary in a will.

There should be a minimum of 2 witnesses while preparing a will.

No, it is not mandatory to notarise or register a will.

No, In India, any property received under thewill does not attract any taxes, including capital gain tax.

If both husband and wife are Hindu and in case of unfortunate circumstance that wife passes away without making a valid will, the ex-husband will not be entitled to inherit from his wife’s estate and cannot claim a share her property. This is because, once a divorce is finalized, spousal relationship does not legally survive and mutual rights of inheritance in each other’s property get extinguished.

Yes, you can withdraw or change your will anytime you require during your lifetime.

One can cancel/revoke their Will at any point of time or even by making a fresh will. Once a will is made, all the past/old will drafts get cancelled. A will can be revoked in the following ways:
• By executing a subsequent will
• By writing and declaring your intention to revoke the will
• By burning, tearing or otherwise destroying the will

Under the Indian registration Act, 1908, the registration of a Will is optional and not compulsory if it satisfies all other requirements of a Will.

A new Will can be prepared by revoking the earlier Will as many times as desired. The last such Will shall be construed to be the final Will. Such new Will is not required to be compulsorily registered.

In the event of ‘No-Will’ situation, if there are only movable properties, a succession certificate is to be obtained from the local court. For immovable properties, aLetter of Administration is to be obtained from the localcourt.

The person who is claiming will have to obtain a

• certificate naming the legal-heirs (legal heir certificate).
• Next, apply to the bank with the death certificate, indemnities and sureties as the bank may need, no objection certificate from all the other heirs, and proof of address and identity.

In case the parents have not executed any testamentary document, the property would be divided equally among Class I heirs, that is, between their children equally.

They may execute a Will, bequeathing the property to any person they wish. They may also conduct a lifetime transfer or a lifetime gift to any of their children.

Since the house has been constructed by your father, it will be treated as a self-acquired property.  As there was no will made, the rights to property are equally with the legal heirs of your father – your mother, brother, sister and yourself.

Other legal heirs also receive a right in the property. However, all legal heirs can enter into family settlement agreement, mutually agreeing that your mother is a sole owner.

However, without the consent of all the parties (No objection), there would not be any other way to transfer sole interest in favour of your mother

If the said property is in Mr. A’s name he is the sole owner and son X have no right or claim over it. However, if son X can prove his contribution to the development of the said property, he can claim a share in it. The percentage shall be decided by the court.

Generally, an adopted daughter has the right to claim the shares of the self-acquired property of the adoptive parent.

In case a female Hindu dies intestate, the children of her predeceased son can claim their father’s share in the same property, but the widow of the predeceased son cannot claim anything.

According to the facts provided here, if an ancestral property is divided, transferred and registered in the name of the successors, then the property transforms its character. The said property becomes the absolute property of its owners, as it gets transferred in their names.

Your father made a will, which was later changed in terms of beneficiaries, subsequently, during his lifetime, he got a reverse mortgage loan on his property. On his demise, as per the terms of RML, the outstanding amount needs to be paid to the lender by the beneficiaries/heirs. After the receipt of the outstanding amount, the lender will release the mortgage, making the property encumbrance-free for the concerned beneficiary as per the will.

In case a situation arises, wherein the designated beneficiary of the property(as per the recent will) is unable to meet the liability under RML due to paucity of funds, the lender sells the mortgaged property as per the terms of the RML. After recovering the dues, the lender hands over the surplus amount collected from the sales to the designated beneficiary in accordance with the probated will.

The latest will, written before the testator’s demise, is considered to be the valid will, unless it is proved to have been made under suspicious circumstances, These circumstances could be related to either the preparation of the will or the capacity of the testator, or indicate that the testator’s free will was overcast by actions of coercion or fraud. A valid will (earlier or the recent one) would need to be endorsed through the probate process for identifying the legitimate beneficiary

We assume that you and your ex-husband are Hindu. In case of the unfortunate circumstance that you pass away without making a valid will, your ex-husband will not be entitled to inherit from your estate and cannot claim a share in your property. This is because, once a divorce is finalised, spousal relationship does not legally survive and mutual rights of inheritance in each other’s property get extinguished.

Regarding your children, given that a divorce only severs the relationship between the spouses and not between the parent and the child, your children will continue to have the right to inherit your property as well as that of their father.

If you have not remarried when you pass away, then your entire property will go to your children in equal proportion.

If your ex-husband passes away without leaving a will, your children from the marriage will be recognised as class-I heirs of your husband, and their shares in his property will depend on the other class-I heirs who survive your husband, which may include his mother, his wife (if he remarries) and his other children (if he has any upon remarriage). Your children will also continue to remain members of any Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)/ coparcenery (joint heirship) of your ex-husband’s family.

This analysis will be different if you or your ex-husband make a valid will, in which case, the persons who will inherit your respective property will be those who are named in the will.

You should consider making a will so that your property devolves to persons whom you choose as successors, and there is no confusion as to who would inherit it.