Succession Certificates and Legal Heir Certificates for NRIs

Families settle abroad, but assets stay behind. A bank account in Panchkula, a policy taken out decades ago, shares held for thirty years.

When a parent passes away, none of it simply transfers. The bank will not release the amount lying in the account, the shares cannot be moved, the policy cannot be claimed.

Why? Because the institution has no authority to hand over a dead person’s assets to someone who has not established their right to them. That right has to be established by a document — and which document depends on what was left.

It makes no difference whether the death occurred in India or abroad. What matters is what was left here.

There are two documents that matter, and they are not the same.

Succession certificate

Required where the deceased left no will.

A succession certificate is granted by the civil court in the district where the property is situated. It covers movable assets — bank accounts, fixed deposits, shares, bonds, debentures and insurance policies — and gives the heirs authority to have those assets released or transferred.

On court fees. Nothing is payable at the time of filing. The fee falls due at the end, when the court prepares the certificate after passing its order.

Legal heir certificate

Issued by the revenue authority. It establishes who the legal heirs of the deceased are, and is generally used for pensions, gratuity and employment benefits.

Which document you need depends on what you are trying to do, and on what the institution holding the asset requires. Applying for the wrong one costs months.

If the death occurred abroad

A death certificate issued outside India must be apostilled or attested by the Indian consulate before an Indian court will accept it.

This is straightforward, but it takes time, and applications are refused without it. It is worth starting before anything else.

You do not need to come to India

Both can be obtained on your behalf under a Power of Attorney.

The Power of Attorney is executed before the Indian consulate in your country of residence, then endorsed at the office of the Deputy Commissioner of the district where the attorney holder resides. Both steps are necessary.

Immovable property

Land and buildings do not pass by succession certificate. Where property has been inherited, a separate process applies — see our page on transfer of property.

Starting

Send us the death certificate and what you know of the assets — the bank, the deposits, the shares, the policies.

If you do not have the documents themselves, that is not necessarily a bar. People often know their parent held an account at a particular bank, or had a policy somewhere, without having the passbook or certificate to hand. Where there is something to work from — the name of the bank, a branch, an old letter, a policy number — the records can be summoned through the court.

What is not possible is a search on suspicion alone. There has to be a starting point to authenticate. But that starting point is often less than people assume, and it is worth asking before concluding there is nothing to be done.

Vaqeelsaab acts for non-resident Indians with legal matters in Punjab and Haryana. Property disputes, title verification, partition, succession, matrimonial proceedings and criminal defence — from our offices in Panchkula and at the District Court, Jagadhri, and before the Punjab & Haryana High Court at Chandigarh.

For matters in Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat, we work with counsel in the relevant jurisdiction and manage the matter for you.

Most of it can be handled without you travelling to India.

+91 94160 09800 | info@vaqeelsaab.com