Succession • February 2025 • Varasa Knowledge Centre
Dying intestate — without a valid will — means that the distribution of your property is determined not by your wishes but by the applicable personal law. For NRIs with property in Kerala, this creates two layers of complexity: first, which personal law applies; and second, what that law actually provides.
For immovable property situated in India, the applicable law is the lex situs — the law of the place where the property is situated. Indian law therefore governs your Kerala property, regardless of where you live or where you die. The specific Indian personal law that applies depends on your religion:
Under the Hindu Succession Act, heirs are classified in order of preference. Class I heirs take to the exclusion of all others. Class I heirs are: the deceased's children (sons and daughters equally), the widow/widower, the mother, and certain heirs representing pre-deceased children. Each surviving Class I heir takes an equal share.
The landmark 2005 amendment extended equal coparcenary rights to daughters — meaning daughters now inherit on exactly the same basis as sons, whether the property is self-acquired or ancestral. The Supreme Court confirmed in Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020) that this applies retrospectively to daughters whose fathers died before 2005.
If an NRI Hindu dies intestate owning property in Kerala and has a surviving spouse, two children, and a mother, all four inherit equally — one-fourth each. This default outcome is frequently not what the deceased would have chosen.
Without a will, the family must navigate: obtaining a legal heir certificate from the Tahsildar; potentially obtaining a succession certificate from a civil court for movable assets; mutation of property in the names of all legal heirs; unanimous agreement among heirs for any subsequent transaction; and a family settlement deed if heirs wish to partition the property among themselves.
Where heirs are spread across multiple countries, this process can take years. Each heir may need to execute and apostille documents from their country of residence. Banking institutions and sub-registrars require documentation from every heir before processing transfers.
A properly drafted will eliminates the ambiguity of intestate succession. It allows the testator to direct specific assets to specific beneficiaries, appoint an executor to manage the estate, provide for dependents with special needs, and structure inheritance in a tax-efficient manner. For NRI families, a will is not an optional document — it is the most cost-effective estate planning tool available.
Varasa assists NRI families in planning their Indian succession through properly structured wills, executor briefings, and estate documentation — preventing the administrative burden and family tension that intestate succession routinely creates.
Every family situation is different. Begin with a private, confidential consultation.
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