Why Every NRI With Property in India Needs a Registered Will

A will made abroad rarely covers Indian property cleanly, since immovable property in India is governed by Indian law regardless of where you live. Registering an Indian will is not compulsory under the Registration Act, 1908, but it is kept safely with the Sub-Registrar and is harder to challenge later, which matters more when you are not present to vouch for it yourself.

The Problem With "I'll Deal With It Later"

Most NRIs assume their foreign will covers everything they own, wherever it sits. It doesn't, not cleanly. If you have a flat in Hyderabad, ancestral land in Punjab, or a mutual fund folio in Mumbai, and your only will was drafted by a solicitor in London or an attorney in New Jersey, your family could spend years in Indian courts figuring out whether that document even applies here, and if it does, how to make an Indian bank, registrar, or housing society accept it.

This is not a hypothetical. It is one of the most common reasons NRI succession cases drag on, and a separate, properly executed Indian will is the simplest fix available.

Which Law Actually Governs Your Indian Property

Here is the part most people get wrong. Succession to movable assets (bank accounts, shares, jewellery) generally follows the law of your domicile, so if you are settled in the US or UK, that country's law can have a say. But succession to immovable property, land and buildings, is governed by the law of the place where the property is situated. Your Hyderabad flat is governed by Indian law no matter where you live or hold citizenship.

Having a foreign will alone forces your heirs to prove, in an Indian court, how a foreign legal instrument interacts with Indian property law, foreign exchange rules, and Indian succession law under the Indian Succession Act, 1925. A dedicated Indian will for your Indian assets sidesteps that entire argument.

Registration Is Optional, But You Want It Anyway

Technically, registering a will is not compulsory under the Registration Act, 1908, a will is one of the few documents you can leave unregistered and it still holds. But for an NRI, registration matters more than for a resident, precisely because you are not around to personally reassure a bank or a court that the document is genuine.

A registered will is kept in the custody of the Sub-Registrar's office, carries a date and execution record that is difficult to challenge, and gives your family one less thing to fight about if a sibling or relative later disputes the document's authenticity. You, or someone holding a valid power of attorney, can get this done at the Sub-Registrar's office with jurisdiction over your residence or the property.

The Witnesses You Cannot Skip

Under Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, a valid will needs your signature and attestation by two witnesses who watch you sign, or who personally receive your acknowledgment of the signature. Skip this and the will can be challenged regardless of how well it was drafted. One practical note: avoid naming a beneficiary as a witness. For most testators, under Section 67, the bequest to that witness can become void, though this rule does not apply to wills made by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, or Jains, so check which regime applies to you. Either way, naming a beneficiary as a witness creates exactly the kind of family dispute a will is supposed to prevent, and it is not worth relying on which rule applies to your case.

A Foreign Will May Still Need to Be Proved Here

Even a will executed abroad, following the formalities valid in that country, is not automatically actionable in India. Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 used to make probate mandatory before an executor or legatee could enforce a will, but only in narrow circumstances: broadly, wills relating to immovable property within the former presidency towns of Kolkata, Chennai, and Mumbai, for the communities that provision covered. The Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 omitted Section 213 entirely, so even that narrow mandatory-probate requirement no longer applies anywhere in India. Probate and letters of administration remain available and are still commonly used, especially once an estate is contested, since Indian courts may still require formal proof of due execution under the Indian Evidence Act before anyone can act on a disputed will. That process is slower and costlier when the original document, witnesses, and execution details are all overseas. An India-specific will, registered in India, removes this friction for your Indian assets entirely.

Where the Will Actually Lives

A will is only useful if the right person can find it when it matters. This is where a digital vault earns its place, not as a replacement for signing and witnessing, which must happen on paper, but as a secure record of where the original is held, who your nominated trustees are, and what else they need to access: property documents, bank details, insurance policies. A Vaksy Secure Vault-style setup lets you store this information with controlled trustee access, so your family isn't searching through drawers or foreign safe deposit boxes while a succession deadline runs out.

Getting This Right

Every family's asset mix, jurisdiction, and personal law situation is different, and the details here should be confirmed against your specific facts. Vaksy can connect you with a verified advocate on the platform who will draft your Indian will in your own language, walk you through registration, and make sure it works alongside whatever you already have abroad.

How to Register a Will: Cost and the Sub-Registrar Process

Registering a will is not compulsory under the Registration Act, 1908, but when you do it, you or someone holding a valid power of attorney takes the will to the Sub-Registrar's office with jurisdiction over your residence or the property. It gets recorded and kept in the Sub-Registrar's custody, along with a dated execution record. This is the same office and the same process for an NRI or a resident testator, only the stakes of skipping it differ.

Registration fees for a will are modest compared to property documents, and the exact amount varies by state, so confirm the current fee with your advocate or the Sub-Registrar's office rather than assuming a figure. What that fee buys you is a document that is much harder to challenge later, since a relative disputing it cannot easily argue it was forged or backdated once the Sub-Registrar's own record shows when and how it was executed.

Talk to a Vaksy advocate →

New here? See how talking to a lawyer on Vaksy works →