Succession & inheritance
Succession is the law that decides what happens to a person’s property when they die — who takes it, in what shares, and what formal step is needed before an institution or a purchaser will recognise the person taking it.
Two situations are distinguished. Where the deceased left a valid will, succession is testamentary and the property devolves as the will directs, subject to the will being proved. Where there was no will, or the will does not deal with everything, succession is intestate and the property devolves on the heirs identified by the law applicable to the deceased. In both cases the practical question is usually the same: what document will satisfy a bank, a registry, a company or a buyer that this person is entitled to deal with the estate.
That document differs with the situation. Probate is the court’s certification of a will and of the executor named in it. Letters of administration are granted where there is no executor, or no will, and someone must be authorised to administer the estate. A succession certificate is a narrower instrument concerned with debts and securities — deposits, shares and money owed to the deceased. Which of these is needed, and which court has jurisdiction, depends on where the deceased lived, where the property lies and what the estate consists of.
Disputes arise in familiar ways. A will is said to be forged, or to have been made when the testator no longer understood it, or under pressure from the person who benefits from it. A later will appears. An heir is left out of the record, or included wrongly. One heir occupies the whole property and the others cannot get in. The estate is distributed and a creditor then appears. Where the property is jointly inherited and cannot be divided by agreement, the matter becomes one of partition.
Advocates at the chambers handle succession and inheritance matters, including drafting of wills, applications for probate, letters of administration and succession certificates, caveats and contested testamentary proceedings, and suits for partition and declaration where an estate cannot be divided by consent. Matters are conducted in the courts at Kolkata that exercise testamentary jurisdiction.
What this area covers
- Drafting and registration of wills
- Probate of a will and appointment of an executor
- Letters of administration where there is no will or no executor
- Succession certificates for debts, deposits and securities
- Caveats and contested testamentary proceedings
- Establishing heirship and correcting records of an estate
- Partition of inherited property among heirs
- Advice on intestate devolution and shares of heirs
The advocates who handle these matters
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Bimlesh Kumar Jain
In practice for over fifty years, in civil matters including property and matrimonial law.
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Aditya Kumar Jain
In practice for over ten years, with a focus on property law, working with a team of associates.