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Sushil (student)     24 June 2012

Is succession certificate required?

Hi,

A (husband) and B (wife) book an apartment in NCR and receive the provisional allotment letter from the builder showing them as the joint owners. Two years after the marriage, B expires interstate (without leaving a will). A and B have no children. As per the advice of esteemed experts in this thread https://www.lawyersclubindia.com/forum/details.asp?mod_id=60146&offset=1, A becomes the sole buyer of the aprtment on the death of B. Also, A needs to get a revised letter of offer from builder mentioning A as the sole buyer. Now -

1) On contacting builder, they have demanded a succession certificate/will and death certificate for the same. There is no will. Should succession certificate be required in this case?

2) If yes, how much time and money will it take to get the succession certificate issued.

Thanks



Learning

 4 Replies

Adv.R.P.Chugh (Advocate/Legal Consultant (rpchughadvocatesupremecourt@hotmail.com))     24 June 2012

1. Succession Certificate is a no frills procedure, and is essential to get in order for the legal heir to claim the assets and securities of the deceased. In the absence of a will, if there is no survivor amongst the account holders and a no nomination had been done by the holder(s) earlier, a Succession Certificate is be the primary document through which the heirs can stake a claim to the assets of a deceased relative.  A succession certificate, under the Indian Succession Act, is a document that gives authority to the person who obtains it, to represent the deceased for the purpose of collecting debts and securities due to him or payable in his name. 

It establishes the authenticity of the heirs and give them the authority to inherit debts, securities and other assets that the deceased may have left behind.

Where the Application has to be made ?

The beneficiary has to approach the district or the high court within whose jurisdiction, i.e legal territory, the assets fall(where the properties of your deceased relative are situated ) and file a petition for a succession certificate. Both these courts have concurrent jurisdiction, i.e they are both at par.  Depending on the value of the estate of the deceased, the matter shall go to the type of court, which can conduct cases for that value [This is known as "pecuniary jurisdiction" of the court]

The petition should mention the relation of the petitioner with the deceased, details of other surviving legal heirs and beneficiaries, the time, date and place of death and also if he died intestate. You will also have to attach the death certificate and other documents that the court may require.

The court, after examining the petition, issues a notice to all those concerned. It also issues a notice in a newspaper and specifies a time frame (usually one-and-a-half months) within which anyone who has objections may raise them. If no one contests the notice and the court is satisfied, it passes an order to issue a succession certificate to the petitioner. If there is more than one petitioner, then the court may jointly grant them a certificate but it will not grant more than one certificate for a single asset. For this you have to then submit Judicial Stamp papers of sufficient amount (as per the prescribed court fees structure) in the court, whereafter the Certificate is typed by the court staff, duly signed and sealed and delivered.

Apart from lawyer’s fees, courts levy a fixed percentage of the value of the estate as a fee which may be upto 3% of the value of assets.

How long should it take to obtain the Succession certificate from the court ? If the petition is not contested then the court  should roughly take about 3-4 months (sometimes even 5-7) from date of filing to receive your certificate.

Once you have the certificate, you are authenticated to distribute the assets to the legal heirs as per the succession laws. Most people think that if the succession certificate is obtained then the person is the rightful owner of the deceased person’s properties, which is not true. A succession certificate allows the person to act exactly similar to how a nominee would act. It gives the authority to the holder for distributing the deceased person’s assets.

A Succession Certificate is not granted in cases where obtaining a Probate of Letter of Administration is necessary such as when there is a valid will.

Sample of the application Form for the Succession Certificate can be seen at:india.gov.in

(Note:State mentioned is Arunchal Pradesh), and  

downloadformsindia:Grant of succession certificate for state of Delhi

 

Feel free to talk !

N.K.Assumi (Advocate)     24 June 2012

Thanks for the detail responds.

Ashish Agarwal (.)     19 June 2013

Dear Bharat

Can you pl. elaborate on the following

1. Mr X left  property through a witnessed but unregistered will to his wife  in UP (has left  behind wife and 3 sons.) Propert y is Freehold  .

2.The two elder sons live abroad  and want to relinquish property to  mother.

3.The municipality has transferred the property to the wife's name.

 

Ques:1.Which is the easiest/ cheapest way to do so. Can the unregistered will be

used ?

2.Is sucession certificate  a must/  Mutation a must  before registration is done?

3.Can family settlement be done with one brother at a time  as they are never together in India? will it attract double stamp duty and regn. charges.

4.Can regn be done for mother and the 3rd son together if others agree.?

 

Pl. tell the procedure .

 

With thanks

Ashish

ashishagarwal99@gmail.com

binny   21 October 2016

If mother and father of a single and only child dies together in an accident, then succession certificate is required or not? there is no will left behind. and the child is the only legal heir and is 19 years old. please reply its urgent


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