Arjun 29 May 2026

Plain/general or conventional legal heirship certificate?

My late father owned a piece of agricultural land in a village of Maharashtra. I & my brother are the only surviving legal heirs he has left behind.

From my limited knowledge & understanding, in order to get the land transferred in our names, we will have to acquire legal heirship certificate first (Kindly correct if wrong).

Now, there are two types of legal heirship certificates:

1. Conventional heirship certificate

This one comes with the following details:

I. Name of the deceased
II. Property the deceased owned
III. Name of the legal heirs

The procedure to obtain this one attracts court fees of Rs. 75,000.

2. Plain/ General heirship certificate

This one comes with the following details:

I. Name of the deceased
II. Name of the legal heirs

The procedure to obtain this one attracts no court fees (A nominal charge of a few hundred rupees might be applicable)

I see that most lawyers are not even aware of the fact that something like "Plain/ General" heirship certificate exists. So my questions to the ones who know what it is & what its use cases are, are:

1. Would obtaining the plain/ general certificate suffice in our case? Or we must get the conventional one by paying the hefty court fees?

2. If we opt for the plain/ general certificate instead of the conventional one, would there be any problems that we might have to face during the process of getting the land transferred in our names?

3. If we have to go for the conventional one, does the process involve publishing advertisements asking for objections, in local newspapers of the region where the land is located? (Asking as the land has been illegally captuted by a local person & we don't want him to get alert of the fact that we are initiating the process to get the property transferred in our names).

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5 Replies

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate) 29 May 2026

The legal heirship certifictate is issued by local revenue authorities (such as a Tahsildar, Revenue Officer, or Municipal Corporation). It identifies the surviving family members of the deceased (spouse, children, parents). It is an administrative document. It is used for claiming government benefits, pensions, gratuity, provident fund, and transferring utility connections or property in your name. It is relatively quick and inexpensive (often taking 15 to 30 days).

Whereas the conventionl legal heirship certificate what you refer is the succession certificate. It is granted by a competent Civil Court (under Part X of the Indian Succession Act, 1925). It establishes the legal authority of the heirs to inherit and claim the debts and securities of the deceased. It is Mandatory for claiming bank deposits, mutual funds, shares, bonds, insurance payouts, and recovering debts owed to the deceased. Since it is a judicial process involving court hearings and public notices (to invite objections), it is more expensive and time-consuming (often taking several months).

If your purpose is for transfer of immovable property alone then you can approach the local tehsildar office with an application signed jointly by both and by complying with the procedural formalities by attaching requisite documents too.

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Arjun 30 May 2026

Thank you Sir for answering my queries but here in Maharashtra, the Tehasiladar (Or any government official for that matter) no more holds the rights to issue heirship certificates to the general public. They can issue it only to government employees & that too, only for the purpose of claiming government related benefits like pension etc.

What I am referring to are called as heirship certificates only (At least here in Maharashtra) & both are issued by courts only.

Succession certificate is similar to heirship certificate but different.

Dr. J C Vashista (Advocate ) 30 May 2026

Very well explained, opined and advised by learned expert Mr. T Kalaiselvan ji, which I fully agree and endorse.

Local laws apply for issuance of legal representative / surviving member certificate, generally, it is issued by revenue /municipal authorities.

Succession of movable properties of deceased is granted by area civil judge.

Both are different subjects governed by different Acts/ laws.

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Arjun 30 May 2026

P. Venu (Advocate) 05 June 2026

To my knowledge, the Revenue Officials are issuing the heirship certificate based on the provisions of the Revenue Manual, and not on the basis of powers conferred by any enactment made by the competenet legislature.