Background: My son had passed away recently without leaving a beneficiary in his US based retirement fund known as 401(K). When we got in touch with his US based 401(K) fund management company, they have indicated court issued succession certificate is mandatory to recognize the parents as legal heir. As per the fund management company, the succession certificate needs to be issued by a court in India.
He was working in the US for about 8 years. He had returned to India couple of years back. He is our only son. He was not married at the time of his death. He did not leave a will. He was already working in India at the time of his death.
My questions are as follows:
1) What is the procedure for obtaining a succession certificate in India ?
2) As we stay in Chennai, where will the procedure be completed ?
3) The fund management company won’t disclose the value of the fund to us till we obtain a valid succession certificate. Is this OK while proceeding for the application ?
4) What are the documents required by a lawyer for initiating the process ?
5) What is the approx. timeline ?
