The Will You Keep Putting Off: NRI Succession Planning for Indian Assets in 2026
By Gagandeep SinghUpdated Editorial standards
The phone call always comes too late. A man in his fifties in Leicester rang us not to plan his own affairs, but to untangle his late father's. The father had been a careful, methodical man — a retired bank manager who left a spotless UK will. What he had never got round to was anything in India: a flat in Pune in his sole name, a modest demat account, a fixed deposit, and a sliver of ancestral land near Nashik. There was no India will. The family spent the better part of two years, and a painful sum in Indian legal fees, obtaining a succession certificate, chasing heirship documents, and persuading a bank that the UK grant of probate meant something in Maharashtra.
"He'd have hated this," the son told us. "Two years of forms because he ran out of weekends to write one more piece of paper."
That is the quiet tragedy of NRI estate planning. The hard part is not usually the money or even the tax — India has no inheritance tax in 2026. The hard part is that an estate spread across two countries, governed by two legal systems, with no India-specific will to anchor it, lands on a grieving family as a bureaucratic marathon. This is the planning-side guide: how to write the will, name the executor, and set the nominations now, so your family is spared the events above.
This is deliberately the making side of the story. If you have just inherited something and need to claim it, our companion guide on inheriting property in India as an NRI walks the inheritor's path. This post is about being the careful parent who made that path short.
First, the good news: no inheritance tax in India
Let us clear up the single biggest misconception straight away, because British-Indian families often carry it across from the UK system.
As at 2026, India levies no inheritance tax, no estate duty and no death duty. Your heirs do not pay a tax simply for receiving your flat, your shares or your bank balance. Estate duty was abolished decades ago and, despite periodic rumours of its return, it is not in force at the time of writing.
That does not mean the assets are tax-free forever. Tax can still arise in two ordinary ways after the inheritance:
- On income the asset produces in the heir's hands — rent from the flat, interest on deposits, dividends on shares.
- On the capital gain when an heir eventually sells the asset, computed (broadly) from the original owner's cost and holding period.
Because there is no estate tax, the goal of NRI succession planning is not to shelter the estate from a tax bill on death — there isn't one. The goal is to make the transfer fast, clean and undisputed, so your heirs spend weeks rather than years, and inherit clear title rather than a court file. Spend your planning energy on the will and the paperwork, not on imaginary death duties.
Why your succession is governed by religion, not your passport
Here is a point that surprises many NRIs: when it comes to who inherits your Indian assets, your nationality and residence are largely irrelevant. If you die intestate (without a valid will), your Indian estate is distributed according to the personal law that applies to you — broadly determined by religion, not by the fact that you now hold a British passport or live in Reading.
For example, a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jain person's intestate succession falls under the Hindu Succession Act; other communities have their own statutory frameworks. The shares, the class of heirs and the order of priority differ between these systems. The practical takeaways are two:
- Becoming a British citizen or an OCI does not move you out of Indian personal law for your Indian assets.
- The intestacy rules may distribute your estate quite differently from what you assume or intend.
A valid will is what lets you override the default intestacy rules (within the limits your personal law allows) and direct your assets where you actually want them to go. Without it, the statute decides — and a court has to be persuaded who the heirs are before anyone can touch the asset.
Dying without an India will does not mean your assets vanish — but it does typically mean your family must obtain a succession certificate or letters of administration from an Indian court, prove who the heirs are, and satisfy each bank, registrar and depository in turn. This is the multi-year, multi-fee path that the Leicester family above lived through. A simple will, drafted in your lifetime, is by far the cheapest insurance you will ever buy against it.
The case for a separate India will
Can a single UK will cover your worldwide estate, India included? In principle, yes — a well-drafted will can deal with assets anywhere. In practice, relying on a UK-only will for Indian assets tends to create exactly the friction you are trying to avoid.
The problem is cross-jurisdiction probate. A UK will typically has to be proved in the UK first, then re-validated through the Indian courts before an Indian bank or sub-registrar will act on it — a process of getting the foreign will and grant recognised, often with consularised or apostilled copies and translations. It is doable, but it is slow, and it stacks two legal systems on top of one event.
That is why most advisers — and our own experience across many estates — point firmly towards a separate India will that deals only with your Indian assets, drafted to sit cleanly alongside your UK will without contradicting it.
| UK will only | Separate India will | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it is proved | Re-validated through Indian courts after UK probate | Probated directly in India |
| Typical speed for Indian assets | Slower, two-system process | Faster, single-system |
| Risk of clauses clashing across countries | Higher if one will covers all | Lower when each will is jurisdiction-specific |
| Comfort level of Indian banks and registrars | Variable, often cautious | Familiar, locally drafted document |
| Recommended for most NRIs | Workable but awkward | Generally the cleaner route |
A few drafting essentials your India will should get right:
- It should expressly cover only your Indian assets and state that it does not revoke your UK will (and your UK will should reciprocate). The single most common drafting accident is a later will that silently revokes an earlier one.
- It should appoint an executor — ideally someone in India, or at least someone who can act practically there — to administer the estate.
- It should be dated, signed and witnessed correctly under Indian law, by witnesses who are not beneficiaries.
Should you register the will?
Registration of a will in India is optional, not mandatory — an unregistered will is fully valid if properly executed. That said, registering it with the local sub-registrar adds a layer of authenticity that can make life easier for your executor and harder for anyone minded to challenge it. We generally view registration as a helpful, low-cost extra rather than a strict requirement. Weigh it with your own adviser.
Writing your India will, in order
- List your Indian assets — property, bank and NRO/NRE accounts, demat holdings, deposits, any land, and note how each is currently held (sole, joint, nominated).
- Choose your beneficiaries and shares — decide who gets what, mindful that your personal law sets the backdrop your will is overriding.
- Appoint a practical executor — name someone able to act in India, and ideally a backup, to administer the estate.
- Draft a jurisdiction-specific will — covering only Indian assets, expressly not revoking your UK will, signed before two non-beneficiary witnesses.
- Decide on registration — optional, but registering with the sub-registrar adds authenticity and deters challenges.
- Align your nominations — update bank, demat and deposit nominees so they support, not contradict, the will.
Nominations: useful, but a nominee is not an heir
This is the trap that catches the most families, so we will be blunt about it.
When you open an Indian bank account or a demat account, you are asked to name a nominee. People assume the nominee becomes the owner of the money on death. They do not. Under settled Indian law, a nominee is a custodian or trustee — someone authorised to receive the asset and hold it on behalf of the legal heirs. Nomination smooths access; it does not decide ownership.
Who the legal heirs actually are is decided by your will, or, in its absence, by your personal law. So a nominee who is not one of your intended heirs can find themselves legally holding funds they must pass on — a recipe for family disputes.
The sensible approach is to use both tools for what each does well: nominations so your family can access funds quickly without waiting on full probate, and a will so legal ownership is unambiguous. Critically, make them consistent — name the same people as nominees and beneficiaries wherever you can, so there is nothing to fight about.
Think of the nominee as holding the key that lets the family open the account quickly, and the will as the deed that says who actually owns what is inside. You want both, pointing the same way. A nominee who is not a beneficiary, or a will that contradicts your nominations, is how well-meaning planning turns into a dispute.
Agricultural land, property and the repatriation ceiling
NRIs and OCIs can generally bequeath any immovable property they already own, including agricultural land, farmhouse or plantation property that came to them by their own inheritance or that they lawfully hold. Your chosen heir can inherit and hold it. The restrictions bite on what happens next, not on the bequest itself:
- An heir who is an NRI or foreign national can usually only sell agricultural land to a resident Indian, not to another non-resident.
- Fresh purchase of agricultural land by NRIs and OCIs is restricted — inheriting is fine, buying is generally not.
For financial assets and sale proceeds, the other planning point is repatriation. Inherited money typically sits in an NRO account, and moving it out of India is generally subject to a ceiling of around USD 1 million per financial year per person, with the right tax certifications (commonly Forms 15CA and 15CB). This is a remittance limit and process, not a tax — but for a large estate it means heirs may need to repatriate across more than one financial year, so flag it in your planning. The mechanics of which account holds what are covered in our guide to NRE vs NRO accounts for NRIs.
A reminder that matters here: an OCI card gives long-term entry and many rights, but it is not Indian citizenship. OCIs cannot vote, hold constitutional office or government jobs, and cannot freshly purchase agricultural land. Inheriting such land through a will is one thing; treating an OCI heir as free to buy or freely on-sell farmland is a mistake that can unwind a transaction. Take state-specific legal advice before relying on any plan involving agricultural land.
The piece of admin everyone forgets: PAN
Here is the unglamorous foundation that the whole estate quietly rests on. Almost every step your executor and heirs will take in India — operating an NRO account, selling an inherited flat, claiming TDS credits, filing the return that lets them repatriate proceeds, even satisfying a depository — runs through a valid PAN showing the correct residential status.
We see estates stall not on the will, but on identity admin: an heir whose PAN is missing, dormant or still flags them as Resident when they are an NRI. A succession can be perfectly drafted and still grind to a halt because the person inheriting cannot cleanly attach a TDS credit or open the account the funds must flow into. Getting a correctly issued, operative NRI PAN card in place — for yourself now, and for heirs who will need one — removes a future blockage before it forms.
If your own PAN is stale or wrongly classified, that is a five-minute realisation that saves your family weeks, and it is exactly the sort of thing we sort week in, week out.
Where DIY is fine — and where it is not
We will be honest about the split, because parts of this you can genuinely do yourself.
Where DIY works well: if your Indian estate is straightforward — say a flat and a couple of accounts — a clear, properly witnessed India will and consistent nominations are well within reach with a good local solicitor. You do not need an army of advisers to avoid intestacy; you mostly need to actually write the will.
Where it earns professional help: large or blended estates, ancestral and agricultural land, business interests, disputed family situations, and the tax-and-repatriation planning for heirs are firmly lawyer and chartered-accountant territory in India. A well-drafted will from a competent Indian solicitor, and a CA's eye on the repatriation and capital-gains side, are worth far more than they cost on an estate of any size.
Where NriDirect fits: our lane is the identity and consular layer — making sure your PAN exists, is operative and shows the right status, and helping with the consular paperwork (apostille, attestation, the documents your executor will need recognised abroad). We are not your estate lawyer, and we will tell you when you need one. But we are very often the people who clear the small identity blockage that would otherwise stall a well-planned succession. A close cousin of this planning — giving a trusted person authority to act on your Indian assets while you are alive — is covered in our guide to Power of Attorney for NRIs between the UK and India.
For Indian property, tax & banking
Apply for or update your PAN card as an NRI. Essential for property, tax, and banking in India. No VFS visit needed.
Turnaround: ePAN 7-12 days, physical card 20-25 days
The Leicester family did eventually settle the estate — two years and a great deal of money later than they should have. The fix would have cost their careful father one quiet afternoon: a simple India will, an executor, nominations that matched it, and a PAN check. That afternoon is the whole point of this guide.
If the only loose end in your own plan is whether your PAN is current and correctly classified, that is precisely the small, fixable thing we sort quickly and properly — so the larger plan you make this year actually holds when your family needs it to.
This guide reflects NRI succession-planning practice for Indian assets as observed by NriDirect in 2026, and is general information, not legal or tax advice. India has no inheritance tax at the time of writing, but personal succession law, the optional registration of wills, repatriation limits and tax rules vary by religion, state and individual circumstance and change without notice — verify current details with a qualified Indian solicitor and chartered accountant, and refer to official sources such as the Reserve Bank of India↗ and the Income Tax Department of India↗ before acting. NriDirect is an independent UK agent that assists only with PAN and consular paperwork, and is not affiliated with any Indian government body, court or financial institution.
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