Who Writes A Will: Why, When, And How

Anybody who has any asset should write a Will. It costs almost nothing and can save your family a lot of time and money in the future.

- Ashwini Kumar Sharma

The importance of a Will is underrated in our country. This is counter-intuitive because most Indians like to invest and have capital assets such as house, land, and jewellery, which are prone to conflict between heirs in absence of a Will. It is a misconception that only multimillionaires or only those with a long list of heirs should write a Will. Even those with meagre assets and few heirs should make a Will, so that their assets can be transferred without any problems. Let's read about some of the things to keep in mind while writing a Will.

Intestate succession

If a person dies without a Will (also know as dying intestate), it can create lot of problems such as, "no centralized record of the assets; trouble in determining legal heirs and distributing the assets; transferring assets to an heir; no trustee or executor to oversee administration; and likely lengthy litigation, costs," said Sandeep Dave, partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, a law firm.

Also, to claim the stakes in the estate, heirs would have to obtain a plethora of documents to prove the claim. "Legal heirs of the deceased have to obtain letters of administration from the court, where the deceased has left behind movable and immovable properties, or obtain a succession certificate from the Court in case the deceased has left behind movable properties only," said Amit Kolekar, Associate Partner, Rajani Associates, a law firm.

In the absence of a Will, assets of the deceased have to be divided between the heirs as per the personal law applicable to the deceased person. In many cases, a consensus between heirs is required to distribute the estate.