The short answer is that distance is a manageable problem in Indian succession work, and it is managed through a power of attorney every day. It is worth knowing precisely where the technique stops, because the two or three points at which it does are where matters get delayed by a year.
What the statutes actually allow
The Succession Act contemplates the attorney route in its own language. An application for a succession certificate is to be made by a petition signed and verified by or on behalf of the applicant in the manner prescribed by the Code of Civil Procedure for signing and verifying a plaint. The words "or on behalf of" are doing real work there. Separately, the Powers-of-Attorney Act, 1882 provides that the donee of a power may execute or do any instrument or thing in and with his own name and signature by the authority of the donor, and that what he does is as effectual in law as if it had been done by him in the donor's name and with the donor's signature.
Executing the power correctly from abroad
This is where matters actually fail, and it is entirely avoidable.
- Before whom. Where the principal does not reside in India, the Registration Act, 1908 recognises a power of attorney executed before and authenticated by a Notary Public, or any Court, Judge, Magistrate, Indian Consul or Vice-Consul, or representative of the Central Government. Choose from that list.
- The consular option. A diplomatic or consular officer may administer oaths, take affidavits and do notarial acts abroad which a notary public may do in India, and a document bearing his seal and signature is admitted in evidence without proof of the seal or the signature or of his official character. That saves an argument later.
- Foreign notaries. Recognition of notarial acts done by notaries abroad rests on reciprocal arrangements notified by the Central Government under the Notaries Act, 1952. Where the country is not covered, the consular route is the safer one.
- Stamping. An instrument chargeable with duty and executed only outside India may be stamped within three months after it has first been received in India. Missing that window causes real trouble, because an instrument not duly stamped is not admissible in evidence in Karnataka until the duty and penalty are paid.
Under the Contract Act, 1872 an agency terminates on the death of the principal, subject to the separate rule for an agency coupled with an interest in the subject matter. So a power given by your father does not survive him and cannot be used to deal with his estate. And a power authorising the conduct of a case is a different instrument from one authorising the sale of immovable property, with different stamp and registration consequences. Do not let one document be used for both jobs.
Where the attorney cannot stand in for you
Two limits matter in practice. First, the Act expressly gives the District Judge power, in all cases, to examine the petitioner in person upon oath, to require further evidence of the due execution of the will or of the petitioner's right to letters of administration, and to issue citations to anyone claiming an interest. That power is used, and an attorney is not always an answer to it.
Second, and more often decisive: expect the court to want evidence from the person who has the knowledge. An attorney can depose to what he did. He cannot usefully depose to what you saw, what your father said to you, or where the original will was kept, because those were never facts within his knowledge. Where the matter is contested and your own testimony is the evidence, plan for that from the start. Video conferencing and commissions are available and are increasingly used, and asking for the appropriate direction early is far better than discovering the problem at the trial stage.
Drafting the power
- Be specific. Name the deceased, the assets, the court, and the proceedings contemplated. Wide general powers attract scrutiny and are more easily challenged.
- Include the acts you will actually need. Signing and verifying the petition, swearing affidavits, engaging advocates, filing and receiving documents, obtaining certified copies, receiving the certificate or grant, and giving receipts.
- Deal with money expressly. Say whether the attorney may receive funds and into whose account. This is the clause families later wish they had written.
- Fix a duration and a revocation mechanism, and keep a copy of the revocation with the same institutions you gave the power to.
- Choose the person carefully. The technical work is the easy part. The attorney should be someone whose interests do not conflict with yours, which is precisely why a sibling who is also a rival claimant is the wrong choice.
Which proceeding you will be running
Since the compulsory probate requirement went in December 2025, a clean testate estate can often be dealt with without any court proceeding at all, and our note on what that change did and did not do explains when a grant is still worth taking. Where the assets are bank deposits and securities and there is no will, the proceeding is an application for a certificate from the civil court, and our guide on obtaining a succession certificate sets out how that runs. Where the question is which instrument you need at all, our comparison of the four instruments side by side answers it before you spend anything.