The law here changed recently and a lot of advice still in circulation is out of date, so it is worth being precise about what moved and what did not.
What changed in December 2025
The Indian Succession Act, 1925 used to contain a provision barring anyone from establishing a right as executor or legatee in any court unless a competent court in India had granted probate of the will, or letters of administration with the will or with a copy of an authenticated copy of the will annexed. That provision was omitted by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025, which received assent on 20 December 2025. The former section 213 bar no longer applies. Other provisions still need checking, including section 214 for specified debt proceedings and section 212 where applicable. Our note on the removal of the mandatory probate requirement sets out the scope of the change and the parts of the machinery that survived it.
That provision was in any event never national in reach. It bit on wills of certain communities made within, or relating to immovable property within, the original civil jurisdiction of three former presidency High Courts. A will made in Bengaluru about Bengaluru property was already outside the compulsion. Its removal matters mainly because it takes away the statutory backing that banks and societies used to point to.
What did not change: a foreign grant is not an Indian grant
Your American or English grant is a judgment of a foreign court about a foreign administration. Indian law gives probate and letters of administration effect over the property of the deceased throughout the State in which they were granted, and extends that effect in defined circumstances. It does not treat a foreign grant as if it had been made here. A foreign grant should therefore be checked against the Indian asset-holder's claim process. It is not automatically sufficient, but it is not automatically irrelevant either.
The route the Act provides
There is a provision written for precisely this case. Where a will has been proved and deposited in a court of competent jurisdiction beyond the limits of the State, whether within or beyond the limits of India, and a properly authenticated copy of the will is produced, letters of administration may be granted with a copy of that copy annexed. In practice that means:
- Obtain from the foreign court an exemplified or otherwise properly authenticated copy of the will and of the grant.
- Have it authenticated for use in India through the channel that country and India accept, which is a document handling question worth checking before you pay for anything.
- Apply to the District Judge with jurisdiction, annexing that copy, and ask for letters of administration with the copy annexed.
Which court, and why it is easier than you think
A District Judge may grant probate or letters of administration if it appears that the deceased at the time of death had a fixed place of abode, or any property, movable or immovable, within his jurisdiction. Property alone is enough. Your father never lived in Bengaluru after 1994, but the flat is here, so the Bengaluru court is open. The petition has to state prescribed particulars including the time of death, that the annexed writing is the last will, that it was duly executed and the amount of assets likely to come to the petitioner's hands. The Judge may examine the petitioner on oath, may require further evidence, and may issue citations calling on anyone with an interest in the estate to come and see the proceedings, which are published in the court house and the Collector's office.
Ask what the bank, registrar or society requires, and check the legal basis for that requirement. The omission of section 213 does not override every remaining statutory condition or disputed-estate procedure. A written checklist or refusal helps identify whether a grant is needed and which route applies.
When I would still take the grant
- Where a challenge is likely. A grant is a judgment in rem. It binds the world, not merely the parties, and that finality is the whole point where a disinherited relative is circling.
- Where the estate has to be sold. Buyers and their lawyers are conservative, and a title that rests on an unproved foreign will will be discounted or refused.
- Where the institution refuses in writing. Litigating a bank's internal policy is usually slower than complying with it.
- Where the original will is lost. The Act has a route for probate of a copy or draft of a will lost or destroyed since the testator's death, limited until the original or a properly authenticated copy is produced.
If there is no will at all
Then none of this applies and the instrument depends on the asset. Debts and securities need one document, revenue and pension records need another, and the whole estate needs a third. Our comparison of the succession certificate, the legal heir certificate, probate and letters of administration sets out which is which, and our guide on the Indian will an NRI should make explains how to keep the next generation out of this process entirely.