Christians are in an unusual position under Indian succession law, and it is worth understanding because it cuts both ways. Much of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 that Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains are expressly taken outside of applies to you in full.
The two exclusions that do not catch you
The Act contains two carve outs that shape the whole subject. The Part dealing with domicile says it does not apply if the deceased was a Hindu, Muhammadan, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina. The Part dealing with intestate succession says it does not apply to the property of any Hindu, Muhammadan, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina, and that save as so provided, or as provided by any other law in force, its provisions constitute the law of India in all cases of intestacy. Christians appear in neither exclusion. So both Parts apply to you directly, by their own terms.
What that means asset by asset
The Act then states the rule that decides the cross border question. Succession to the immovable property in India of a deceased person is regulated by the law of India, wherever he may have had his domicile at the time of his death. Succession to the movable property of a deceased person is regulated by the law of the country in which he had his domicile at the time of his death, and a person can have only one domicile for that purpose.
So the flat in Bengaluru is governed by the Indian Succession Act however long you have lived in Chicago. Your American brokerage account, your retirement plan and your bank balances are governed by the law of your domicile, which after decades in the United States may well not be India. This is not a loophole. It is the design of the statute, and it is exactly why a single global will and a single set of assumptions rarely fit an NRI estate.
The intestate shares under the Act
If you die without a will, the Act sets out the distribution in fixed terms. Where the intestate has left a widow and also lineal descendants, one third of the property belongs to the widow and the remaining two thirds go to the lineal descendants according to the rules that follow. Where he has left no lineal descendant but has left persons of kindred to him, and subject to a separate provision of the Act, one half belongs to the widow and the other half goes to the kindred in the order the Act lays down. Where he has left nobody of kindred, the whole property belongs to the widow.
Two observations follow. The widow's one third is a fixed share and does not vary with the number of children. And there is no coparcenary, no birthright and no ancestral property concept in this scheme at all, so children do not have a claim during your lifetime.
Because your movable estate follows your domicile, the single most valuable thing you can do is remove the argument. The Act treats a new domicile as acquired by taking up a fixed habitation in a country other than that of the domicile of origin, and intention does the work. Leaving a clear, documented position on where you regard yourself as permanently settled, and matching your affairs to it, prevents an expensive dispute that your family would have to conduct after you cannot help them.
Making a will as a Christian NRI
Testamentary freedom under the Act is wide. A person of sound mind who is not a minor may dispose of his property by will, and there is no forced heirship of the kind found in several civil law countries. That freedom is worth using deliberately rather than by default.
- Make a separate Indian will confined to Indian assets, and make sure it is executed in the form Indian courts expect. Our guide on an NRI will for Indian assets works through why two wills usually beats one.
- Get the execution right. The Act requires the testator's signature or mark placed so as to give effect to the writing as a will, and attestation by two or more witnesses each of whom saw him sign or received his acknowledgement and each of whom signed in his presence. Our guide on making a valid will in India sets out the steps and the usual defects.
- Do not let a beneficiary attest. The Act makes a bequest to an attesting witness void in the cases it governs, and this is one of them.
- Fix the revocation clauses in the Indian and the American wills so neither cancels the other.
- Appoint an executor who can act here. The office carries duties in an Indian court, and distance makes them harder.
If there is no will
The family will need Indian documents to deal with Indian assets whatever the governing law turns out to be. A bank claim may be settled through the applicable nominee, survivor or heirship procedure without a court certificate. A succession certificate remains one route for specified debts and securities, and our guide on obtaining a succession certificate in India sets out how that application is run and what the certificate does and does not decide. Immovable property needs mutation and, where the heirs do not agree, a partition. Section 213 was omitted in December 2025. That change does not dispense with the separate requirements of sections 212 and 214 where they apply, or with the proper process for a disputed estate.