My Father Died in Bengaluru and I Live Abroad: How Do I Get His Flat Into My Name Without Flying Back?

Yes, nearly all of it can be done from abroad. The flat passed to your father's Class I heirs on the day he died, your share with it, because Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 passes the property of a Hindu man dying intestate to those heirs at the moment of death, so the city corporation, the bank and the sub-registrar only record a title that already exists. A power of attorney that you sign before a notary in your country and have apostilled lets a relative or a professional file the khata, bank and court paperwork for the inherited flat in Bengaluru. The one step an attorney holder cannot do is apply for the family tree certificate, because the Revenue Department's circular of 17 July 2026 requires the applicant's own Aadhaar e-KYC on an Aadhaar carrying a Karnataka address, so a family member who holds one makes that application.

Part of the NRI succession and inheritance practice at S Jain & Attorneys, Bangalore.

This page is for the son or daughter abroad whose Hindu father has died owning a flat and a bank account in Bengaluru. It does not cover agricultural land or Muslim or Christian succession.

Deadline warning. Two clocks start on their own. Section 149(2) of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 gives the heir one year from the death to notify the Commissioner of the city corporation, and Section 18 of the Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957 gives three months after a power of attorney signed abroad first reaches Karnataka to stamp it, after which it has to be regularised with duty and penalty. Keep the courier receipt.

The six transfers, who can do each one from abroad, and what each office asks for:

Do I have to come to India at all, or can someone do this for me?

You do not have to come for the flat, the bank or the khata, and you may have to appear, in person or by video, only if a court case becomes necessary and the judge wants your own evidence. Section 33(1)(c) of the Registration Act, 1908 recognises, for presenting documents for registration, a power of attorney executed by a principal outside India before a Notary Public, a court, a magistrate or an Indian Consul or Vice-Consul, which is the form the bank and the khata office ask for too, and Order III, Rules 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure make a person "holding powers-of-attorney" a recognised agent for appearances, applications and acts in court. The limit comes from the Supreme Court in Janki Vashdeo Bhojwani v Indusind Bank Ltd, 6 December 2004: the attorney holder may depose about his own acts under the power but "cannot depose for the principal for the acts done by the principal and not by him".

What do I need first, a family tree certificate or a succession certificate?

You need the family tree certificate first, because it is the Revenue Department document the other offices ask for, and a succession certificate only if a bank or company refuses to pay without one, since Sections 372 and 374 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 confine that certificate to the debts and securities listed in the petition and Section 212(2) means a Hindu heir needs no letters of administration for the flat, as our guide on succession certificate, legal heir certificate or probate explains. Section 57 of the Registration Act lets anyone obtain a certified copy of a registered deed on paying the fee, which is the answer when the original is lost or with a lender, and the encumbrance certificate comes from Kaveri Online Services, as our guide on viewing an encumbrance certificate online in Karnataka shows.

How does a family member get the family tree certificate for me?

Under the Revenue Department's circular of 17 July 2026 the applicant files an affidavit on Rs 100 stamp paper listing every family member, with an identity document for each, your passport included, and paragraph 2 makes the applicant's own Aadhaar e-KYC mandatory on an Aadhaar carrying a Karnataka address. That decides who signs: anyone in the tree whose Aadhaar carries a Karnataka address, because the rule turns on the address on the card and not on who is standing in Bengaluru. The circular sets a Sakala limit of 14 days for the decision, 35 days once a file that misses it passes to the appellate authority, and 90 days for an appeal to be decided, the certificate lapses at the next birth or death in the family or after one year, and a false affidavit is an offence, so a half-sibling or a predeceased brother's children go into the tree.

Who does what, when the heir is abroad:

How do I give a power of attorney from the US that Indian offices will accept?

Sign a special power of attorney before a notary public in the state where you live and have it apostilled by that state's competent authority, or sign it at the Indian Consulate, which attests it directly, since Section 33(1)(c) names both. The Hague Conference status table shows the United States a party to the Apostille Convention since 15 October 1981 and India since 14 July 2005, and the apostille comes from the state whose notary signed, generally its Secretary of State, as the Hague Conference's page on the United States competent authorities records. Where a country is not a party, the United Arab Emirates for example, only the consulate route works.

Draft it as a special power listing the acts: the Section 149 notice and the khata transfer on e-Aasthi, the bank's claim forms for the named accounts, receipt of the proceeds into your own non-resident ordinary account, and, if it comes to that, a petition under Part X of the Indian Succession Act. Name the attorney with identity details, attach your passport copy, have two witnesses sign, and leave out any power to sell unless a sale is planned, because a power to sell changes the stamp duty and transfers no title, as our post on why a power of attorney sale does not transfer title explains. If the arrangement sours, the power is revoked from abroad by a registered deed of revocation.

Does the power of attorney have to be stamped or registered in Karnataka, and within what time?

It has to be stamped in Karnataka within three months of first arriving in the State, and registration of the power itself is optional. Section 18(1) of the Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957 allows an instrument "executed only out of India" to be stamped "within three months after it has been first received" in the State, Section 18(2) sends it within that period to the Deputy Commissioner, in practice the District Registrar, Section 31 provides for adjudication of the duty, and under Section 34 an instrument not duly stamped shall not be "acted upon, registered or authenticated". Article 41 of the Schedule charges five hundred rupees on an ordinary power, substituted for one hundred rupees by the Karnataka Stamp (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Karnataka Act 4 of 2024) in force from 3 February 2024, a change the Department's published Schedule, still the text updated to 20 April 2017, does not yet show. A power that authorises a sale is charged as a conveyance instead, on the consideration or market value, whichever is higher, where it is given for consideration or coupled with interest (clause (e)), and on the market value where it is given to anyone other than the executant's parent, spouse, child or sibling (clause (eb)). The power is optionally registrable under Section 18 of the Registration Act, but one that includes a sale is registered in practice because the sub-registrar will want it on his record.

Common mistake. Sending a general power of attorney to sell when all that is needed is estate administration. If the attorney is not a parent, spouse, child or sibling, clause (eb) of Article 41 prices the power like a conveyance on the market value of the flat, and it puts the flat in someone else's hands before the khata is even in yours.

There is a will. Do I still need probate in Bengaluru?

No. Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, which barred a legatee from establishing a right under a will without probate, was omitted by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025, assented to on 20 December 2025, and a Hindu's will made in Bengaluru fell outside it even before that, so you rely on the will itself. The Reserve Bank's 2025 Directions let a bank exercise its discretion and act on a will without probate where there is no dispute and it is satisfied of its genuineness, and our guide on probate no longer being mandatory covers the change.

There is no will. Am I the only heir, and does my mother's death change the shares?

If your mother is alive, she and you are the two Class I heirs and take equal shares, and if she died before your father, you take the whole as the only Class I heir unless your father's mother is alive, because she too is in Class I. Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 sends a Hindu man's intestate property to the Class I heirs in the Schedule, which lists the son, the daughter, the widow and the mother, and Section 10 gives each of them one share. A married daughter living in the United States is simply a child for this purpose, and Section 19 makes co-heirs tenants in common. If your mother survived your father and then died, her share comes to you as her heir under Sections 15(1)(a) and 16, and if the flat was in joint names, her share under the deed was always hers. Succession to immovable property in India follows Indian law whatever the deceased's domicile, so a father who had become a US resident still leaves his flat under Indian law. A share given up to a sibling goes by registered release deed, covered in our post on signing a release deed for a parent's property.

My father had a home loan on the flat. Do I inherit his debts?

You inherit the flat subject to the lender's mortgage, and you answer for your father's debts only out of what you receive from his estate. Section 50(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure makes a legal representative liable under a decree "only to the extent of the property of the deceased which has come to his hands and has not been duly disposed of", and Section 6(4) of the Hindu Succession Act bars any court from recognising the old pious obligation of a son to pay his father's debts where the debt was contracted after the 2005 amendment. The mortgage itself survives and the lender holds the title deeds until the loan is closed, so the choice is between continuing the instalments, repaying the balance, or selling with the buyer's lender taking over. Ask for the loan statement and any insurance cover on the loan, and make sure the power covers dealing with the lender.

How do I get the khata of the inherited flat in Bengaluru moved into my name without coming?

Your attorney holder gives the notice under Section 149(2) of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 and files the khata transfer on the e-Aasthi portal with the papers listed above, including the heirs' joint affidavit you sign abroad and have apostilled. Section 149(2) gives the person to whom title passes "as heir or otherwise" one year from the death to give the notice, and sub-section (5) lets the Commissioner reopen a transfer recorded on false or incomplete material, which is why the affidavit names every heir. The portal sequence is in our step-by-step khata transfer after death guide. Your mother's name goes on the khata beside yours under Section 149(3), which has the transferee's name entered in the property tax register, unless she releases her share.

Key takeaway. Title passed at your father's death to his Class I heirs, your share with it, by operation of Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act if he left no will, or by the will if he did. The khata records that fact, so a delay does not lose you the flat, but it leaves your father's name on the tax register, keeps the tax liability alive, which Section 149(4) preserves against the transferee, and blocks any buyer's bank when you eventually sell.

How do I release my father's frozen bank account and fixed deposits from abroad?

Under the Reserve Bank of India (Settlement of Claims in respect of Deceased Customers of Banks) Directions, 2025, which every bank had to implement by 31 March 2026, a nominee or survivor is paid on three documents, a no-nominee claim below the threshold needs no court paper, and any claim must be settled within 15 calendar days of a complete set. Where there is a nominee or a surviving joint holder, paragraph 9 forbids the bank from insisting on a succession certificate, letters of administration, probate or an indemnity "irrespective of the amount", and limits it to the claim form, the death certificate and the claimant's identity document. A nominee receives the money for the heirs rather than owning it, as our post on nominee versus legal heir makes clear.

Where there is no nominee, paragraph 10 applies. The threshold is Rs 5 lakh for a co-operative bank and Rs 15 lakh for any other bank, or a higher limit the bank fixes. Below it, with no will and no contesting claim, the bank settles on the claim form, the death certificate, identity documents, a bond of indemnity, a disclaimer from any non-claiming heir, and a legal heir certificate or an independent person's declaration, with no third-party surety. Above the threshold it settles on a succession certificate, or on the legal heir certificate or an independent person's sworn affidavit with an optional third-party surety bond, the route to ask for before going to court. Sign the forms before a notary and have them apostilled, which is what banks ask for in practice, and have the proceeds paid into your non-resident ordinary account. The Directions themselves provide for an apostille only in paragraph 36, for a document proving a death that happened outside India. Shares, mutual funds, provident fund and insurance move on their own paperwork outside these Directions.

Can my attorney run a succession certificate case in the Bengaluru court for me?

Your attorney can file the petition and appear at every hearing, because Section 372(1) of the Indian Succession Act allows the petition to be "signed and verified by or on behalf of the applicant" and Order III of the Code recognises a power of attorney holder as the agent for appearances, applications and acts, but the attorney cannot give your evidence. The petition goes under Section 371 to the District Judge of the place where your father ordinarily resided, lists the family and the debts and securities sought, and carries under Section 379 a deposit of the court fee computed on them, so list only what has actually been refused, and Section 373 has the judge decide "in a summary manner" after notice and publication. Our guide on how to get a succession certificate in India has the detail.

The evidence point decides your travel plans. In an uncontested petition the attorney's affidavit and the documents usually carry the matter, but once a relative contests, your own evidence is needed. The Karnataka High Court's Rules for Video Conferencing for Courts, HCC No. 18/2020, gazetted on 25 June 2020, let a witness request examination by video under Rule 6.1, require under Rules 5.1 and 5.3.1 a coordinator at an overseas remote point from an Indian consulate, embassy or high commission, let the court under Rule 8.15 authorise video from where the person is when presence at a remote point cannot be secured without undue delay or expense, and let the High Court relax any rule causing undue hardship under Rule 18. Live Law reported on 10 July 2026 that a single judge used Rule 18 to let a 71-year-old widow in the United States give her evidence in a probate case from her own residence. So plan on the consulate as the remote point, ask the trial court for Rule 8.15 relief with evidence of hardship, note that a Rule 18 relaxation has to be sought from the High Court itself, and keep one trip as the fallback.

I am a US citizen, not an OCI. Can I inherit the flat at all?

Yes. Section 6(5) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 allows a person resident outside India to "hold, own, transfer or invest in" immovable property in India inherited from a person resident in India, and it turns on residence, not on citizenship or an Overseas Citizen of India card. The Reserve Bank's Master Direction No. 12/2015-16 on Acquisition or Transfer of Immovable Property restates Section 6(5) in paragraph 1.2 and in paragraph 9.1 names the only nationality bar, prior permission for citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Nepal, Bhutan, Macau, Hong Kong and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, a list a US citizen is not on. Taking the money out after a sale is the real restriction: paragraph 8.1 routes repatriation through the Remittance of Assets facilities, and Master Direction No. 13/2015-16 lets a bank remit up to USD one million per financial year under paragraph 3.2 for a non-resident Indian or a person of Indian origin, which paragraph 2.3 defines to include the child of an Indian citizen, and under paragraph 3.1 for a foreign national with no Indian origin who "has inherited from a person referred to in section 6(5)", with the Reserve Bank's approval needed above that. Our guide on repatriating money from India as an NRI sets out the bank's checklist.

Is there any tax on inheriting, and what happens when I sell later?

There is no Indian tax on the inheritance itself. Section 92(2)(m) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, in force from 1 April 2026 in place of the 1961 Act, treats money or immovable property received without consideration above fifty thousand rupees as income from other sources, but Section 92(3)(c) excludes anything received "under a will or by way of inheritance". On a later sale, Section 73(1) deems your cost of acquisition for an asset that became yours "by succession, inheritance or devolution" to be the cost for which the previous owner acquired it plus any improvement cost, so the general rule measures your gain from your father's cost and not from the value at his death. The buyer deducts tax at source under the non-resident provisions, Section 395 allows a lower-deduction certificate in advance, and our guide on TDS when an NRI sells property in India takes that sequence apart.

What does the whole sequence cost and how long does each step take?

The government costs fixed by law are small: Rs 100 stamp paper for the family tree affidavit, five hundred rupees on a special power under Article 41, the Section 31 adjudication fee, the corporation's khata fee and the apostille fee set by each US state, while the court fee deposit under Section 379 on a succession certificate scales with the debts and securities listed. Every time limit runs from a complete file, so send one complete courier rather than three partial ones. A succession certificate takes months even when uncontested, because the notice and publication under Section 373 have to run their course, and a contested estate is measured in years, as indicative ranges from practice, not promises.

Three dates govern the whole sequence, and each is fixed by a different instrument:

What mistakes cost heirs abroad the most time?

The same handful of errors account for most of the delay. A general power of attorney to sell is sent when a special power to administer was needed, and the sub-registrar prices it as a conveyance under clause (eb) of Article 41 because the attorney is a cousin or a friend. The power sits in a drawer past the three months Section 18 allows and has to be regularised with duty and penalty. A relative seeks a succession certificate for the flat and discovers months later that Sections 372 and 374 confine it to debts and securities. The family tree affidavit leaves out a half-sibling or a predeceased brother's children, which is an offence on the circular's own terms and exposes the khata to reopening under Section 149(5).

What will a lawyer ask me for at the first call?

In practice the order of operations matters more than the speed of any single step, and I ask for three documents before anything is drafted: your father's registered deed, his last property tax receipt and the death certificate, because those tell me whether the flat was in his sole name or joint with your mother and whether the tax is current, and each changes the sequence. The second thing I say is that the power of attorney is drafted around the list of offices, not around the attorney, so that no office asks why it mentions a sale. The third is that the family tree certificate is where a plan to do everything remotely either holds or breaks, because of the Aadhaar e-KYC rule, so we settle at the start who will be the applicant.

What should I do this month, in order?

1. Collect the deed, the latest tax receipt, the death certificate, the bank details with any nomination, the loan statement if any, and the will if any.
2. Settle who will apply for the family tree certificate on a Karnataka-address Aadhaar, and who will hold your power of attorney.
3. Have the applicant file the affidavit on Rs 100 stamp paper listing every family member, with your passport copy for your entry in the tree.
4. Sign a special power of attorney and the heirs' affidavit before a notary with an apostille, or at the Indian Consulate, courier the originals and keep the receipt.
5. Within three months of arrival, have the power stamped and adjudicated under Sections 18 and 31 of the Karnataka Stamp Act.
6. File the bank claim first, with the proceeds paid into your non-resident ordinary account.
7. Pay the current property tax, pull a fresh encumbrance certificate, and have the attorney file the Section 149(2) notice and the khata transfer within the year.
8. Only if a bank or company still refuses, file the succession certificate petition for those assets alone and ask about evidence by video.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified advocate for advice on your specific situation.

Related Guides

See the NRI succession and inheritance practice and the NRI legal services page for the work this page describes, and the property and real estate practice for the later sale.

• My Father Died and the Khata Is Still in His Name: Khata Transfer After Death in Bengaluru
• Succession Certificate, Legal Heir Certificate or Probate: Which One Do You Need?
• I Gave My Brother a Power of Attorney Over My Bengaluru Property and He Is Misusing It: Revoking It From Abroad