How to Get a Succession Certificate in India

To get a succession certificate in India, you file a petition before the District Judge (or a High Court on its original side) under Part X of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, in the place where the deceased ordinarily resided or where their assets are located. The court publishes a notice, hears objections, and usually after a few months grants a certificate naming the persons entitled to collect the deceased person's debts and securities. There is no escaping the court: unlike a legal heir certificate, a succession certificate can only be issued by a civil court, not by a tahsildar or a municipal office.

Part of the wills, probate and succession practice at S Jain & Attorneys, Bangalore.

This guide walks through who needs the certificate, the step-by-step succession certificate procedure, the documents the court expects, the realistic timeline and cost, what happens if someone objects, and how the certificate differs from a legal heir certificate and a probate. It is written for families dealing with bank balances, fixed deposits, shares, mutual funds and other movable assets left behind without a will.

What a succession certificate actually is

A succession certificate is a court order that authorises the holder to collect debts and securities owed to a deceased person and to receive or transfer those assets. The word "security" is defined in Section 370 itself and covers promissory notes, stock and other securities of the Central or a State Government, stock or debentures of or shares in a company or other incorporated institution, debentures or other securities for money issued by a local authority, and anything else the State Government notifies as a security for this purpose. In everyday terms it reaches bank deposits, fixed deposits, shares, debentures, mutual fund units and money owed to the deceased.

It is most relevant when a person dies intestate, that is, without leaving a valid will. Where a valid will exists, the right document is usually a probate, which is a court-certified copy of the will with authority to administer the estate, or letters of administration.

The legal basis is Sections 370 to 390 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925. Section 370 sets the outer limits of the power, Section 371 fixes jurisdiction, Section 372 governs the application, Section 373 the procedure and grant, Section 374 the contents, Section 375 the bond, and Sections 376 to 390 deal with extension, effect, revocation and appeal. You can read the bare Act on the Government of India's official portal, India Code.

Key takeaway. A succession certificate is not proof of ownership and it does not decide who the heirs are. Section 387 of the Act says in terms that no decision under Part X on a question of right between parties bars the trial of the same question in a suit, and that the holder remains liable to account to whoever is lawfully entitled. It is a collection authority, nothing more. Families who treat it as a final ruling on shares are storing up a partition suit for later.

One important limit: a succession certificate covers movable property, specifically debts and securities. It does not by itself transfer title to immovable property such as land or a house. That is handled through mutation, a relinquishment or partition deed, or a probate where a will exists. For property-side disputes, our property and real-estate law team can advise on the right instrument.

Why banks and courts insist on it: Section 214

The provision that gives the certificate its real force is Section 214 of the same Act. It says that no court shall pass a decree against a debtor of a deceased person in favour of a person claiming on succession, and shall not execute such a decree, except on production of a probate, letters of administration, or a succession certificate under Part X having that debt specified in it. Section 214(2) excludes from "debt" only rent, revenue or profits payable in respect of land used for agricultural purposes.

Two practical consequences follow. First, if you ever have to sue a bank, a company or a private debtor to recover the money, you cannot get a decree without one of those documents. Second, the debt must actually appear in the schedule to the certificate. A certificate that omits a fixed deposit is useless for that fixed deposit, which is why the schedule matters more than any other part of the petition.

The provisions that decide where you file, what the certificate covers and why a bank insists on it.

A 2025 change worth knowing about

Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, which used to bar an executor or legatee from establishing a right under a will without obtaining probate or letters of administration in specified cases, was omitted by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 (Act 37 of 2025), with effect from 20 December 2025. Older commentaries and many website guides still describe Section 213 as live law. Section 212 survives and continues to require letters of administration before a right to an intestate's property can be established in court, but Section 212(2) exempts the intestacy of a Hindu, Muhammadan, Buddhist, Sikh, Jaina, Indian Christian or Parsi, which covers the overwhelming majority of Indian families.

Separately, if you are reading older material on adjacent topics, note that criminal-procedure references cited as the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 are now governed by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and Indian Penal Code references by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Section 372(2) of the Succession Act, which makes a knowingly false averment in the petition an offence by reference to the old Penal Code, is read accordingly. Succession certificates themselves remain governed by the civil Indian Succession Act, 1925, but always verify current section numbers and State amendments before filing.

When do you need one?

You typically need a succession certificate when all three of the following are true:

• A relative has died without a will; and
• A bank, a company, a registrar, a mutual fund or a depository refuses to release the deceased's money, shares or deposits without a court authorisation; and
• There is no surviving joint holder or nominee who can simply have the asset transmitted.

If a valid nomination exists, for example a nominated bank account or an insurance policy, the institution may release the funds to the nominee. But a nominee generally holds the money for the legal heirs and does not become the owner of it. Where the sum is large, where the heirs disagree, or where the institution wants protection against a later claim, it will still insist on the certificate. Section 381 is the reason: a certificate makes the payment conclusive as against the debtor and gives full indemnity for payments made in good faith to the certificate holder, even if there was a defect in the grant. That indemnity, not any distrust of the family, is what the bank is buying.

There is also a category of case where a certificate cannot be granted at all. Section 370(1) bars a succession certificate in respect of a debt or security to which a right is required by Section 212 to be established by letters of administration, with a proviso preserving grants relating to the effects of a deceased Indian Christian.

How to get a succession certificate in India: the step-by-step procedure

The succession certificate procedure is a regular civil court process. Broadly, it runs as follows.

1. Identify the right court. Under Section 371, file before the District Judge within whose jurisdiction the deceased ordinarily resided at the time of death, or, if there was no fixed place of residence at that time, the District Judge within whose jurisdiction any part of the property may be found. In the metros, certain High Courts exercise original jurisdiction. Note also Section 388, under which a State Government may invest a court inferior in grade to a District Judge with these powers, in which case an appeal lies to the District Judge rather than to the High Court.
2. Draft and file the petition under Section 372. It must be signed and verified in the manner prescribed by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 for a plaint, and must set out the time of death, the ordinary residence of the deceased at the time of death (or the property within the court's limits if there was none), the family and other near relatives of the deceased with their addresses, the right in which the petitioner claims, the absence of any impediment under Section 370, and the debts and securities for which the certificate is sought. Section 372(3) allows an application in respect of any debt or debts, or portions of them, so you are not obliged to bring in the entire estate.
3. Deposit the court fee with the application. Section 379 requires every application for a certificate or an extension to be accompanied by a deposit of a sum equal to the fee payable under the Court Fees Act, 1870. If the application is allowed, the deposit is spent on purchasing the stamp; if it is not, the unspent amount is refunded.
4. Court issues notice and publishes it. Under Section 373(1), if the District Judge is satisfied there is ground for entertaining the application, he fixes a hearing date, serves special notice on any person he thinks should get it, and causes the notice to be posted in a conspicuous part of the court house and published in such other manner as he thinks fit, subject to High Court rules. In practice this means a newspaper publication with an objection window, commonly around 45 days.
5. Hearing of objections, if any. The court then proceeds to decide the right to the certificate in a summary manner. Where the objections raise questions of law or fact too intricate for a summary proceeding, Section 373(3) allows the Judge nevertheless to grant a certificate to the applicant who appears to have prima facie the best title, leaving the real dispute to a suit. Where there are several interested applicants, Section 373(4) lets the Judge weigh the extent of each one's interest and their fitness.
6. Grant of the certificate. Under Section 373(2) and Section 374, the Judge orders the grant and specifies in the certificate the debts and securities set out in the application, and may empower the holder to receive interest or dividends, to negotiate or transfer the securities, or both.
7. Furnish a bond or security if directed. Under Section 375, the Judge shall require a bond with sureties or other sufficient security wherever he proposes to proceed under Section 373(3) or 373(4), and may require it in any other case, conditioned on rendering an account and indemnifying those entitled.
8. Collect the certified copy and present it. Take it to the bank, company or depository to claim or have the assets transmitted. Section 380 gives a certificate effect throughout India, so a Bengaluru grant works on a Mumbai demat account.

Common mistake. Leaving an asset out of the schedule and hoping the bank will be reasonable. It will not be, because Section 381 only protects it for debts and securities specified in the certificate. If you discover an account later, you do not start again: Section 376 lets the District Judge, on the holder's application, extend the certificate to a debt or security not originally specified, and the extension has the same effect as if it had been there from the start. Section 378 similarly allows the certificate to be amended where the Judge did not confer, or only partly conferred, the power to receive interest or to transfer.

Documents for a succession certificate

The exact documents vary by court and State, but a petition is normally supported by:

• Death certificate of the deceased, issued by the municipal authority.
• Proof of relationship of the petitioner to the deceased: ration card, Aadhaar, family register, or a legal heir certificate.
• Identity and address proof of the petitioner and of every heir named in the petition.
• A schedule of debts and securities: bank account numbers with branch, fixed deposit receipt numbers, demat and folio numbers, share certificates, policy numbers, and the value of each as at the date of death.
• No-objection or consent affidavits from the other heirs, where they are willing to give them. These are the single biggest accelerator of an uncontested petition.
• Court-fee deposit matching the value of the assets, as required by Section 379.
• An affidavit and verification supporting the petition's contents, in the CPC form.
• Sureties and their solvency proof, where the court is likely to require a bond under Section 375.

Missing or inconsistent documents are the single biggest cause of delay, so the schedule of assets and the heir list should be accurate from the start. Get bank statements and holding statements as at the date of death before you draft, not after.

Succession certificate vs legal heir certificate

People frequently confuse these two. They serve different purposes and are issued by different authorities. The table below compares them, and a probate, side by side.

In short: a legal heir certificate answers the question "who are the heirs?" and is enough for many service-benefit purposes, while a succession certificate answers "who is authorised to collect the deceased's money and securities?" and is what banks and companies demand. The two are not interchangeable. Where the estate includes both, families often need both.

If someone objects, or the certificate is wrong

Part X builds in three separate correction mechanisms, and it is worth knowing which one fits.

• Revocation under Section 383. A certificate may be revoked where the proceedings were defective in substance; where it was obtained fraudulently by a false suggestion or by concealing something material; where it was obtained by an untrue allegation of a fact essential in law to justify the grant, even if made innocently; where it has become useless and inoperative; or where a decree or order of a competent court in a suit about the same debts or securities makes revocation proper.
• Appeal under Section 384. An appeal lies to the High Court from an order of a District Judge granting, refusing or revoking a certificate, within the time allowed for an appeal under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. Subject to that and to the High Court's reference, revision and review powers, an order under Part X is final.
• A regular suit. Because Section 373 decides the right summarily and Section 387 preserves the trial of the same question elsewhere, an heir who lost the summary contest can still bring a suit for their share.

Two further points catch people out. Under Section 385, a certificate is invalid if a previous certificate, probate or letters of administration in respect of the same estate is already in force. And under Section 386, payments made in good faith to the holder of a certificate that has since been superseded or revoked are still good against claims under another certificate, which is another reason banks are comfortable paying against one.

How long does it take, and what does it cost?

These are indicative ranges. Actual figures vary with the State, the court's pendency, the value of the estate and whether anyone objects.

• Timeline: in an uncontested matter, expect roughly three to seven months from filing to grant, driven largely by the notice and publication period and by court workload. A contested petition commonly runs one to three years, and longer where it is relegated to a suit.
• Court fee: an ad valorem percentage of the value of the debts and securities listed, under the Court Fees Act, 1870 as applied in your State. In Karnataka the applicable statute is the Karnataka Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1958. Several States cap or slab the fee. Verify the current rate locally before you value the schedule, because this is usually the largest single cost.
• Newspaper publication: commonly two thousand to eight thousand rupees, depending on the paper and the size of the notice.
• Advocate's professional fees: typically twenty-five thousand to seventy-five thousand rupees for an uncontested petition in Bengaluru, and materially more where the petition is contested or the estate is complex.
• Bond and surety costs: where the court requires security under Section 375, budget for stamp duty on the bond and for arranging a solvent surety.
• Certified copies and miscellaneous: a few thousand rupees.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Applying for a succession certificate when a will exists. Probate or letters of administration is usually the right route, and Section 215 provides that a grant of probate or letters of administration supersedes a certificate previously granted for the same debts or securities.
• Listing incorrect or incomplete assets. Use Section 376 to extend rather than filing afresh, but it is cheaper to get the schedule right first time.
• Omitting an heir from the list of near relatives required by Section 372(1)(c). This invites objections, delay, and later revocation under Section 383(b) for concealment.
• Assuming the certificate transfers immovable property. It does not.
• Under-valuing the schedule to save court fee. The bank will compare the certificate against its own records, and an inconsistency stalls the release.
• Treating the summary decision as final between the heirs. Section 387 says it is not.
• Filing in the wrong court. Section 371 ties jurisdiction to the ordinary residence at the time of death, and only falls back on the location of property where there was no fixed residence.

For estate planning that avoids these disputes altogether, a properly drafted will is far cheaper than post-death litigation. See our guide on how to make a will in India.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws change and every situation is different; please consult a qualified advocate about your specific matter.

Related guides and where to get help

If this is a live problem rather than background reading, our property and real estate practice handles these matters from Bengaluru, including for clients who cannot attend court in person. These guides go deeper on the neighbouring questions:

• How to View an Encumbrance Certificate Online in Karnataka
• Daughter Coparcenary Rights After the 2005 Hindu Succession Amendment
• Succession Certificate, Legal Heir Certificate or Probate: Which One Do You Need?