Succession Certificate, Legal Heir Certificate or Probate: Which One Do You Need?

The short answer: match the instrument to the asset, not to the death. Bank deposits, shares and other debts and securities of someone who left no will need a succession certificate from a civil court under Section 372 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925. Pensions, provident fund, gratuity, insurance claims and property mutation usually need only a legal heir certificate from the Tahsildar. Where there is a will, you may now rely on the will itself, and probate is optional rather than compulsory. Where there is no will and a court order is needed over the whole estate, the instrument is letters of administration.

Most of the delay I see in these matters is self-inflicted: a family spends four months getting a heirship certificate from the Tahsildar, takes it to the bank, and is told it is not enough. If your matter involves heirs living abroad, our NRI succession and inheritance practice runs the whole sequence on a power of attorney.

The four instruments, side by side

Key takeaway. A legal heir certificate and a succession certificate are not alternatives at different price points. They do different jobs. Banks are entitled to refuse a heirship certificate for a deposit, and they usually do.

Succession certificate: the bank and securities instrument

Sections 370 to 390 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 govern it. The petition goes under Section 372 to the District Court within whose jurisdiction the deceased ordinarily resided at the time of death, or, if that cannot be established, where any part of the property is situated.

What it does is narrower than most people assume. It empowers the holder to receive the debts and securities listed in it and gives the paying institution a valid discharge. It does not conclusively decide who owns what. A bank that pays the certificate holder is protected, which is exactly why banks insist on it.

The court issues notice to all heirs and publishes in a newspaper. If nobody objects, a grant follows. If an heir objects, the petition can turn into a contested proceeding, and the court may direct the parties to a civil suit where title is genuinely in dispute.

It does not cover immovable property. This is the most frequent misunderstanding. A succession certificate will not transfer a flat, a site or agricultural land. For immovable property you are looking at mutation on the strength of a heirship certificate, a family settlement, letters of administration, or a partition suit.

Four features of the succession certificate decide whether it is the right instrument for your asset.

Legal heir certificate: fast, cheap, and limited

Issued administratively, in Karnataka by the Tahsildar of the taluk, on an application supported by the death certificate and proof of relationship. In many districts the application can be made through the Nadakacheri or Seva Sindhu channels.

It works for: family pension, gratuity, provident fund, insurance claims, salary arrears, transferring utility connections, and supporting an application for mutation of revenue records or BBMP khata.

It does not work for: releasing bank deposits or securities of any size, and it is not a determination of title. It records who the heirs appear to be. It does not decide their shares.

Common mistake. Treating a legal heir certificate as proof of ownership. It is a starting document. Where the family agrees, it plus a registered release or settlement deed usually completes the picture for immovable property. Where the family does not agree, it settles nothing.

Probate and letters of administration after December 2025

The position changed materially last year. Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 was omitted by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025, which received Presidential assent on 20 December 2025. Section 213 was the bar that prevented an executor or legatee from establishing rights under certain wills without first obtaining probate.

With it gone, probate is optional. You can rely on the will itself. Probate remains available and is still worth taking where the will is likely to be contested, where an institution is refusing to move, or where there are foreign assets and an overseas institution wants a court grant. We have written up the repeal and its limits in detail.

Letters of administration are the equivalent grant where there is no will, or where a will exists but names no executor or the executor will not act. Unlike a succession certificate, letters of administration cover the whole estate including immovable property.

The nominee problem, which none of these documents solves

A recurring scenario: the family finally obtains a succession certificate, goes to the bank, and finds the account was emptied a year ago by a nominee.

A nominee is a receiver, not an owner. In Shakti Yezdani v Jayanand Jayant Salgaonkar, decided on 14 December 2023, the Supreme Court held that nomination under the Companies Act does not confer absolute title on the nominee and does not operate as a third mode of succession. The nominee holds for the legal heirs.

The practical consequence is that your remedy is against the nominee, by suit for recovery, and it is separate from whatever certificate you obtain. Move early. Money that has been distributed is materially harder to recover than money still sitting in an account.

Nomination and inheritance are different things, and none of the four instruments cures the difference.

Documents you will be asked for

1. Death certificate in original, plus certified copies.
2. Proof of relationship for every heir: Aadhaar, passport, ration card, school records, or a birth certificate.
3. Address proof of the deceased, to establish which court has jurisdiction.
4. A complete schedule of assets with account numbers, folio numbers, certificate numbers and amounts as on the date of death.
5. Details of all heirs, including those abroad, with current addresses for service of notice.
6. The original will, if any, and the attesting witness details.
7. Affidavit and no-objection from heirs who consent, which is what turns a contested matter into an uncontested one.

For heirs abroad, a power of attorney executed before an Indian consulate or apostilled locally, and then stamped in India within three months of first receipt here under Section 18 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, allows the entire matter to be run without travel.

What it actually costs

Court fee on a succession certificate and on probate or letters of administration is ad valorem, calculated on the value of the assets claimed, and in Karnataka is governed by the Karnataka Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1958. The applicable rate and any cap should be confirmed for the current year before you file, because it is the single largest cost item and it drives the decision whether to include an asset in the petition at all.

A legal heir certificate carries a nominal fee. Professional fees vary with whether the matter is contested. What I tell clients is to expect the certificate route to be dominated by court fee and the litigation route to be dominated by time.

Five mistakes worth avoiding

1. Applying for the wrong instrument first. Establish the asset list before choosing the document, not after.
2. Leaving an asset out. Adding an asset later can mean a fresh petition and a second court fee.
3. Not serving an heir properly. A grant obtained without notice to an heir abroad is vulnerable to being set aside years later.
4. Ignoring nominations. Check every nomination on day one, and act quickly if a nominee has already collected.
5. Waiting. Witnesses move, memories fade, and someone in occupation of the property gets another year of possession behind them.

If you are reading this before anything has happened, the better use of an afternoon is making a will for your Indian assets. Almost everything described above exists because somebody did not.

Related guides and where to get help

If this is a live problem rather than background reading, our NRI succession and inheritance 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 Get a Succession Certificate in India
• Probate Is No Longer Mandatory in India: What Changed in December 2025
• Can One Legal Heir Sell Jointly Inherited Property?

Frequently Asked Questions