Adi Raj 12 August 2023

Is there a need to create a new will if the willed assets are sold off to purchase new assets?

My mother has Rs 50 lacs in fixed deposits and already has made out a will for all of it in my favour. However, we are looking to purchase a residential property in her name using a major portion of the above-mentioned corpus soon. The rest of the amount will be paid by me and the property will be registered in her name. I also have 2 siblings.
Will I become the rightful (and only) heir of the property under discussion in case of her demise, as the money used for its purchase was already willed in my favor, or will she have to make a new will explicitly stating the details of the new property?

Kindly help me out.
Thank you

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5 Replies

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate) 13 August 2023

She had bequeathed the amount in your favor by a Will, wheras she had utilised the amount herself during her lifetime hence the Will becomes reduntant

You cannot claim any right over the property which was purchased out of the money that was once upon a time bequeathed in a Will

If at all you want to claim any rights over the property, you can ask her to transfer the same to your name by executing a registered settlenment deed with a condition that she will have life interest in the property to enjoy the income also out of it

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Adi Raj 13 August 2023

Thank you sir for the guidance.

Dr. J C Vashista (Advocate ) 13 August 2023

The will executed by testator is meaningless and become redundant since the property (FD) bequeathed do not exist after it has been encashed.

She has to execute a fresh "will" to exclude FD and include new property stated to have been purchased utelising funds of FD.

Advocate Bhartesh goyal (advocate) 13 August 2023

Yes, the will executed by your mother in favour of you by which F.D has been bequeathed to you shall become useless as soon as F.D is encased so it will be better that your mother may execute fresh will after being encasement of F.D

Aadil (Student) 06 June 2024

Dear Adi,

Thank you for your query! I am Aadil and I will try to answer your question!

The laws regarding wills are governed by the Indian Succession Act of 1925. It states that any person may create a will as long as they are in a state to understand the consequences of their actions. A property mentioned in a will can be bequeathed only if it belongs to the testator.

Here, if the money mentioned in the will is used off by the testator, then such money cannot be bequeathed to the beneficiary mentioned in the will as such money does not exist anymore. The fact that you spent your money on the property is irrelevant if the will does not specifically mention that the property be bequeathed to you. In such a case, it may as well be considered that such a will does not exist and that the testator died intestate. You may inherit the property this way as you are a legal heir but if other legal heirs also exist, which is quite probable, there is no guarantee that you may inherit this specific property. Therefore it would be better to create a new will that specifically mentions this property.

I hope this helps. Thank you for your time and patience!

Regards,

Aadil