Registered and unregistered will
rea
(Querist) 04 May 2013
This query is : Resolved
20 yrs before his death, my father registered a will with my mother as beneficiary. Again 2 yrs before his death, he wrote a will with my mother as beneficiary but did not register it. We made use of the last will. But now some of our relatives are creating problems regarding the property for us. They are saying that unregistered will has no value. Can we use the registered will now after using the unregistered will?
Advocate M.Bhadra
(Expert) 04 May 2013
Registration of WILL is not compulsory,last WILL left by the Testator is valid and it should be granted by the Court through a Probate Case.You can file the said WILL you have in the Court with sending Notice to others legal heirs and successors.
WILLS UNDER INDIAN SUCCESSION ACT, 1925 S.2(h) of Indian Succession Act, 1925 provides that Will means the legal declaration of the intention of a person with respect to his property, which he desires to take effect after his death. -is an untitled document which state after the death of a person making the deposition. -can be revoked , modify or substituted by the person executing the Will at any point of time during his/her life time. -for executing the Will the person must be fully competent, as much as he/she should not be a minor and should not be a person of unsound mind, as per Section 59 of the Indian Succession Act. -has to be signed by the executor of the Will and has to be attested by at least two witnesses. -Will under law is not required to be compulsory registered.
CASE LAWS In the Allahabad High Court held in Testamentary Case No. 28 of 2005 that the Indian Succession Act does not provide any limitation to probate the Will. Any other application for which no period of limitation is provided elsewhere, the Limitation Act 1963 would be applicable which provides that the period of limitation will be three years as per the Article 137 of the Limitation Act 1963.
On filling the probate proceedings all the legal heirs will get the notices from the court for filling objections if any. If the heir does not appear before the court it will be presumed that such person has no objection to the grant of probate. Children and spouses of the deceased brothers and sister can also file objections to the grant of probate. Will can only be challenged if it is not properly executed or it was not properly attested by the witnesses or the person in fact had not executed at all or the person executed the Will was influenced by the beneficiaries or the beneficiaries had taken interest in the execution of the WILL. Giving of no objection is not necessary but the presumption will be drawn as stated above. But if no objection is given in court, it would be better.
R.K Nanda
(Expert) 04 May 2013
last will is the valid one now.
