Money recovery
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 19 January 2022
This query is : Resolved
Respected experts in this platform,
My husband died 20days ago he had received 2 cheques in his name of Rs.5L each,
please advise me how can I recover the cheque money, what is the legal procedure is as the bank manager refused to lend me the money,
and the nominee is already dead so I am only the next legal hair to receive the cheque amount.
so please advise me of the procedure.
kavksatyanarayana
(Expert) 20 January 2022
From whom and for which purpose was the checks received in your husband's name? Why are you going to borrow? Are the checks your husband's own money? Your query is not clear.
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 21 January 2022
above expert, I am a housewife so I don't know for what purpose the cheque was issued to my husband in his name, how can I withdraw the money as the deceased husband's wife?
kavksatyanarayana
(Expert) 21 January 2022
First observed from it was received. You shall obtain the death certificate of your husband and legal heirs/family members certificate from authorities concerned and then produce those certificates in the bank.
SHIRISH PAWAR, 7738990900
(Expert) 21 January 2022
Hello,
Yes, you have to get legal heirship certificate from court for withdrawing money from bank.
You should know the transaction under which the cheques were received. Otherwise your case may fail in court.
Shubham Bhardwaj
(Expert) 21 January 2022
Dear Mam,
Your query is not clear but I ll try to answer to best of my understanding.
1. If the cheque have not been encashed as of now, then simply put the cheques in clearing. The amount will get cleared and get deposited in bank account of your husband. Then you may withdraw/transfer the same using debit card or internet banking (although this route is not strictly legal however there is no offence so no worries). If there is no debit card or internet banking you may have to then move the appropriate authority (in some States, SDM is the designated authority) for heir certificate as the bank will not let you withdraw the same unless they have a legal document. In my opinion, court proceedings will not be required as there is no Will for probate.
2. If the amount has already been encashed and is deposited in husband's account then do as in 1 above (except the cheque depositing part).
Regards
Shubham Bhardwaj (Advocate)
District & Session Court, Chandigarh
Punjab & Haryana High Court, at Chandigarh
Disclaimer:- Opinion is only for guidance.
K Rajasekharan
(Expert) 21 January 2022
Your question is clear. It has enough details for anyone to answer it.
The problem here is that the nominee is already dead. Otherwise, the nominee could have got the total amount transferred to his account by submitting the death certificate and a plain paper application containing the details of both the accounts.
Crediting any amount to the deceased person’s account is not a problem but debiting any amount is not allowed except to the nominee or legal heir. So, cheques can be credited to his account right now. Whoever presents the cheque is immaterial but encashing the cheque by yourself, which amounts to an offence of forgery, is an illegal route. The bank will freeze the account when they learn about the death.
Since you are the legal heir, you can claim the balance amount in your husband’s account by producing a Succession Certificate from a civil court, indicating that you are the only legal heir and the death certificate. Succession Certificate requires normally two or more months. It follows some simple procedure called summary procedure but requires newspaper publication for inviting objections if any.
If your state has the practice of issuing legal heir certificate by the revenue authorities, as it is there in Kerala and if the bank is ready to discharge the amount accepting such a certificate (please ensure it beforehand), you can seek that option too.
To have a broad understanding relating to the certificates in this regard and their purposes, please have a look at may article at https://lawwatch.in/law-relating-to-succession-other-certificates/
Sudhir Kumar, Advocate 
(Expert) 28 January 2022
all experts above have tried level best based on the sketchy information given. Full facts will be needed by any lawyer for understanding the problem.
