LEGAL HEIRSHIP CERTIFICATE

A Legal Heirship Certificate is issued by a tahsildar. A tahsildar is an officer of the revenue branch of the State.A tahsildar has no right to decide on disputed issues of title or succession. Prior to the issue of the certificate a enquiry must be undertaken by the tahsildar through his functionaries to ascertain the legal heirs of the deceased, so far as may be possible. A certificate will be issued on the basis thereof.

This certificate is useful for certain very, very limited purposes, such as mutation of revenue records etc.... However, in case of any dispute, or a more formal certificate is required, a person claiming rights under a deceased has the option to apply to the competent court for the issuance of a Succession Certificate.

Irrespective of the above, if there are disputes between the various parties claiming to be heirs of the deceased, these may be resolved by the parties either amicably or through court. In all these cases, the Heir Certificate becomes insignificant.

Hence, A Legal Heirship Certificate assumes importance in a scene where there is no dispute regarding the persons entitled to succeed to the estate of a deceased person. It cannot be relied on to establish title of any kind. It is not final and binding. Any person who believes that he too is a legal heir, will always be entitled to ignore such Legal Heirship Certificate and institute appropriate proceedings before a competent court.The court which is called upon to adjudicate in such proceedings will decide the matter on the basis of direct evidence laid before it.

A person who relies on a Legal Heir Certificate can therefore do so if he is reasonably certain that there are no disputes between the parties who assert claims to the estate of the deceased.

Dear Vishal you have expalined in detail on the subject  

The MROs / Thasildars -now a days -are issuing only depndents Certificate , and making a Note that the Certificate isonly  for the pupose of Govt  / Service Pension benifits .

The Certificate issued by Thasildar  is not final conclusion of the Legal Heirs or Sccesors

agree with my friends. certificate issued by tehsildar can be coreboreted by other evidences e.g family register, ration card etc.

SUCCESSION CERTIFICATE IS BETTER VALID THEN LEGAL HEIRSHIP CERTIFICATE .

A legal heriship certificate is not a conclusive proof and cannot be produced in a court of law as a piece of evidence. 

What is the difference between Succession Certificate and Letter of Administration??