Dev Lall (CEO) 26 March 2018

Will query

My Hindu Mother passed away and left a will. She owned a self aquired property in New Delhi. In the will she has not bequethed to the property to anyone. In the will she has left specific instructions that the property has to be sold on her demise and the proceeds of the sale are to be divided amongst

25% Her daughter

25% daughters daughter ie: granddaughter

25% each to the 2 children of the Son ie her grand children

She only has 2 tier 1 heirs ie 1 son and 1 daughter.

There is no dispute amongst any legal heirs.

We would like to know the following.

Is this considred an inheritance of property and therefore by virtue of that do we have to take courts permission to sell the property as there is a minor right in it?

If not then will the 2 legal heirs legally inherit the house and have to then proceed with the sale of the house. If not then how do we sell it and divide the proceeds as per the wish of the will.

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4 Replies

Vijay Raj Mahajan (Advocate) 26 March 2018

Will of the deceased supersede all laws of Succession. Get the Will probated from civil court and proceed with selling the the property as has been instructed in the Will. The proceeds of the property should be distributed as mentioned in the Will. The share of minors can be collected by the natural guardians and keep in bank account that the minors can get when attain age of majority. Stop all sort of speculations and don't try to misappropriation the shares of minors otherwise when they grow old, attain age of majority they can get you prosecuted for the criminal offences of cheating and misappropriation.

Dev Lall (CEO) 26 March 2018

Thank you for your prompt response. In the city of Delhi it is not mandatory to Probate the will. Due to the extensive amounts of all assets left in the will to all if we were to probate it the cost of probate (stamp duty) would almost exceed the sale consideration of the house. Please advise if this is possible without probate.

On the proceeds we plan to set up specific trusts in the name of the children especially since their ages are varying from 6 to 17 and deposit the monies there to ensure no mis appropriation.

Who will be the seller of the property since it is still in the name of the mother?

Kumar Doab (FIN) 26 March 2018

IT is not mandatory to probate the WILL at Delhi...

You have thought of a good option...

Submit the WILL to O/o Authority under whose jurisdiction property falls and complete the process of Testate Succession...and let the ILL de duly acted upon without any cloud on IT.. and get update mutations records...