Wills, Trusts & Succession

Our work includes the drafting and registration of wills, the creation of private and public and charitable trusts, and succession planning for families and family businesses, including the structuring and partition of a Hindu Undivided Family and the recording of family arrangements and settlements. We handle probate, letters of administration, and succession certificate applications, and disputes over the genuineness and due execution of a will, undue influence, and the rights of legal heirs under the Hindu, Muslim, and Christian succession laws.

A will that is properly drafted and registered is the clearest expression of a person's wishes, and it spares the family the cost and bitterness of a succession dispute. We advise on the form of the will, the appointment of executors, the creation of specific bequests, and the treatment of jointly held property. Where a trust is the better vehicle, whether for a charitable purpose, for the benefit of minor children, or for the orderly management of a family business across generations, we draft the trust deed and advise on its registration and administration.

Succession disputes are among the most painful matters a family can face. They arise most often where a will is challenged as not genuine, as made under undue influence, or as failing to meet the formal requirements of the law. They also arise where a person dies without a will and the heirs disagree on the distribution of the estate. We act for the executor and beneficiary seeking to give effect to a will and for the heir who says the will is not genuine, and where a family wishes to divide property by agreement we help them record it properly so that it holds.

The law of succession in India is not uniform. The Hindu Succession Act governs Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs. The Indian Succession Act governs Christians, Parsis, and in most cases persons who have made a will. Muslims are governed by their personal law. The rules on who inherits, in what share, and whether a will can override those rules differ across these systems, and the advice we give is tailored to the personal law of the client.

These matters are taken through the civil courts, the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, and the Supreme Court of India where the question and the value require it. We also advise on the stamp duty and registration requirements for wills and trust deeds, and on the income tax and capital gains implications of a succession or a family settlement.