Open reference
What a nomination actually does, asset by asset
Most Indian families believe a nomination decides who inherits. It does not. With one narrow exception, a nominee is a trustee — they receive the asset and hold it for whoever actually inherits under the will or under succession law. The gap between what people assume and what the law says is where disputes, frozen accounts and forgotten assets come from. This page maps the position for each asset class, and states what is required to transmit it with and without a nomination in place.
| Asset | What a nomination does | With a nomination | Without one |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listed shares held in demat Securities | Trustee only The Supreme Court settled this in 2023: a nomination under the Companies Act does not make the nominee the owner. They receive the shares and hold them for whoever inherits under succession law. Families routinely discover this only when one sibling assumes the shares are theirs. | Depository transmission form, death certificate, nominee's KYC and demat account. Shares move within weeks. | Transmission request through the DP. Below roughly ₹15 lakh per account, an affidavit, indemnity, NOC from the other heirs and a family settlement deed will usually do. Above that, a succession certificate, probate or letter of administration. |
| Physical share certificates Securities | Trustee only Physical transfer of shares has been barred since 2019. A certificate sitting in a cupboard cannot simply be signed over — it must go through the registrar and into a demat account first. | Same as demat, but the holding must be dematerialised. The registrar issues a letter of confirmation rather than a fresh certificate, and it has to be converted within the stated window. | As for demat holdings, with the added step of dematerialisation. Old certificates in a family's papers are the single most common source of forgotten wealth. |
| Mutual fund units Securities | Trustee only Every AMC sets its own documentation threshold, so the same estate can face different requirements at different fund houses. Folios in an old address or maiden name are frequently missed entirely. | Transmission form with the AMC or registrar, death certificate, the nominee's KYC and bank details. | Additional indemnity and NOC from other heirs. Above the AMC's threshold, commonly around ₹5 lakh, a succession certificate, probate or attested will is required. |
| Jointly held securities Securities | Survivorship, not title The survivor gets the holding but not necessarily the beneficial ownership. Where the deceased contributed the money, their heirs may still have a claim on the value. Joint holding solves access, not inheritance. | On the death of one holder the securities transmit to the survivors, with a death certificate and transmission form. | Survivorship operates automatically on the account, regardless of nomination. |
| Life insurance policy Insurance | Beneficial owner, if a close relative The important exception on this page. Since the 2015 amendment, where the nominee is a parent, spouse or child, they are beneficially entitled to the money — it is genuinely theirs, not held for the estate. Name anyone else and the older trustee rule applies again. | Claim form, death certificate and the nominee's identification. Payment goes to the nominee. | Claim by legal heirs with succession documents, which is slower and more contested. |
| Bank deposits Banking | Trustee only The Supreme Court held that a nominee under the banking legislation receives the money but does not become its owner. An 'either or survivor' mandate governs operation of the account, not who inherits the balance. | The bank pays the nominee on production of a death certificate and identification. | Simplified settlement with indemnity for smaller balances, thresholds varying by bank. Larger balances require a succession certificate. |
| Bank locker contents Banking | Access only Nomination here grants access, nothing more. Whatever comes out of the locker belongs to the estate and is divided under succession law, not kept by whoever opened it. | The nominee may open the locker and remove the contents, with an inventory prepared in the presence of witnesses. | Legal heirs jointly, with succession documents and the same inventory procedure. |
| Public Provident Fund Small savings | Trustee only The account cannot be continued by the nominee or the heirs. It closes on death and the balance is paid out, which sometimes forces a redeployment decision at an inconvenient moment. | The nominee receives the balance on the prescribed forms with a death certificate. | Claim by legal heirs; above the prescribed limit a succession certificate is needed. |
| Employees' Provident Fund Retirement | Stronger than most EPF nomination is treated more robustly than a company-law nomination, and in practice the nominee's entitlement is rarely disturbed. It is still safer to have the will agree with the nomination than to rely on the difference. | The nominee claims through the employer or the regional office using the standard claim forms. | Legal heirs claim with succession documents, which is materially slower. |
| National Pension System Retirement | Trustee only Nominations can be recorded at both the account and scheme level, and they are frequently left blank from onboarding. Worth checking rather than assuming. | The nominee applies through the point of presence with the withdrawal forms and a death certificate. | Legal heirs with succession documents. |
| Flat in a cooperative housing society Property | Membership, not ownership The Supreme Court has held that the society must transfer membership to the nominee, but that this does not decide ownership between the heirs. A nominee can hold the membership while the flat itself belongs to the estate. | The society transfers the share and membership to the nominee, giving them the right to occupy and vote. | The society follows its bye-laws, generally requiring heirs to produce succession documents. |
| Immovable property outside a society Property | No nomination exists Because there is nothing to nominate, this is the asset class where the absence of a will causes the most damage. It is also where probate is most often demanded. | Not applicable. There is no nomination mechanism for land or an independent house. | Passes strictly by will or by intestate succession, followed by mutation in the municipal and revenue records. |
| Sovereign Gold Bonds and gold ETFs Gold | Trustee only Physical gold and jewellery have no nomination mechanism at all and pass under the will or intestacy, which is why undocumented family gold produces so many disputes. | Transmission through the registrar or depository in the same way as any other security. | As for other securities, with the same thresholds. |
| Small savings certificates Small savings | Trustee only Certificates bought decades ago at a branch the family no longer uses are among the hardest assets to trace, since there is no central search facility for them. | The nominee claims at the post office or bank with a death certificate and the certificate itself. | Legal heirs with prescribed forms; above the limit, a succession certificate. |
Nothing in this map matches that filter.
The rules underneath the table
A nomination is a trusteeship, not a transfer
This is the single idea the whole page rests on. Naming a nominee tells the institution who to hand the asset to. It does not tell the law who owns it. The nominee receives, holds, and must account to whoever actually inherits under the will or under intestate succession. Almost everyone believes the opposite.
The one real exception: life insurance
Since 2015, where a life insurance nominee is a parent, spouse or child, that person is beneficially entitled to the proceeds. The money is theirs. Name a sibling, a friend or a more distant relative and the ordinary trustee rule returns. This is the only place in Indian personal finance where a nomination genuinely decides ownership.
Shares: settled by the Supreme Court in 2023
After years of conflicting High Court rulings, the Supreme Court confirmed that a nomination under the Companies Act does not override succession law. The nominee holds the shares for the heirs. Any family plan built on the belief that shares 'go to' the nominee needs revisiting.
Which law decides who inherits
India has no single succession law. Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs fall under the Hindu Succession Act. Christians and Parsis fall under the Indian Succession Act, with separate provisions for Parsis. Muslims follow uncodified personal law, under which only about a third of an estate can be disposed of by will without the heirs' consent. A marriage under the Special Marriage Act changes which law applies. The same family circumstances produce different answers depending on this.
Daughters and ancestral property
The 2005 amendment made daughters coparceners in a Hindu joint family, and the Supreme Court confirmed in 2020 that this right arises by birth and does not depend on whether the father was alive on any particular date. Older family arrangements made on the assumption that daughters were excluded are frequently wrong on the law.
When probate is actually required
For wills of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, probate is mandatory only where the will relates to immovable property within the jurisdictions of the former presidency towns — broadly Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Elsewhere it is optional in law, but banks, registrars and societies often demand it anyway, which is a practical requirement rather than a legal one.
Succession certificate, probate, letter of administration
Three different instruments, routinely confused. A succession certificate covers debts and securities where there is no will. Probate confirms a will and the executor's authority. A letter of administration is granted where there is no will, or a will with no working executor. Institutions ask for whichever fits, and asking for the wrong one costs months.
A will does not need to be registered
An unregistered will is perfectly valid. What it does need is two attesting witnesses who saw the testator sign. Registration adds evidentiary weight and makes the will harder to challenge, but its absence does not invalidate anything. A registered will that contradicts the nominations on the underlying assets still creates work for the family.
Changelog
- v1.0
- First publication. Fourteen asset classes mapped, eight underlying principles stated, thresholds recorded as indicative because institutions apply them inconsistently.
How to cite this
What a nomination actually does, asset by asset, version 1.0, August 2026. WealthNorth (Idopia Services Pvt Ltd). https://wealthnorth.in/pages/nomination-vs-will-india
Reuse is welcome with attribution. Thresholds are indicative: banks, registrars and societies apply them inconsistently, and several set their own. Corrections are recorded in the changelog rather than made silently.
Next step
Know what you hold before deciding who gets it
Aligning your will with your nominations only works if you know what exists. Most families find at least one holding they had forgotten — old share certificates, a dormant folio, a policy in a maiden name.
Idopia Services Pvt Ltd is an AMFI Registered Mutual Fund Distributor, ARN-331653. This page is a general reference on how nomination and succession interact. It is not legal, tax or investment advice, and no personalised recommendation is being made. Succession depends on which personal law applies to you, the terms of any will, and how individual institutions apply their own thresholds. Matters requiring a succession certificate, probate or letters of administration should be handled by a qualified lawyer. Where we assist with tracing or dematerialising holdings, that is administrative support charged as a stated fee; we also distribute mutual funds and may earn commission if recovered assets are subsequently invested through us.
Common questions
Nomination, wills and what happens next
Almost every family gets one thing wrong here, and usually the same thing. These cover the questions that follow once you realise a nominee is not an heir.
Yes, in almost every case. A nomination tells the bank, registrar or fund house who to hand the asset to. It does not tell the law who owns it. Without a will, ownership is decided by intestate succession, and the nominee simply holds the asset for whoever that turns out to be. Nomination solves access. A will solves inheritance. They are different problems.
Speed. With a nomination in place an institution can release the asset in weeks on a death certificate and basic identification. Without one, the same asset can take months and may need a succession certificate. The nominee's job is to receive the asset quickly and then pass it to the rightful heirs — which is genuinely useful, just not what most people think they are arranging.
One. Life insurance, where the nominee is a parent, spouse or child. Since the 2015 amendment those nominees are beneficially entitled — the money is theirs, not the estate's. Name a sibling, a friend or a more distant relative on the same policy and the ordinary trustee rule applies again. It is the only genuine exception in Indian personal finance.
That was a live legal argument for years, with High Courts disagreeing. The Supreme Court settled it in 2023: a nomination under the Companies Act does not override succession law. The nominee receives the shares and holds them for the heirs. Any family arrangement built on the older understanding is worth revisiting.
No. That mandate governs how the account is operated and who can withdraw. It does not determine who owns the balance when someone dies. The survivor can access the money; whether they get to keep it is a succession question.
The nominee may open it and remove the contents, with an inventory taken in front of witnesses. That is the entire effect. Whatever comes out belongs to the estate and is divided under succession law. Gold and documents from a locker are a frequent source of family disputes for exactly this reason.
It depends where the property is and which community you belong to. For Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, probate is mandatory only where the will covers immovable property within the jurisdictions of the former presidency towns — broadly Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Elsewhere it is optional in law. In practice banks, registrars and societies often demand it regardless, which is a commercial hurdle rather than a legal one.
Probate confirms a will and the executor's authority to act on it. A succession certificate covers debts and securities where there is no will. A letter of administration is granted where there is no will, or a will with no working executor. Institutions ask for whichever fits your situation, and applying for the wrong one costs months.
No. An unregistered will is fully valid. What it does need is two attesting witnesses who saw the testator sign. Registration adds evidentiary weight and makes a challenge harder, but its absence changes nothing about validity. Registering a will that contradicts your nominations still leaves your family with work to do.
Ideally yes, and this is the single most useful thing most families can do. Where they agree, the nominee receives the asset and is also the person entitled to it, so nothing is contested. Where they disagree, the nominee is legally obliged to hand over an asset they may believe is theirs — which is how siblings end up in court.
India has no single one. Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs come under the Hindu Succession Act. Christians and Parsis come under the Indian Succession Act, with separate provisions for Parsis. Muslims follow uncodified personal law, under which roughly a third of an estate can be left by will without the heirs' consent. A marriage under the Special Marriage Act changes which regime applies. Identical families get different answers.
Yes. The 2005 amendment made daughters coparceners in a Hindu joint family, and the Supreme Court confirmed in 2020 that the right arises by birth rather than depending on whether the father was alive on a particular date. A good many older family settlements were made on the opposite assumption and are wrong on the law.
The asset stays where it is until the heirs establish their entitlement. For small amounts most institutions accept an affidavit, an indemnity and no-objection letters from the other heirs. Above their thresholds you are into succession certificate territory, which means court, time and cost. This is the situation that turns ordinary savings into unclaimed assets.
No. It is a general map of how nomination and succession interact across asset classes, published so it can be checked and argued with. Your own position depends on which personal law applies, what your will says, where property sits and how each institution interprets its own thresholds. Anyone acting on this should take advice from a lawyer qualified in succession matters.