Mostly it is assumed that if a person has died in foreign country and was residing in that country and so are his legal heirs; the law of inheritance applicable that of the country of his residence. The assumption drawn is that the successor is the next of kin which is mostly the spouse or children/child (if the spouse has died/divorced). This practice is mostly in the western countries. The prescribed laws are different in India. Where the property of the deceased is in India (irrespective of the country the deceased was living at the time of death or what his resident status was); the laws of India will be applicable. In India, succession/inheritance is the process of inheriting the assets which includes cash, jewellery, land, house or any property upon the death of a person. The succession by the legal heirs or next of kin is either based on the general principles laid down as per the law (it is referred to intestate succession) or the Will of the deceased. Succession rules apply differently to different communities. Hindus, Sikhs, Jains are governed the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. The Indian Succession Act 1925 is for Christians, Parsis etc. and the Muslim law is applicable to Muslims. The Indian Succession Act was established to lay down rules regarding the issuing of succession certificates/Letter of Administration/Probate. They are defined as a legally binding that verifies the authenticity or genuineness of an heirs/will once an individual has become deceased. It also gives the heir the right to inherit assets previously owned by the dead. Its primary function is to assist the heir in collecting debts that the deceased was entitled to and ensure that the succession laws are duly followed. It also affords protection to people paying back their obligations to the recently dead while he or she was alive. In India, banks and financial institutions ask for a succession certificate when releasing funds to a certain nominee who might not be registered as the legal beneficiary. In such circumstances, arguments and fights are bound to arise, and it is here that the certificate holds the most value. The document once assessed leads to the resolution of such disputes by legally deciding to whom the money must go to in situations like these. Similarly, it comes handy, when a large inheritance allowance is to be issued, and the heir’s legitimacy has to be validated.
The succession laws in foreign courtiers are different from India. The question is which law applies to the property of a foreigner and especially a non resident Indian in many countries can be complex. The property in which country it is situated, the applicable law may be either:
- Its own law;
- The law of that country where the owner is residing
- The owner’s national law.
The one of most typical case is that it applies to law of the country where property is situated which mean his law will send back the matter to the country of location. In most of the cases where a particular conflict occurs the local courts of the country will accept that they have jurisdiction and apply their own law to the inheritance of the property.Any Non-Resident Indian has a property in India owned by his deceased father/mother or relatives; for him to seek mutation in his name or that of his heirs; he will have to follow the due process of law in India. Even if there was a Will of the deceased in the foreign country; the legal heirs/beneficiaries shall have to obtain the No Objections from other heirs/obtain a probate/seek an order of the court to authenticate the Will.