A will needs at least two witnesses. Choose adults who know you, who receive nothing under the will, and who can be found years from now, because one of them may have to tell a court what they saw.
What a witness does
Under section 63(c) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, each witness must have seen you sign or put your mark on the will, or seen another person sign it for you in your presence and at your direction, or have received your personal acknowledgment of the signature or mark. Each witness then signs the will in your presence. The two witnesses need not be there at the same time, and no special form of words is required.
Can a beneficiary be a witness?
It depends on the law that governs your will.
- Christians, Parsis, Jews and others (Part VI applies in full): if a witness, or the witness's husband or wife, is given anything under the will, that gift is void. The will itself is still properly attested; only the witness's gift fails (section 67).
- Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains: section 67 is not among the sections Schedule III applies to their wills (section 57), so a gift to a witness does not fail on that ground.
In both cases, a person is not disqualified as a witness to prove the will just because they have an interest in it or are its executor (section 68).
Waseeyat still recommends that no beneficiary, and no husband or wife of a beneficiary, witnesses the will. A beneficiary who is closely involved in the signing invites questions in court; see the note "Why courts reject wills".
Why the witnesses matter later
A will has to be proved before a court acts on it. Under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, a document the law requires to be attested cannot be used as evidence until at least one attesting witness has been called to prove it, if one is alive, within the court's reach and able to give evidence (section 67).
Registering the will does not change this. The exception for registered documents in section 67 expressly leaves out wills.
If no attesting witness can be found, it must be proved that at least one witness's attestation is in that witness's handwriting, and that the signature of the person who made the will is in their handwriting (section 68).
Waseeyat's witness checklist
- Adults of sound mind.
- People who know you personally.
- Not a beneficiary, and not a beneficiary's husband or wife.
- Likely to be reachable for many years, so younger rather than older.
- Record each witness's full name, parent's name, address and phone number. Waseeyat never asks for a full Aadhaar number.
Sources
- The Indian Succession Act, 1925 (Act 39 of 1925), sections 57, 63, 67, 68 and Schedule III. India Code consolidated text as on 19 June 2026, read 9 October 2026: https://indiacode.gov.in/act/3eeb6aec-1e1f-42d4-9673-c04d21829663
- The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (Act 47 of 2023), sections 67 and 68. India Code consolidated text as on 6 October 2025, read 9 October 2026: https://indiacode.gov.in/act/9e461245-2c13-4171-9d9d-267425c01e1d
General information about Indian law, not legal advice. Waseeyat is not a law firm.