Sunset Literacy: after a loss
After a loss: what happens next, one step at a time
If there is a will, the executor named in it carries it out. The law sets the order: funeral costs, the costs of the estate and the deceased's debts first, and only then the gifts the will makes. This page takes each step in turn, with its source.
If there is no will. This page is about a death where there is a will. When there is none, the law that applies to the person who died decides who inherits, and in what shares. Our guide explains it, community by community, with its sources. From the note: When there is no will: who inherits. Read: when there is no willGeneral information, not legal advice. This page explains Indian law in general. It is not advice about your situation, and Waseeyat™ is not a law firm. The Acts behind it were read in the official texts on India Code on 9 October 2026.
What the family can do now, and what to leave to the executor
In the first days, the family may need to arrange the funeral, look after the person's belongings and meet the family's immediate needs. The law draws a line between these and doing the executor's work.
A caution: the "executor of his own wrong"
If there is no rightful executor or administrator, a person who deals with the estate (what the person left), or does anything that belongs to the executor's office, becomes in law an "executor of his own wrong" (Indian Succession Act, section 303). An administrator is a person a court appoints. From the note: After a death: what an executor does.
What does not count
Looking after the deceased's belongings to preserve them, paying for the funeral, or meeting the family's immediate needs does not have that effect (section 303). Our advice: before doing anything more, wait for the executor, or ask an advocate. From the note: After a death: what an executor does.
A year before the gifts must be handed over
The executor does not have to pay or hand over a legacy, that is, a gift the will makes, until one year after the death, even if the will says it should be paid sooner (section 337). From the note: After a death: what an executor does.
Where to look for the will
Start with the original: the signed paper. Here is where it may be, and what happens if it cannot be found.
Where the person kept it
The person may have told the executor, or someone close, where the original is. Look there first. Our guidance asks everyone who makes a will to tell their executor where the original is. From the note: Registering or depositing a will.
With a Registrar, in a sealed cover
If the will was deposited with a Registrar, the cover is opened on an application. The Registrar first makes sure of the death, then opens the cover with the applicant present. The will is copied into Book No. 3 at the applicant's expense, and the Registrar keeps the original (Registration Act, 1908, section 45). Procedures are set by each state, so ask the state's registration department how to apply. From the note: Registering or depositing a will.
If the will was made with Waseeyat
Look for the evidence page. It may be kept with the original, or have been given to the executor. It is headed "This page is not part of your will" and gives the document ID and the address to write to. Waseeyat keeps a record of how the will was prepared. It is not the will, and it cannot prove that the will was signed or witnessed.
Who can receive that record
The executor named in the will can receive it, or the backup executor if the executor cannot act. It must be the will the person recorded in their account as signed, and we must first have checked the death and who the executor is. The scan of the signed will goes with the record, if one was linked. The holder of a grant of probate or letters of administration can also receive it, once we have checked the grant with the court, and so can a court or the police on a written order. Nobody else.
How to ask
Write to the address on the evidence page, quoting the document ID. There is no online form. For a request from an executor, we first email the person who made the will, at their own address, and nothing is released for at least 7 days. A release to an executor or to a grant holder needs a second, different person at Waseeyat to approve it. Apart from that record and the scan of the signed will, Waseeyat gives no one anything in the vault after a death unless the law requires it.
If the original cannot be found
If the original will was lost or mislaid after the death, or destroyed by someone's wrongful act or by accident and not by the person who made it, a court may grant probate of a copy or draft (Indian Succession Act, section 237). If there is no copy or draft, probate may be granted of the will's contents, if they can be proved by evidence (section 238). The court will still need to be told how the original was lost, and to have the signing and witnessing proved (Supreme Court of India: Jagmail Singh v. Karamjit Singh, 13 May 2020; Dhanpat v. Sheo Ram, 19 March 2020). From the note: Probate and succession certificates after December 2025.
What an executor is, and what they must do
The executor is the person a will appoints to carry it out (Indian Succession Act, section 2(c)). If you have been named, here is what the law asks of you.
You stand in for the person who died
Property that passes by survivorship
Collect what belongs to the estate
Provide for the funeral
Debts first, then the gifts
The executor pays in this order. Every debt must be paid before any gift the will makes.
Funeral and death-bed costs
Funeral expenses of a reasonable amount, and death-bed charges, including medical fees and board and lodging for the month before death, are paid before all debts (section 320). From the note: After a death: what an executor does.The costs of the estate
The costs of probate or letters of administration come next, including any court proceedings needed to administer the estate (section 321). From the note: After a death: what an executor does.Wages owed, then debts with priority
Wages due for services in the three months before death by a labourer, artisan or domestic servant are paid next, and then the other debts according to any priorities they have (section 322). From the note: After a death: what an executor does.All other debts, in proportion
All other debts are paid equally and rateably, as far as the estate goes, with no creditor ahead of another (section 323). Rateably means in proportion to what each is owed. From the note: After a death: what an executor does.Then the gifts in the will
Every debt must be paid before any legacy, that is, any gift the will makes (section 325). From the note: After a death: what an executor does.
Keeping account, and handing over the gifts
What the executor files in court if probate or letters of administration are granted, and when a gift under the will is complete.
An inventory within six months of a grant
An account within one year of a grant
The executor's assent
Probate after December 2025
Since 20 December 2025, the Indian Succession Act no longer makes probate a condition for an executor or a beneficiary to establish their rights under a will in court. Probate is still available, and some court documents are still needed before a debt owed to the deceased can be recovered through a court.
What changed
Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 required probate or letters of administration before a right as executor or legatee (a person who receives a gift under the will) could be established in court, in the cases it covered. The Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 (Act 37 of 2025) omitted (removed) section 213 with effect from 20 December 2025. From the note: Probate and succession certificates after December 2025.
What probate is
Probate is a copy of the will issued under a court's seal, together with a grant of administration of the estate (section 2(f)). A court grants it only to an executor the will appoints (section 222). It is applied for by a petition with the will attached (section 276). From the note: Probate and succession certificates after December 2025.
What probate does
Once granted, probate establishes the will from the date of death, and makes valid everything the executor did in the meantime (section 227). From the note: Probate and succession certificates after December 2025.
When a court document is still needed
To recover a debt owed to the deceased through a court, a person who says they are entitled to it by succession must produce one of these: probate or letters of administration; a succession certificate under Part X of the Act that names the debt; or one of a few older certificates listed in section 214. Without one, a court will not order the debtor to pay them, and will not enforce the debt (section 214). From the note: Probate and succession certificates after December 2025.
Applying for a succession certificate
A succession certificate is applied for to the District Judge, by a petition that is signed and confirmed as true in the way the law requires (section 372). From the note: Probate and succession certificates after December 2025.
Banks and companies may ask
In practice, banks and companies may ask for one of these documents before they release money or securities. Ask the institution what it needs. From the note: Probate and succession certificates after December 2025.
Court work by an empanelled advocate, at a fixed fee quoted first
Probate, letters of administration and succession certificates are court proceedings. An empanelled advocate handles them for a fixed fee quoted before the work starts, and signs their own work. This service is not open yet.
A fixed fee, agreed first Every matter is different, so the fee is quoted, not listed. The quote is a fixed amount, agreed before you commit. The court fee for your state is stated to you before anything is filed.
What we do not do Waseeyat itself does not appear before any court, and we give no assurance about the outcome or how long the court takes. We never take a share of anyone's estate.
Independent advocates The advocate is independently responsible for their own work and signs it. We do not rank, rate or advertise advocates.
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