Myths about wills
Beliefs about wills, set against the law
Some beliefs about wills sound like law but are not. Each card below names one, then gives the fact and where the law says it. Most answers come from the Indian Succession Act, 1925. Its rules on wills apply to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains through the sections listed in Schedule III, and in full to Christians, Parsis, Jews and others. Wills made by Muslims follow Muslim personal law; our guide to them is in preparation.
Source and date. Every answer names its source, usually a note in our law library. Most of the law behind these answers was read in the official texts on India Code on 9 October 2026. Not legal advice. General information about Indian law, not legal advice about your situation. Waseeyat™ is not a law firm.
What a will needs, and what it does not
“A will must be on stamp paper.”
No. The Indian Stamp Act, 1899 charges no duty on a will. Its entries for gifts, trusts and appointments expressly leave wills out (Schedule I, Articles 7, 33 and 64). Some states have their own stamp laws, so check before you rely on this in your state. From the note: Making a valid will in India.
“A will needs a notary.”
No. Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, which sets the signing rules, does not require one. It asks for your signature or mark and at least two attesting witnesses. From the note: Making a valid will in India.
“A living will is the same as a will.”
No. The Indian Succession Act defines a will as the legal declaration of a person's intention about their property, to be carried out after their death (section 2(h)). A living will, also called an advance medical directive, records the circumstances in which medical treatment may be withheld or withdrawn. It comes into play only during your life, if you are terminally ill, under prolonged treatment with no hope of recovery or cure, and unable to decide (Supreme Court, Common Cause v. Union of India, order of 2023). The two are made differently too: since 2023, a living will is signed before two witnesses and attested before a notary or Gazetted Officer, and copies go to the people it names and to your family doctor. A will made with Waseeyat does not deal with medical treatment. From the notes: Living wills: advance medical directives; Making a valid will in India.
“A will only counts once it is registered.”
No. Registering a will is optional (Registration Act, 1908, section 18(e)), and a will may be presented for registration at any time (section 27). If you choose to register, fees and procedures are set by each state, so ask the state's registration department before you go. From the note: Registering or depositing a will.
“A will can be signed online.”
No. Indian law does not let a will be made with an electronic signature. The Information Technology Act, 2000, the law that gives electronic signatures legal effect, does not apply to a will or a codicil (section 1(4) and the First Schedule, entry 4). So no kind of electronic signing, including a code sent to your phone or an Aadhaar-based signature, can meet the signing rules in section 63 of the Indian Succession Act. A will is printed, signed in ink or with a thumb mark, and witnessed on paper. From the note: A will cannot be signed electronically.
“Someone who is old or ill cannot make a will.”
Not so. Under the Indian Succession Act, every person of sound mind who is not a minor can make a will (section 59). Being very weak or ill does not by itself prevent a valid will, if the person can still judge how to dispose of their property. But no one can make a will while illness, intoxication or anything else leaves them unable to know what they are doing. From the note: Making a valid will in India.
Witnesses, registration and proof
“A beneficiary can never be a witness.”
It depends on the law that governs your will. For Christians, Parsis, Jews and others, if a witness, or a witness's husband or wife, is given anything under the will, that gift is void: the gift fails, though the will itself is still properly attested (Indian Succession Act, section 67). For Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains, section 67 does not apply to their wills, 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 (anyone who receives something under the will), and no beneficiary's husband or wife, witnesses a will, because a beneficiary closely involved in the signing invites questions in court. From the note: Witnesses to a will.
“Both witnesses must be there at the same time.”
Not in law. Each witness must see you sign or put your mark, or see someone sign for you in your presence and at your direction, or receive your personal acknowledgment of the signature or mark, and then sign in your presence. The two need not be present at the same time, and no special form of words is needed (Indian Succession Act, section 63). Waseeyat's signing kit still asks both witnesses to be with you together for the whole signing. That is our recommendation, not a legal rule. From the note: Witnesses to a will.
“Once a will is registered, it does not need to be proved.”
No. Registration does not remove the need to prove the will. A registered document can usually be proved without calling an attesting witness, but that exception expressly leaves out wills (Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, India's law of evidence, section 67, proviso). So a registered will must still be proved through an attesting witness, if one is alive and able to give evidence. From the note: Registering or depositing a will.
“A website can tell you whether your will is valid.”
No. No website, including Waseeyat, can tell you whether a paper will is valid. Only a court can decide that. Before a court acts on a will, it has to be proved, and at least one attesting witness must be called, if one is alive, within the court's reach and able to give evidence (Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, section 67). From the note: Witnesses to a will.
Changing or cancelling a will
“You can correct a signed will with a pen.”
Not on its own. Under the Indian Succession Act, a crossing-out, an insertion or any other change made after the will was signed has no effect unless the change is itself signed and witnessed like a will (section 71). And words that a change has made impossible to read cannot be relied on. The safer course is not to write on a signed will at all: make a codicil (a later document that changes or adds to a will) or a new will instead. From the note: Changing or revoking a will.
“Getting married always cancels a will.”
It depends on the law that governs your will. For Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains, marriage does not revoke (cancel) a will (proviso to section 57; Schedule III, item 4). For Christians, Parsis, Jews and others, marriage revokes every earlier will, with one narrow exception (section 69). If that is your law and you marry, make a new will. From the note: Changing or revoking a will.
“Telling your family you have changed your mind cancels a will.”
No. A will is revoked only in the ways the law allows: by a later will or codicil; by a written document that declares the intention to revoke it, signed and witnessed like a will; by burning, tearing or otherwise destroying it, done by you, or by someone in your presence and at your direction, with the intention of revoking it; and, for Christians, Parsis, Jews and others, also by marriage (Indian Succession Act, section 70). From the note: Changing or revoking a will.
“Tearing up a newer will brings back the older one.”
No. Under the Indian Succession Act, a will that has been revoked comes back into force only if it is signed and witnessed again, or by a codicil, signed and witnessed, that shows the intention to revive it (section 73). Destroying a later will does not by itself bring an earlier one back. From the note: Changing or revoking a will.
Probate, the original, and the estate
“You cannot rely on a will in court without probate.”
Not as a rule of the Indian Succession Act any more. Section 213 made probate or letters of administration a condition for establishing a right as executor or beneficiary in court, in the cases it covered. The Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 omitted it from 20 December 2025. An executor is the person a will appoints to carry it out (section 2(c)). Probate is still available: it is a copy of the will issued under a court's seal, together with a grant of administration of the estate (section 2(f)). From the note: Probate and succession certificates after December 2025.
“Since that change, no court document is ever needed.”
Not so. A court will still not order a debtor of the deceased to pay a person who says they are entitled by succession, unless that person produces probate, letters of administration (another grant from a court), a succession certificate that names the debt, or one of a few older certificates (Indian Succession Act, section 214). A succession certificate is applied for to the District Judge (section 372). In practice, banks and companies may ask for one of these before they release money or securities, so ask the institution what it needs. These are court proceedings: an empanelled advocate can handle them for a fixed fee quoted before the work starts, once this service opens. From the note: Probate and succession certificates after December 2025.
“If the original will is lost, nothing can be done.”
Not necessarily. If the original was lost or mislaid after the death, or destroyed by wrong or 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). A scan helps, but a 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). So keep the original safe, and tell your executor where it is. From the note: Probate and succession certificates after December 2025.
“Anyone in the family can start sorting out the estate straight away.”
Take care. A person who deals with the estate, or does anything that belongs to the executor's office, while there is no rightful executor or administrator, becomes in law an “executor of his own wrong” (Indian Succession Act, section 303). 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. From the note: After a death: what an executor does.
“My nominee will inherit.”
Not necessarily. A nominee is the person a bank, company or fund pays, or transfers an asset to, after your death. For bank deposits and for shares, the Supreme Court has held that a nomination does not by itself make the nominee the owner: your will or, without one, the law of succession decides who keeps the asset (Ram Chander Talwar v. Devender Kumar Talwar, 2010; Shakti Yezdani v. Jayanand Jayant Salgaonkar, 2023). Life insurance has its own rule. If you nominate your parents, spouse or children on a life policy on your own life, they are beneficially entitled to the money (Insurance Act, 1938, section 39(7)), though High Courts disagree on whether that gives way to the heirs. From the note: Nominations and your will.
A will designed against the reasons courts reject wills
Waseeyat is opening soon. It is built to help you make a will designed against the reasons Indian courts reject wills, printed for you to sign in ink before two witnesses. Until sign-up opens, the law library is open to read.
Read the notes Almost every answer on this page comes from a note in our law library, with its sources. Open the law library
More guides Will basics, signing it right, registering or depositing, and what follows a loss. All Sunset Literacy guides