Sunset Literacy: nominations
Nominations and your will: who receives, and who keeps
A nominee is the person a bank, company or fund pays, or transfers an asset to, after your death. For bank deposits and shares, that does not by itself make the nominee the owner. Your will or, if there is none, the law of succession decides who keeps it. Life insurance has its own rule when you nominate a parent, spouse or child.
Who this page is for. Anyone who has named a nominee, or is about to, for a bank account, a locker, shares, mutual funds, life insurance, a provident fund, a government savings scheme or a housing-society flat, and anyone helping a parent with theirs. The Acts, rules and directions behind it were read in the official texts on 21 October 2026, and the judgments in their full text the same day. General information, not legal advice. This page explains Indian law in general. It is not advice about your situation. Waseeyat™ is not a law firm, and does not give investment, tax or insurance advice.
Receiving is not the same as keeping
A nomination and a will do different jobs. The Supreme Court has explained the difference.
What a nomination does
It is not a will
Life insurance is different
Up to four nominees for a bank deposit
Since 1 November 2025, the Banking Regulation Act lets you name up to four nominees for a deposit. Before, it allowed one.
One after another, or all at once
For a deposit, you can nominate up to four persons, either successively or simultaneously. Banking Regulation Act, 1949, section 45ZA, as amended by the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025.
Successively
One nominee at a time, in the order you set. A lower nominee takes only after every nominee above them has died. If you set no order, the order of the names counts. Banking Regulation Act, section 45ZG.
Simultaneously
All at once, each with a share you state as a percentage, and the shares together must cover the whole deposit. If these terms are not met, the nomination is invalid, as if none had been made. If one of these nominees dies before receiving the money, only that person's part is treated as having no nominee. Banking Regulation Act, section 45ZA(1B).
Lockers and safe custody
For a locker, or for articles left with a bank in safe custody, you can nominate up to four persons, but only successively. Banking Regulation Act, sections 45ZC and 45ZE.
Joint accounts
For a joint deposit, the nominee comes in only after all the depositors have died, and a nomination can be cancelled or changed only by all of them together. Banking Regulation Act, section 45ZA(1); Banking Companies (Nomination) Rules, 2025, rule 2.
On paper or online
You can nominate on the form attached to the Rules, or online where your bank offers it. A will is different: Indian law does not let a will be made with an electronic signature, so it is printed, signed in ink or with a thumb mark, and witnessed on paper. Banking Companies (Nomination) Rules, 2025, rule 2; from the note: A will cannot be signed electronically.
Read: a will cannot be signed electronicallyCo-operative banks too
These sections of the Banking Regulation Act apply to co-operative banks as well. Banking Regulation Act, section 56.
Who keeps the money
On your death, the nominee becomes entitled to all your rights in the deposit, to the exclusion of all others. The Supreme Court has held that this lets the nominee receive the money but does not make them its owner. The money is part of your estate, and passes under the rules of succession that govern you. Banking Regulation Act, section 45ZA(2); Supreme Court, Ram Chander Talwar v. Devender Kumar Talwar, 2010.
With a nominee, the bank must not insist on probate
The Reserve Bank of India's directions to commercial banks, in the version updated on 1 April 2026, set out how a bank deals with a nominee. The Reserve Bank has updated them since, and we could not read the later versions, so ask your bank how it applies them today.
When you open an account
The bank must explain nomination, and must not refuse or delay your account only because you decline to nominate. It must acknowledge a nomination within three working days, and your passbook, statement or term deposit receipt must show "Nomination Registered" with the nominee's name. RBI directions to commercial banks, as updated on 1 April 2026.
No court papers from a nominee
After a death, the bank must not insist on probate, a succession certificate, letters of administration or an indemnity bond, whatever the amount. Probate is a copy of the will certified under a court's seal; the other two are also granted by a court. The bank asks for its form, the death certificate and an officially valid document (a proof of identity) for the nominee. RBI directions to commercial banks, as updated on 1 April 2026.
Received for the heirs
For the payment to release the bank, the bank must have made clear to the nominee, in writing, that they receive the money as a trustee of the legal heirs: they hold it for the people who inherit. RBI directions to commercial banks, as updated on 1 April 2026.
Within 15 days
The time limit is 15 calendar days from the day the bank receives all the documents. For a deposit, if a delay is the bank's fault, it must pay interest for the delay. For a locker or safe custody, it must pay a fixed sum for each day it misses the time limit. RBI directions to commercial banks, as updated on 1 April 2026.
Lockers
The nominee is told that access is given only as a trustee of the legal heirs. The contents are listed in an inventory before two independent witnesses who are not bank employees or former employees. RBI directions to commercial banks, as updated on 1 April 2026.
Without a nominee
The bank asks for more documents. If there is an undisputed will, the bank may choose to act on it without probate, but that is at the bank's discretion, not a right. RBI directions to commercial banks, as updated on 1 April 2026.
Other banks
Urban co-operative banks follow their own directions, with the same 15-day limit in the version updated on 1 April 2026. The Reserve Bank has updated those directions since, and we could not read the later version. Other kinds of bank have their own directions too, so ask your bank. RBI directions to urban co-operative banks, as updated on 1 April 2026.
Life insurance: a rule of its own
A parent, spouse or child you nominate on a policy on your own life is "beneficially entitled" to the money, meaning entitled to it for their own benefit. Anyone else you nominate is not covered by that rule. High Courts disagree on how this fits with the law of succession.
Before the 2015 change
Under section 39 as it stood before the 2015 amendment, a nomination only showed who was authorised to receive the money. The nominee had no beneficial interest, meaning no right to keep it, and the heirs could take it under the law of succession that governed them. Supreme Court, Sarabati Devi v. Usha Devi, 1983.
The beneficial nominee
If you hold a life policy on your own life and nominate your parents, your spouse, your children, or your spouse and children, or any of them, they are "beneficially entitled" to the amount payable. The exception is where it is proved that, because of how you held the policy, you could not give them that right. Insurance Act, 1938, section 39(7).
Which policies
The rule applies to policies that mature for payment after the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Act, 2015 came into force. India Code dates that change from 26 December 2014. Insurance Act, 1938, section 39(10).
If the nominee dies first, and debts
If a beneficial nominee survives you but dies before being paid, their share goes to their own heirs or legal representatives. Your creditors' right to be paid out of the policy money is not affected. Insurance Act, 1938, section 39(8) and (9).
Anyone else you nominate
The rule covers only parents, spouse and children. It does not cover a brother, a friend or anyone else you nominate. Insurance Act, 1938, section 39(7).
Not settled yet
High Courts have given different answers on whether the beneficial-nominee rule gives way to the law of succession when the heirs ask for their shares. We found no Supreme Court ruling on it when we read the texts on 21 October 2026. From the note: Nominations and your will.
Changing a nomination by will
Before the policy matures, you can change or cancel a nomination by an endorsement (a written change made on the policy) or by a will. Until the insurance company has written notice of the change, it is not liable for paying, in good faith, the nominee on its record. Our advice: if your will changes a nomination, send the company written notice too. Insurance Act, 1938, section 39(2).
The 2025 amendment
The Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025 came into force on 5 February 2026, except for one section. It did not change the beneficial-nominee rule: its only change to section 39 is a drafting one. Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025.
Provident funds: keep the nomination current
Provident fund nominations follow their own rules, and a marriage can end an old one.
A new EPF Scheme
The Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 2026, made by a notification dated 29 June 2026, replaced the 1952 Scheme. An old nomination stays good only so far as it fits the new Scheme, and every member must file a nomination under it, on the portal the Scheme designates. Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 2026, paragraph 44.
Family only
If you have a family, you may nominate only members of your family; a nomination of anyone else is invalid. Family means your spouse, and children, parents and some others who meet the conditions in the Code on Social Security, 2020, mostly about age and dependence. Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 2026, paragraph 44(3); Code on Social Security, 2020, section 2(33).
Marriage ends an old nomination
When you marry, you must make a fresh nomination, and any nomination made before the marriage is treated as invalid. This is a provident fund rule, separate from the rule on whether marriage revokes a will. Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 2026, paragraph 44(3).
Without a valid nomination
The balance is paid in equal shares to the family members the Scheme lists, and otherwise to the person legally entitled to it. Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 2026, paragraph 50.
Government and Railway funds
For the provident funds of government and railway employees, a properly made nominee is entitled, to the exclusion of everyone else, to receive the money, unless the nomination was changed or cancelled, or has become invalid because something it names has happened. Provident Funds Act, 1925, section 5.
An old nomination can stop working
A central government employee nominated his mother on a form that said the nomination would become invalid once he had a family. He married but never changed it. The Supreme Court held that it had become invalid, that updating it was his duty, and that it gave his mother no better right than his widow. The fund was shared equally between them. Supreme Court, Bolla Malathi v. B. Suguna, 2025.
Paid to the nominee, held for others
In a 2026 order about a central government employee's provident fund, where the employee left no family, the Supreme Court said the money must be released to a valid nominee without insisting on a succession certificate or probate. The nominee collects it as a trustee, and others entitled may seek their share from the nominee in court. The Court was declining to hear the government's appeal, and left the merits open. Supreme Court, Union of India v. Paresh Chandra Mondal, order of 2026.
A bank employee's provident fund
In a case about a bank employee's provident fund, the Supreme Court said a nominee may receive the amount, but what is received is to be distributed according to the law of succession. Supreme Court, Shipra Sengupta v. Mridul Sengupta, 2009.
Post office savings, and a flat in a housing society
Two more kinds of nomination, each with its own law.
Owner or trustee
For post office and other government savings schemes, the law says you must name one or more individuals as nominees. You can say whether each is to receive the money as an owner or as a trustee, and to what extent. Government Savings Promotion Act, 1873, section 4, as changed in 2018.
The old rule for savings certificates
Under the old savings certificates law, the Supreme Court held that a nominee had the right to be paid, but kept the money for the people entitled under the law of succession. That law was repealed in 2018, and old certificates are treated as held under the new schemes. Supreme Court, Vishin Khanchandani v. Vidya Lachmandas Khanchandani, 2000; Government Savings Promotion Act, 1873, section 16.
An open question
We found no court ruling on what choosing "owner" means when a will or the heirs say otherwise. If it matters to you, ask an advocate. From the note: Nominations and your will.
Not the bank rules
The Reserve Bank's rules for settling a deceased customer's account do not apply to government savings schemes that banks run, such as the Senior Citizens' Savings Scheme and the Public Provident Fund. RBI directions to commercial banks, as updated on 1 April 2026.
A flat in a co-operative housing society
In a West Bengal case, the Supreme Court held that the housing society had to transfer a member's share and interest in the flat to the person the member had validly nominated. It also said this transfer has no bearing on who owns the flat as between the heirs, who remain free to pursue their rights in law. Elsewhere in the same judgment, the Court called the heirs' right a "subservient right" and said the share passes by succession only if no nomination was made. The two passages pull in different directions, so if it matters to you, ask an advocate. Supreme Court, Indrani Wahi v. Registrar of Co-operative Societies, 2016.
Ask your society
That case turned on the wording of West Bengal's co-operative societies law. We have not read other states' laws, so ask your society what its rules and your state's law say. From the note: Nominations and your will.
Four steps to keep nominations and your will in step
These are Waseeyat's recommendations, not rules of law.
List each asset and its nominee
Write down each account, deposit, locker, policy, provident fund and folio, the nominee on record for each, and where the papers are. Check that your bank passbook or statement shows "Nomination Registered"; if it does not, ask the bank. This is our advice, not a rule of law.Keep nominations current
Look at them again after a marriage, a birth or a death in the family, or when a nominee can no longer act. For the Employees' Provident Fund this is also the law: a nomination made before marriage is treated as invalid, so a fresh one is needed. Otherwise, this is our advice, not a rule of law. Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 2026, paragraph 44(3).Make them point the same way
If you want an asset to go to someone other than its nominee, say so clearly in your will and change the nomination too, so that the two do not pull in different directions. If your will changes a life insurance nomination, send the insurance company written notice as well. This is our advice, not a rule of law.Tell each nominee their role
Tell each nominee what they are nominated for. For most assets, explain that they may be receiving it for the people your will or the law names, not for themselves. This is our advice, not a rule of law.
What you own, and its nominee, in one place
Waseeyat is opening soon. When you list what you own, its questionnaire asks for the nominee on record for each asset, so you have both in one place. Sign-up opens once everything that keeps your will and documents safe is in place.
Always on paper A will made with Waseeyat is printed for you to sign in ink, on paper, before two witnesses who also sign. For Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains, and for Christians, Parsis, Jews and others, section 63 of the Indian Succession Act asks for your signature or mark and at least two attesting witnesses. From the note: Making a valid will in India.
Wills made by Muslims Wills made by Muslims follow Muslim personal law (Indian Succession Act, section 58(1)). Waseeyat's guided will for Muslims is not open yet. Until it opens, a fixed-fee review by an empanelled advocate is offered instead. From the note: Which law governs your will.
More guides Will basics, signing it right, registering or depositing, and what follows a loss. All Sunset Literacy guides