Can I write a will for my belongings in India whereas dwelling within the US?

I reside within the US with my husband and daughter. We have belongings in India that we’ve bought and inherited over time. My daughter has steered that we make our respective wills within the USA. We have movable in addition to immovable belongings in India. Can we write a will whereas we’re within the USA for our belongings in India?

Is it essential for witnesses to signal our will? What are the opposite precautions to be taken whereas writing a will from abroad with respect to belongings and liabilities in India?

—Name withheld on request

We assume that you’re a Hindu and your properties are self-earned/ self- created. Further, these properties should not ancestral in nature. Also, we assume that there isn’t a proper or curiosity of some other particular person within the property and that the identical have been held solely by you.

You can draft your respective will while you’re within the USA on your Indian belongings the place it’s important to embody the next:

a. Appointment of an executor: The executor, who executes the need, will be of any origin however ideally residing in India since he/she must maintain authorized strategy of probate earlier than transferring belongings to the beneficiary of the need. Further, it’s a suggestion to have an alternate executor simply in case one thing untoward occurs to the primary executor.

b. List down belongings and liabilities: You ought to pen down all of your present belongings, each immovable and movable, together with their holding patterns and identification. At the identical time, do determine all present liabilities, if any.

c.List of beneficiaries: One ought to record the individuals who will likely be benefitting from the need. In case the beneficiary is a minor or an individual with particular wants, one ought to point out who will likely be appointed because the guardian for such an individual.

d. Distribution: Do guarantee so as to add in who will likely be inheriting the belongings and the precise distribution that’s to be made to them. Also make certain so as to add within the contingency clauses i.e. who will inherit the asset in case the primary heir passes away.

e. Witness: At least two impartial witnesses ought to signal the Will. This is a compulsory requirement for a will to be legitimate in India. It is essential that the witnesses shouldn’t be beneficiary within the will. Both the witnesses ought to signal the need in presence of testator / testatrix (one who has made the need)

You can get the need attested on the Indian Embassy within the US. The process of the identical is talked about on the Indian Embassy website within the USA.

Neha Pathak is head of belief & property planning at Motilal Oswal Private Wealth.

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