Laws of Succession (Part 2)

After this you need to include the relief clause, that our suit be decreed. This suit be decreed to the effect that we alone are the deceased's heirs, we be declared as such. After the court completes the proceedings, after the parties appear, after issuing a newspaper notice to the general public, the court will, keep this in mind, formally pass this decree, pass this judgment, that these are the heirs, these are the heirs, all institutions of the deceased must accept that these are the deceased's heirs, and transfer the deceased's immovable property into their inheritance. This process is now complete for immovable property. Now movable property remains, movable property follows the same structure, but for this an administrator needs to be appointed, you commonly call this a succession certificate, for this you'll get a certificate of succession instead of a declaration decree, that you are the successor of the deceased. For example, a person dies, he has an account with several lakh rupees in it, he has a gratuity fund, if he's a government employee, he died, he has a gratuity fund, pension matters, or he has prize bonds, or savings accounts, or he has a car, or a motorcycle. For these kinds of movable properties of his, you need to apply for a succession certificate. Now which movable properties require a succession certificate, I received a call from someone who said, sir, what about these fans, this fridge, these sofas, aren't these all movable too? Well, in my legal understanding, this doesn't apply to instability, it applies to immovable, court orders being needed for such property where the authority to transfer ownership doesn't rest with any person, any heir, but comes into your name as inheritance through a formal process. A fan installed in your house is movable property, undoubtedly movable property, but its inheritance doesn't need to be transferred by going to any department. You have a fridge, sitting in your possession, the deceased's, now to transfer its ownership as heirs, you don't need to go to any department. But if you have a car of the deceased's, to transfer its ownership you'll need to go to the Excise and Taxation Department, and they'll ask you for heirship proof. If you have a bank account, and you need to divide the amount sitting in that deceased's bank account among the heirs, you'll need to file an application for a succession certificate under the laws of succession, stating, sir, this is the deceased's account, we are the lawful heirs, this is the amount, if you don't know the amount, if you don't have the data on how much is in the account, you'll make the bank a party in this succession certificate application. The court will summon a statement from the bank, whether it's one bank, two, four, six, ten, however many, you'll make them all parties, then it will summon that statement from the bank, and after summoning that statement, the procedure is the same as suit for declaration: this person died on this date, we are among his heirs, there are no other heirs besides us, we be issued a succession certificate. It will calculate your shares, if there's one lakh rupees in one account, it will calculate all the heirs' shares, that this many shares out of one lakh belong to them, and it will issue a succession certificate. Now once the application for the succession certificate is decided, after the decision, if we take a copy of the judgment, will the bank ask for it? No, absolutely not. Actually the laws of succession involve an administrator, whom the court appoints. Two kinds of succession certificates are issued. One kind of succession certificate is issued this way: sir, there's more than one party, they say, you appoint A as administrator so he can implement the succession certificate. Now the court appoints A as successor, appoints him as administrator, that you need to withdraw all that money from the bank according to the ratio of the remaining heirs' shares, according to this ratio you need to withdraw all that money and distribute it among all the heirs according to this ratio and get a receipt. Now for this purpose, when the succession certificate is issued, the court asks you for a surety bond. It asks for a surety bond because this is movable property. Movable property gets consumed, people eat it up, use it up. Why does it take a surety bond? The court takes a surety bond because the surety will be liable if tomorrow another co-sharer shows up, or someone comes tomorrow saying this person isn't even an heir, I alone am the heir, or the two, three of us who've come are the heirs, this person isn't an heir at all, they've committed fraud on the court and consumed the money and left. When that application comes before the court, that this succession certificate be cancelled and a succession certificate be issued to us and this money be given to us, and the court reaches the conclusion, yes, they're right, then when they summon the other people, it turns out their ID cards are also forged, everything's forged, then they'll go after the surety, saying you gave a surety bond, all this fraud happened, they've fled, now you must pay this amount. That's why if the surety bond should be one lakh rupees, a surety bond of two lakh rupees is taken, a larger amount is taken. The procedure for obtaining a succession certificate and for obtaining a declaration is the same, matters differ only at the end. In a declaration, no surety bond is taken, no administration is appointed. In succession, an administrator is appointed, and if no administrator is appointed, then all the co-sharers are separated, meaning treated bilaterally, and then a succession certificate is issued to them, and the bank is instructed that whichever co-sharer comes to you, give them their share, not to give it to just one person to distribute. I hope I have clarified the laws of succession and the declaration suit for you.