Kaagazaat

Will for an NRI's Assets in India

At a glance

Price
Free, always.
Stamp duty
No stamp paper is needed for a Will in Punjab or Chandigarh, according to the published tables recorded in the Will (Vasiyat) template.
Registration
Optional.
Witnesses
Two, who see you sign and who sign in your presence.

Free

Free, always.

Free: up to 5 documents a day.

Guided questions, full draft on screen, download in Word.

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Also called

  • NRI Will
  • Will of a non-resident Indian
  • Will for Indian property
  • OCI Will
  • Vasiyat for NRI
  • NRI Vasiyat
  • Wasiyat for Indian assets
  • NRE NRO account Will

When you need it

This Will is for a person who lives outside India and owns property or accounts in India. It deals only with that Indian property — houses, plots, land, NRE and NRO accounts, deposits, shares and mutual funds held in India — and names an executor who lives in India, so that your family does not have to chase a Will across two countries.

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It is drafted on the same footing as the Will (Vasiyat): two attesting witnesses, a residuary clause, a guardian for minor children. You sign it abroad. The Will asks for the place and country where you sign, and has a space to record any notarisation, apostille or consular attestation you obtain there. Whether an Indian bank, depository, Estate Office or Sub-Registrar wants any of those is not settled here: ask them before you sign. Do NOT use this Will for property outside India. Make a separate will in the country where that property lies, and ask a lawyer there to check that the two fit together; this Will says so in terms and does not revoke a foreign will. Do NOT use it if you are Muslim — section 58 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 keeps its testamentary provisions away from a Muslim's property. Do NOT use it to create a trust or a life interest: use the Will with a Guardian and Trust for a Child. If you live in India, use the Will (Vasiyat). To move property now rather than on death, you need a gift deed, not a Will.

Whether you can fill this in here

You can fill this in here

You can fill this one in on this site, and read the whole draft on screen before you decide anything about it. It is a carefully drafted template; it is not advice about your own facts.

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See stamp duty, registration and witnesses

What follows is written for Punjab and Chandigarh. It states the position there rather than describing how it varies, so the amounts below are the ones that apply — worth confirming at the sub-registrar’s office, because rates change. If the property is anywhere else in India, none of this is yours.

Stamp duty

No stamp paper is needed for a Will in Punjab or Chandigarh, according to the published tables recorded in the Will (Vasiyat) template. Check the current rate table before you rely on that. Signing abroad does not change the stamping of the Will itself, but whether any foreign authority or Indian bank wants some other paper from you is a separate point to ask them. Plain paper, signed and attested, is the usual form.

Registration

Optional. A Will does not have to be registered to be valid. If you want to register it or deposit it with a registering authority in India after signing abroad, ask the Sub-Registrar in Punjab or Chandigarh what they need before you travel or send the original. This template does not say whether, when or how a Will signed abroad can be presented, because that has not been verified.

Notarisation

Not what makes the Will valid: validity rests on your signature and two attesting witnesses. Some people also get the signing notarised by a notary public where they live, add an apostille, or have the Indian Embassy or Consulate attest the papers. Which of those, if any, an Indian bank, depository, Estate Office or Sub-Registrar will ask for has not been verified here — ask them before you sign, and use the field provided to record what you actually do.

Witnesses

Two, who see you sign and who sign in your presence. Each must take nothing under the Will and not be married to anyone who does: a gift to an attesting witness or to that witness's spouse is void under section 67 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925. Witnesses abroad can be anyone who fits that rule. Whether an Indian office wants the witnesses to be of a particular kind, or wants their identity certified, has not been verified — ask first.

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Sample preview — placeholder answers, not your data

WILL OF AN NRI FOR ASSETS IN INDIA

of Gurcharan Singh Gill

I, Gurcharan Singh Gill, aged 25,000 years, son of Late Sardar Mohan Singh Gill, holding Passport No. X1234567 (Indian), PAN AAAPG1234C and Aadhaar ending 4821, resident of X, make this Will at Toronto, Canada on 1 April 2026. By religion I am Hindu.

I am at present living in Canada. My citizenship and immigration status is: Indian citizen, permanent resident of Canada. My address in India is X.

1. DECLARATION

1.1 I am 25,000 years of age. Being of full age — that is, eighteen years or more — I am competent to make a Will under section 59 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925. If the figure written into this clause is below eighteen, this document is void as a Will and no person is to act upon it.

1.2 I am of sound mind and memory, and I understand the nature of this Will, the extent of the property I am giving away by it, and the persons who have a claim upon me.

1.3 I make this Will of my own free will. No person has coerced, misled, induced or unduly influenced me, and I am not under the influence of any intoxicant or of any medication that clouds my judgment.

1.4 This Will takes effect only upon my death. Until then I remain free to deal with, sell, mortgage, gift or consume any property mentioned in it, and free to revoke or alter this Will.

1.5 This Will is written on plain paper and bears no stamp. No stamp duty is chargeable on a Will either in the State of Punjab or in the Union Territory of Chandigarh, and its want of stamp is not a defect.

1.6 I make this Will to deal only with my property in India, as described in clause 2. I am signing it outside India, at the place named above, and I understand that the law of the country where I sign, and the law of any country where I own property, may have its own requirements that this Will does not address.

2. WHAT THIS WILL COVERS, AND EARLIER WILLS

2.1 This Will covers only my property situated in India, and my bank accounts, deposits, investments and other assets held with institutions in India (together, my "Indian Property"), including accounts held as an NRE or NRO account and securities held in a demat account or folio in India. It does not dispose of any property I own outside India.

2.2 I revoke all earlier Wills, codicils and other testamentary writings made by me, so far as they deal with my Indian Property. This is my last Will for my Indian Property.

Earlier Wills expressly revoked. For the avoidance of doubt, the Wills and testamentary writings revoked by clause 2.2 include: Will dated 4 August 2014, registered as Document No. 2231/2014 with the Sub-Registrar, Ludhiana (East)

2.3 A will made outside India, which I do NOT revoke. This Will does not revoke, and nothing in it affects, the following will of mine, which deals with my property outside India: My will dated 12 March 2021 made at Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which deals only with my property in Canada. That will continues to govern the property it disposes of. This Will does not dispose of that property.

Questions about this document

Does the Will for an NRI's Assets in India need stamp paper or stamp duty in Punjab and Chandigarh?

No stamp paper is needed for a Will in Punjab or Chandigarh, according to the published tables recorded in the Will (Vasiyat) template.

See the full position on stamp duty, registration and witnesses
Does the Will for an NRI's Assets in India need registration in Punjab and Chandigarh?
What does the Will for an NRI's Assets in India cost on Kaagazaat?

Free, always.

Does the Will for an NRI's Assets in India need witnesses?

Two, who see you sign and who sign in your presence.

See the full position on stamp duty, registration and witnesses

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