Will format: a complete sample, and what every clause is doing
What Section 63 actually requires, the three formalities that are myths, how to describe an asset so the gift cannot fail, choosing witnesses who can still be found in twenty years — and a free generator.
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A valid will needs a signature and two attesting witnesses. It does not need stamp paper, a notary or registration.
Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 requires the testator to sign or affix a mark, placed so that it appears intended to give effect to the writing as a will, and requires attestation by two or more witnesses — each of whom saw the testator sign or received a personal acknowledgment of the signature, and each of whom signs in the testator’s presence. It expressly adds that it is not necessary for more than one witness to be present at the same time, and that no particular form of attestation is necessary. Registration is optional under Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908.
SourceIndian Succession Act, 1925 — s. 63(opens in a new tab)Indian Succession Act, 1925 — s. 59(opens in a new tab)Registration Act, 1908 — s. 18(opens in a new tab)
The rules of intestate succession on this page are those of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. Section 2 of that Act applies it to Hindus in any form or development of the religion — including Virashaiva, Lingayat, Brahmo, Prarthana and Arya Samaj followers — and to Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, as well as to anyone domiciled in India who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion. Section 2(2) provides that the Act does not apply to members of a Scheduled Tribe within the meaning of Article 366(25) of the Constitution unless the Central Government directs otherwise by notification. Muslim succession is governed by Muslim personal law, and Christian and Parsi succession by their own Parts of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 — different heirs, different shares, and in the Christian and Parsi case a different statute. Nothing on this page about who inherits, or in what share, carries over to them. The procedure pages — legal heir certificate, succession certificate, probate — apply whatever your personal law, because they are about proving who the heirs are rather than deciding it.
A valid will in India needs remarkably little. Section 59 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 says every person of sound mind not being a minor may dispose of property by will. Section 63 says how: the testator signs, or affixes a mark, or has someone else sign in their presence and by their direction; the signature is placed so that it appears intended to give effect to the writing as a will; and the will is attested by two or more witnesses, each of whom saw the testator sign or received a personal acknowledgment of the signature, and each of whom signs in the testator’s presence. It need not be on stamp paper, it need not be notarised, and registration is optional under Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908. What it must have — because these are what wills are attacked on — is a clear description of every asset, a named beneficiary for each, a residuary clause, an executor with an alternate, and two witnesses who take nothing under it.
Key takeaways
- No stamp paper, no notary, no registration is required for validity. Plain paper, signed and attested as Section 63 requires, is a valid will. Every one of those three is a myth this page will not repeat.
- The two-witness rule has a detail almost everyone gets wrong: it is not necessary that both witnesses be present at the same time, and no particular form of attestation is necessary — but each witness must sign in the presence of the testator, and that is not relaxed.
- The residuary clause is the single most valuable line in a will. Without it, anything you forgot to mention, and anything you acquire after signing, passes as though you had died without a will at all.
- Probate is granted only to an executor appointed by the will. A will with no executor named, or whose executor has died, cannot be probated — the family has to apply for letters of administration with the will annexed instead. One alternate-executor line prevents that.
- A witness should not be a beneficiary, or the spouse of one. Section 67 of the Act deals with a bequest to an attesting witness, and the safe practice is simply to choose two people who take nothing.
What a will needs, and what it does not
Three of the four things people believe are required are not required at all, and one thing nobody thinks about decides whether the will can be proved.
| Point of comparison | Required by lawWithout it, the will fails | Not requiredUseful, sometimes — never necessary |
|---|---|---|
| Writing | Yes. A will has to be a writing that the testator signs. | — |
| The testator’s signature or mark | Yes — Section 63(a). It may be a mark, or a signature by another person in the testator’s presence and by their direction. | — |
| Two attesting witnesses | Yes — Section 63(c). Each must have seen the testator sign or received a personal acknowledgment, and each must sign in the testator’s presence. | — |
| Both witnesses present together | — | Not required. Section 63(c) says so expressly. |
| A particular form of attestation | — | Not required — Section 63(c) again. A clear clause is worth having because it removes the need to prove the elements by memory, not because the law demands one. |
| Stamp paper | — | Not required. A will attracts no stamp duty. Plain paper is correct. |
| Notarisation | — | Not required, and it adds nothing to validity. It is not part of Section 63. |
| Registration | — | Optional under Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908. Worth doing for the record it creates and because a registered will cannot be lost or destroyed — never for validity. |
| An executor | — | Not required for validity. But probate can be granted only to an executor appointed by the will, so a will without one takes a longer route through Section 232. |
| A residuary clause | — | Not required for validity, and the single most valuable line in the document. Without it, whatever the will does not mention passes as on an intestacy. |
Required by law
Without it, the will fails
- Writing
- Yes. A will has to be a writing that the testator signs.
- The testator’s signature or mark
- Yes — Section 63(a). It may be a mark, or a signature by another person in the testator’s presence and by their direction.
- Two attesting witnesses
- Yes — Section 63(c). Each must have seen the testator sign or received a personal acknowledgment, and each must sign in the testator’s presence.
- Both witnesses present together
- —
- A particular form of attestation
- —
- Stamp paper
- —
- Notarisation
- —
- Registration
- —
- An executor
- —
- A residuary clause
- —
Not required
Useful, sometimes — never necessary
- Writing
- —
- The testator’s signature or mark
- —
- Two attesting witnesses
- —
- Both witnesses present together
- Not required. Section 63(c) says so expressly.
- A particular form of attestation
- Not required — Section 63(c) again. A clear clause is worth having because it removes the need to prove the elements by memory, not because the law demands one.
- Stamp paper
- Not required. A will attracts no stamp duty. Plain paper is correct.
- Notarisation
- Not required, and it adds nothing to validity. It is not part of Section 63.
- Registration
- Optional under Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908. Worth doing for the record it creates and because a registered will cannot be lost or destroyed — never for validity.
- An executor
- Not required for validity. But probate can be granted only to an executor appointed by the will, so a will without one takes a longer route through Section 232.
- A residuary clause
- Not required for validity, and the single most valuable line in the document. Without it, whatever the will does not mention passes as on an intestacy.
The pattern is worth noticing: almost everything in the right-hand column is something people spend money on, and almost everything that actually decides whether the will works is free.
The will, clause by clause
The sample below contains each of these in order. This is what each one is for — because a will copied without understanding is a will drafted badly, and the clause people leave out is almost always the one that mattered.
- 1
Who you are
Full name as it appears on your identity documents, father’s name, age and address. This is what ties the document to a person beyond argument.
Watch out — Use the name on your identity documents even if you are known by another. Where you are known by two names, say so: "R. Subramanian, also known as Raghavan Subramanian".
- 2
That you are of sound mind and acting freely
Frames the document against the two grounds most wills are attacked on — want of capacity under Section 59, and coercion or importunity under Section 61.
Watch out — It is evidence, not a spell. Where capacity might genuinely be questioned, the useful step is a doctor’s note of the same date, or a doctor as one of the attesting witnesses.
- 3
Revocation of all earlier wills
Makes this the operative will and forecloses an argument about an earlier one. Section 70 allows revocation by a later will; this clause makes it explicit rather than inferred.
Watch out — Then physically destroy the earlier original yourself. A revoked will that still exists is a document somebody will produce.
- 4
The executor, and an alternate
Names who carries the will out. Probate is granted only to an executor appointed by the will — Section 222 — so this clause is what keeps the estate on the probate track.
Watch out — Ask them first. And name an alternate: people appoint a spouse or a contemporary, and an executor who predeceases the testator forces the family into a letters of administration proceeding under Section 232.
- 5
A direction to pay debts and expenses first
An estate pays its debts, funeral expenses and administration costs before it distributes. This tells the executor to do it in that order.
Watch out — Beneficiaries who receive before the debts are paid can find themselves handing money back.
- 6
The specific bequests
Each asset, described so a stranger could identify it, to a named beneficiary. This is the substance of the will.
Watch out — “My property” and “my savings” are the two phrases that cause the most litigation in this area. Door numbers, survey numbers, account numbers and folio numbers.
- 7
The residuary clause
Catches everything not specifically mentioned, everything acquired after the will was signed, and anything whose gift fails or lapses.
Watch out — Never leave it out. Without it, the forgotten asset passes as on an intestacy — which may be exactly the result the will was written to prevent.
- 8
A guardian for minor children
Names who is to have the care of a minor child and of that child’s property.
Watch out — Ask the person. And name an alternate here too, for the same reason as the executor.
- 9
The declaration about the property
Your statement that the property disposed of is your own and that you are competent to dispose of it.
Watch out — Where any part of the estate is ancestral coparcenary property, what you can will is your own undivided interest in it and not the whole. That is a question to settle before drafting, not in the clause.
- 10
The signature and the attestation clause
Recites the elements of Section 63(c) on the face of the document — that the witnesses saw you sign, and that they signed in your presence.
Watch out — Each witness must sign in your presence. Sign every page, and have both witnesses initial every page: a will with unsigned pages invites the suggestion that a page was swapped.
Have each witness write their full name, address and, where relevant, professional registration number beside their signature. Twenty years on, an attesting witness who can be traced is worth more than any amount of careful drafting.
What the law actually requires — Sections 59 and 63, read closely
Two sections do all the work, and both are short enough to read rather than summarise.
Section 59 deals with who may make a will: every person of sound mind not being a minor may dispose of their property by will. Its explanations then close the obvious gaps. A married woman may dispose by will of any property she could alienate by her own act during her life. Persons who are deaf, dumb or blind are not thereby incapacitated, if they are able to know what they do by it. A person who is ordinarily insane may make a will during an interval in which they are of sound mind. And no person can make a will while in such a state of mind, whether from intoxication, illness or any other cause, that they do not know what they are doing.
The illustrations to Section 59 are unusually helpful about what "sound mind" means in this context. A person who can perceive what is going on around them and answer familiar questions, but has no competent understanding of the nature of their property, of who their relatives are, or of who it would be proper to benefit, cannot make a valid will. A person who is very feeble and debilitated but still capable of exercising judgment about the proper mode of disposing of their property can. Capacity is about understanding the decision, not about physical strength.
Section 63 deals with execution, and it applies to every testator who is not a soldier employed in an expedition or engaged in actual warfare, an airman so employed or engaged, or a mariner at sea. Those are "privileged wills", which have relaxed requirements and which almost no reader of this page is making.
- 1The testator shall sign or affix their mark to the will, or it shall be signed by some other person in their presence and by their direction.
- 2The signature or mark shall be so placed that it appears that it was intended thereby to give effect to the writing as a will.
- 3The will shall be attested by two or more witnesses, each of whom has seen the testator sign or affix the mark, or has seen some other person sign the will in the testator’s presence and by their direction, or has received from the testator a personal acknowledgment of the signature or mark.
- 4Each of the witnesses shall sign the will in the presence of the testator.
- 5It is not necessary that more than one witness be present at the same time.
- 6No particular form of attestation is necessary.
Stamp paper — a will attracts no stamp duty, and plain paper is correct. Notarisation — a notary’s seal adds nothing to a will’s validity and is not part of Section 63. Registration — optional under Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908, and its absence does not weaken the will as a matter of law. Every one of the three is worth doing only for the practical reasons set out further down, never because the law demands them.
The anatomy of a will: what every clause is doing, and what goes wrong without it
The sample further down this page is a complete will. This section explains why each part of it is there, because a will copied without understanding is a will drafted badly.
| Clause | What it does | What happens without it |
|---|---|---|
| Identification of the testator | Full name as on identity documents, father’s name, age and address. Establishes who made the will beyond argument. | A will identifying "R. Sharma" of an unnamed address invites an argument about whether it is the deceased’s will at all. |
| Declaration of sound mind and free will | Records that the testator understood the act and was not coerced. Not a magic formula, but it frames the document. | Nothing fatal. It is evidence, and evidence is what a contested probate turns on. |
| Revocation of earlier wills | Makes this the operative document and removes any argument about an earlier one. | Two wills, both apparently valid, and a fight about which is later. Section 70 makes revocation by a later will possible; the clause makes it certain. |
| Appointment of an executor | Names the person who will carry the will out. Probate can be granted only to an executor appointed by the will — Section 222. | The will cannot be probated. The family applies for letters of administration with the will annexed under Section 232 instead, which is slower and needs a residuary legatee to step forward. |
| Alternate executor | Keeps the will on the probate track if the first executor dies, refuses, or is incapable. | The same detour as above. People name a spouse or a contemporary, and predeceasing executors are common. |
| Direction to pay debts and expenses first | An estate pays its debts before it distributes. The clause tells the executor to do it in the right order. | Beneficiaries who receive and then find a creditor at the door. |
| Specific bequests | Each asset, described well enough for a stranger to identify it, to a named beneficiary. | The great generator of litigation. "My property" and "my savings" mean nothing once the person who wrote them cannot explain them. |
| The residuary clause | Catches everything not specifically mentioned, everything acquired after signing, and anything whose gift fails. | A partial intestacy. That part of the estate passes under the Hindu Succession Act as though there were no will — which may be the exact result the will was written to prevent. |
| Guardian for minor children | Names who is to have the care of a minor child and their property. | The question is left to the family and, if they disagree, to a court under the Guardians and Wards Act. |
| Declaration that the property is self-acquired | Records the testator’s position on what they were entitled to dispose of. | An opening for the argument that the property was ancestral coparcenary property and only the testator’s own undivided interest could be willed. |
| The attestation clause | Recites that the witnesses saw the testator sign and signed in the testator’s presence — the elements of Section 63(c), on the face of the document. | The elements have to be proved by oral evidence instead. The clause does not change the law; it removes the need to remember. |
How to describe an asset so the bequest cannot fail
This is where most home-made wills go wrong, and the fix is entirely mechanical. The test is simple: could a stranger, holding only this will, walk into the right office and identify exactly this asset? If not, rewrite the clause.
| Asset | What to include | What not to write |
|---|---|---|
| A house or a flat | Door or flat number, building name, street, city and pin code; the survey number or CTS number; the extent; and the boundaries on all four sides where the property is not in a numbered building. | "My house in Velachery." There may be two, or the family may believe there were. |
| Agricultural land | Survey number and sub-division, village, taluk and district, and the extent in the local unit as it appears in the revenue record. | "My land." Revenue records are indexed by survey number and nothing else works. |
| A bank account | The bank, the branch and the account number. Add the account type where the same branch holds several. | "My savings." A person with four accounts leaves four arguments. |
| Shares and mutual fund units | The demat account number and the depository participant, or the folio number for units held outside a demat account. | A list of company names. Holdings change; the account does not. |
| Jewellery | Where it is kept — the locker number and branch — and, for anything specific, an item-by-item schedule annexed to the will. | "My jewellery to my daughters." Which pieces, to which daughter, is precisely the question that gets asked. |
| A business or a partnership share | The name of the firm or company, the nature and extent of the interest, and any restriction on transfer in the partnership deed or the articles. | Nothing about a partnership can be assumed; the deed may not permit what the will directs. |
| Digital assets and online accounts | The nature of the asset and where it is held, and a direction to the executor about access. Do not write passwords into a will — a will becomes a public document once probated. | A list of credentials. It is unsafe, and it dates within months. |
Where an asset might be sold before death, say what happens then. A clause reading "the flat at X, or if I have sold it before my death, its sale proceeds or whatever asset I purchased with them" prevents the gift lapsing.
Choosing witnesses — the decision that decides whether the will survives
A will is a document required by law to be attested. Section 67 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 — the successor to Section 68 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 — provides that such a document shall not be used as evidence until at least one attesting witness has been called to prove its execution, if there is an attesting witness alive, subject to the process of the court and capable of giving evidence.
Everything about choosing witnesses follows from that one sentence. The witnesses are not a formality; they are the people who will one day have to walk into a court and say what happened in the room. So the choice is a practical one.
- Choose people younger than you. A witness who predeceases the testator is a witness who cannot be called, and the will then has to be proved the hard way under Section 68.
- Choose people who are easy to find in twenty years — a family doctor, a professional with a registration, a neighbour with a settled address — and write their full addresses on the will.
- Do not choose a beneficiary, or the spouse of a beneficiary. Section 67 of the Indian Succession Act deals with the effect of a bequest to an attesting witness, and the safe practice is to avoid the question entirely.
- Do not choose the executor if you can avoid it. There is no bar, but an executor who is also the only available attesting witness is in an awkward position when the will is challenged.
- A doctor is a particularly useful witness where capacity might be questioned, because they can speak to the testator’s state of mind as well as to the signature.
- Both witnesses need not be present at the same time — Section 63(c) says so expressly — but each must sign in the testator’s presence, and that requirement is absolute.
Have each witness write, beside their signature, their full name, address and — where relevant — their professional registration number, and the date. Twenty years on, an attesting witness who can be found is worth more than any amount of careful drafting, and a name without an address is very hard to trace.
Registering the will: optional, and often worth doing anyway
Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908 lists a will among the documents of which registration is optional — as opposed to Section 17, which lists the documents whose registration is compulsory. So a will is valid whether registered or not, and an unregistered will is not a weaker document as a matter of law.
Section 40 provides that the testator, or after their death any person claiming as executor or otherwise under a will, may present it to a Registrar or Sub-Registrar for registration, and Section 41 governs how a will is registered. There is no time limit for presenting a will for registration, which is one of the few places the Registration Act does not impose one.
What registration actually buys is threefold. It produces a contemporaneous official record that a will in these terms existed on this date and was presented by this person, which is powerful evidence against a later allegation of forgery or of a later will. It puts a copy beyond the reach of anyone who might be tempted to destroy the original. And it removes the practical problem of where a will is kept, which is a real problem — a great many wills are never found.
What it does not buy is protection against the grounds on which wills are actually challenged. A registered will can still be attacked for want of testamentary capacity under Section 59, or for fraud, coercion or importunity under Section 61. Registration proves that a document was presented; it proves nothing about the state of mind of the person who presented it.
Changing a will: codicils, revocation, and why you should usually rewrite
A will can be changed at any time up to death, and it should be revisited after every event that changes the family: a marriage, a birth, a death, a divorce, a substantial purchase or sale.
There are two mechanisms. A codicil is a separate document that amends the will, executed with the same formalities — signed by the testator and attested by two witnesses under Section 63. A new will revokes the old one, provided it says so.
Section 70 sets out how an unprivileged will or codicil is revoked: by marriage, by another will or codicil, by some writing declaring an intention to revoke and executed in the manner a will must be executed, or by burning, tearing or otherwise destroying it by the testator, or by someone in the testator’s presence and by their direction, with the intention of revoking it.
Two points about that list matter. First, destruction only revokes where it is done by the testator or at the testator’s direction and in their presence, and with the intention of revoking. A will torn up by a relative revokes nothing. Second, marriage revokes an unprivileged will — but the proviso to Section 57, which applies the relevant Part to wills made by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains, expressly says that marriage shall not revoke any such will or codicil. So the marriage rule does not apply to a Hindu will.
The practical advice is to write a fresh will rather than a codicil, unless the change is genuinely trivial. A codicil has to be read alongside the will, both have to be produced, and both have to be proved. Two documents are twice the opportunity for one of them to go missing.
Crossing out a name, writing in a new figure, or initialling a change in the margin after execution does not amend a will. It creates a document that looks tampered with, which is the single most damaging thing a will can look like when it is produced in court. If something needs to change, execute a fresh will properly attested, and physically destroy the old one yourself.
Where to keep it, and who should know
A will nobody can find does not work, and this is a far more common failure than any drafting error. The problem is a real one: the original must be produced, a photocopy will not do for probate, and the safest-sounding places are often the worst.
A bank locker is the classic mistake. After a death the locker cannot be opened without dealing with the bank, and the bank frequently wants to see the will — which is inside the locker. Where a locker is used, register a nominee for it under Section 45ZE of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and tell that person.
Better options, roughly in order: registered with the Sub-Registrar, where the office holds a record and a copy; with the advocate who drafted it, against a written acknowledgment; with the executor, who is the person who will need it; or at home, in a place the executor has been told about in writing.
Whichever you choose, do the two things that actually matter. Tell the executor where the original is. And tell the family that a will exists — not necessarily what it says, though telling them that too prevents more litigation than any clause. Almost every contested probate begins with a citation arriving at a house where nobody had been told anything.
An ordering of the four failures against one another, from how these disputes present. It is not a measurement — no dataset of Indian will disputes exists that would support a frequency, and none is claimed.
Worked examples
Example 1: The residuary clause earning its keep
- Will made
- January 2019, leaving three named assets to three children
- Acquired afterwards
- A flat bought in 2023, never mentioned in the will
- Family
- Widow and three children
- 1.The three specific bequests take effect as written. Nothing about them is affected.
- 2.The flat is not mentioned. Whether it passes under the will depends entirely on whether there is a residuary clause.
- 3.With a residuary clause — "all the rest and residue of my property, whether owned by me at the date of this will or acquired afterwards, to my wife" — the flat passes to the widow.
- 4.Without one, the flat passes as on an intestacy. Under Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act it goes to the Class I heirs, and under Section 10 the widow takes one share and each of the three children takes one share.
- 5.So the same estate divides in two entirely different ways depending on one sentence, and the person who wrote the will very likely never considered the possibility.
With the clause, the widow takes the flat. Without it, she takes a quarter of it and her three children take a quarter each. One line.
Example 2: The witness who was also a beneficiary
- Will
- Properly signed, attested by two witnesses
- Witness one
- A neighbour who takes nothing under the will
- Witness two
- The testator’s son, who takes a substantial bequest
- Challenge
- Brought by a daughter who takes less
- 1.The will is not invalid for want of attestation. Section 63 requires two or more witnesses, and there are two.
- 2.But Section 67 of the Indian Succession Act deals with the effect of a bequest to an attesting witness, and the position of the son’s bequest becomes a live question rather than a settled one.
- 3.Worse in practice: when the will is proved, the only attesting witness with an interest in the outcome is the one who benefits most. That is exactly the material a challenge on suspicious circumstances is built from.
- 4.The neighbour can prove execution — one attesting witness suffices under Section 67 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam — so the will can still be proved.
- 5.The avoidable part is that the son’s bequest is now something to be argued about, in a proceeding that would otherwise have been administrative.
The will survives, and the family spends two years on a question that a different choice of witness would have made impossible to raise.
Example 3: The will in the locker
- Will
- Well drafted, properly attested, kept in a bank locker for safety
- Locker nominee
- None registered
- Executor
- Knows a will exists, and knows where it is
- 1.The executor asks the bank to open the locker. The bank wants to see the authority under which the estate is being administered.
- 2.The authority is the will. The will is in the locker.
- 3.Section 45ZE of the Banking Regulation Act allows a sole hirer to nominate one person to whom the bank may give access to the locker and liberty to remove the contents, and the bank prepares an inventory on removal. No nomination was made.
- 4.Without a nominee, the family has to satisfy the bank another way — a legal heir certificate and an indemnity, or in a difficult case a court order, before they can reach the document they needed in order to avoid the court.
- 5.A nomination under Section 45ZE, made when the locker was hired, would have taken ten minutes.
A perfectly drafted will delayed the estate by months, because of where it was kept. Register a locker nominee, and tell the executor.
More questions about this page
Does a will need to be on stamp paper in India?▼
Does a will have to be registered?▼
Does a will need to be notarised?▼
How many witnesses does a will need?▼
Can a witness to a will be a beneficiary?▼
What happens to property I forgot to mention in my will?▼
Can I change my will after signing it?▼
Does marriage cancel a will in India?▼
Can I disinherit a child in my will?▼
Where should I keep my will?▼
Official sources checked
The statutes, rules and regulator pages the statements on this page were checked against.
- Section 63 and the illustrations to sections 59 and 61 read in full from India Code’s text of the bare Act.
- Registration of a will is optional; sections 40 and 41 govern presenting and registering one, with no time limit.
- Why the choice of attesting witnesses matters more than the drafting.
- Confirms that any Hindu may dispose by will of any property capable of being so disposed of.
- Nomination for a safety locker — relevant to where a will is kept.
The full sample will
A complete will for a straightforward estate, with every clause the anatomy above describes. Plain paper is correct — there is no stamp duty on a will. Read it against the clause table before you adapt it, and have the draft read by an advocate before you sign.
# Last will and testament I, Raghavan Subramanian, aged about 62 years, son or daughter of Subramanian Iyer, residing at 12 Gandhi Street, Velachery, Chennai 600042, being of sound mind and memory, and making this will of my own free will and without any coercion, fraud or undue influence from any person, do hereby make, publish and declare this to be my last will and testament. I hereby revoke all wills, codicils and testamentary dispositions previously made by me. ## 1. Executor I appoint Arun Raghavan of 12 Gandhi Street, Velachery, Chennai 600042 to be the executor of this my will. If Arun Raghavan shall predecease me, or shall be unable or unwilling to act, I appoint Meera Nair to be the executor in his or her place. I direct my executor to pay my lawful debts, my funeral expenses and the expenses of administering my estate before distributing anything under this will. ## 2. Bequests (a) I give and bequeath The residential house bearing Door No. 12, Gandhi Street, Velachery, Chennai 600042, comprised in Survey No. 214/2 of Velachery Village to to my wife Lakshmi Raghavan absolutely. (b) I give and bequeath All the shares, debentures and mutual fund units standing in my name in demat account no. 1204470012345678 with HDFC Securities to to my son Arun Raghavan and my daughter Meera Nair in equal shares. (c) I give and bequeath All the gold ornaments and jewellery lying in locker no. 214 at the Velachery branch of Indian Bank to to my daughter Meera Nair absolutely. (d) I give and bequeath The balance in savings account no. 30012345678 with State Bank of India, Velachery branch to to my wife Lakshmi Raghavan absolutely. ## 3. Residue I give, devise and bequeath all the rest and residue of my property, of every kind and wherever situated, whether owned by me at the date of this will or acquired by me afterwards, and including anything that fails or lapses under clause 2, to my wife Lakshmi Raghavan absolutely. ## 4. Declaration I declare that the property disposed of by this will is my own self-acquired property, and that I am competent to dispose of it. I declare that I am not acting under the influence, persuasion or direction of any of the beneficiaries named above, and that this will reflects my own wishes. I have read the whole of this will, and I understand it. ## Signed by the testator Signed by me, Raghavan Subramanian, as and for my last will and testament, at Chennai on 18th January 2026, in the joint presence of the two witnesses named below, who were both present at the same time and who have signed in my presence. Signature of the testator: ______________________________ ## Attestation by the witnesses Signed by the above-named testator as and for his or her last will and testament, in our presence, both of us being present at the same time; and we, at the request of the testator and in the testator's presence, have subscribed our names as witnesses. Witness 1 Name and address: Dr S. Venkatesh, 8 Lake View Road, Adyar, Chennai 600020 Signature: ______________________________ Witness 2 Name and address: Mrs P. Anandhi, 21 Second Cross Street, Besant Nagar, Chennai 600090 Signature: ______________________________ --- Note for the person signing this. A will under Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 must be signed by you, and attested by two or more witnesses, each of whom has seen you sign and has then signed in your presence. Neither witness should be a beneficiary under the will or the spouse of one. Registration is optional under Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908 and does not make a will valid or invalid, but a registered will is harder to attack and cannot be lost. Have this draft read by an advocate before you sign it.
Sign every page, and have both witnesses initial every page. Each witness must sign in your presence, though they need not both be present at the same time. Neither should be a beneficiary or the spouse of one.
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A complete will for a straightforward estate: revocation of earlier wills, an executor, specific bequests, a residuary clause, a guardian for minor children, and the two-witness attestation Section 63 requires.
Nothing you type is stored. The preview is built in your browser; a download sends the answers once to produce the file and keeps no copy.
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Last will and testament I, [your full name], son or daughter of [father’s name], residing at [your address], being of sound mind and memory, and making this will of my own free will and without any coercion, fraud or undue influence from any person, do hereby make, publish and declare this to be my last will and testament. I hereby revoke all wills, codicils and testamentary dispositions previously made by me. 1. Executor I appoint [executor’s name] of [executor’s address] to be the executor of this my will. I direct my executor to pay my lawful debts, my funeral expenses and the expenses of administering my estate before distributing anything under this will. 2. Bequests (a) I give and bequeath [describe the asset] to [name of the beneficiary]. 3. Residue I give, devise and bequeath all the rest and residue of my property, of every kind and wherever situated, whether owned by me at the date of this will or acquired by me afterwards, and including anything that fails or lapses under clause 2, to [residuary beneficiary] absolutely. 4. Declaration I declare that the property disposed of by this will is my own self-acquired property, and that I am competent to dispose of it. I declare that I am not acting under the influence, persuasion or direction of any of the beneficiaries named above, and that this will reflects my own wishes. I have read the whole of this will, and I understand it. Signed by the testator Signed by me, [your full name], as and for my last will and testament, at [place] on [date], in the joint presence of the two witnesses named below, who were both present at the same time and who have signed in my presence. Signature of the testator: ______________________________ Attestation by the witnesses Signed by the above-named testator as and for his or her last will and testament, in our presence, both of us being present at the same time; and we, at the request of the testator and in the testator's presence, have subscribed our names as witnesses. Witness 1 Name and address: [name and address] Signature: ______________________________ Witness 2 Name and address: [name and address] Signature: ______________________________ --- Note for the person signing this. A will under Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 must be signed by you, and attested by two or more witnesses, each of whom has seen you sign and has then signed in your presence. Neither witness should be a beneficiary under the will or the spouse of one. Registration is optional under Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908 and does not make a will valid or invalid, but a registered will is harder to attack and cannot be lost. Have this draft read by an advocate before you sign it.
Why wills fail, and what prevents each failure
Every item here is decided at the drafting table, years before anyone reads the will. That is the whole argument for spending an hour on it now.
| What the refusal says | What it actually means | The cheapest fix |
|---|---|---|
| The original cannot be found. | The commonest failure of all, and it has nothing to do with the drafting. Probate needs the original; a photocopy will not do. | Register the will, or leave it with the executor or the drafting advocate against a written acknowledgment. Tell the executor in writing where it is.If that fails — A bank locker is the classic trap — the bank often wants the will before opening the locker the will is in. If you use one, register a nominee for the locker under Section 45ZE of the Banking Regulation Act. |
| An asset is described too vaguely to identify. | “My house”, “my savings”, “my jewellery”. The bequest may fail for uncertainty, or may simply become the thing the family argues about. | Door and survey numbers for property, account numbers for deposits, demat or folio numbers for securities, and an annexed item schedule for jewellery. The test is whether a stranger holding only the will could identify the asset. |
| There is no residuary clause. | Anything unmentioned, anything acquired after signing and anything whose gift fails passes as on an intestacy — often to exactly the people the will was meant to exclude. | One sentence: all the rest and residue of my property, whether owned at the date of this will or acquired afterwards, and including anything that fails or lapses, to [name] absolutely. |
| An attesting witness cannot be produced. | Section 67 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam requires at least one attesting witness to be called where one is alive and available. A witness who has died or cannot be found pushes the will onto the much harder route in Section 68. | Choose witnesses younger than you, with settled addresses, and write those addresses on the will. One traceable witness is enough. |
| The witness was also a beneficiary. | The will is not invalid for want of attestation, but Section 67 of the Indian Succession Act deals with a bequest to an attesting witness, and a challenger now has material for an argument about suspicious circumstances. | Choose two witnesses who take nothing under the will and are not the spouse of anyone who does. It costs nothing and it closes the argument entirely. |
| The will was amended by hand after signing. | Crossing out a name or writing in a new figure amends nothing, and produces a document that looks tampered with — the most damaging appearance a will can have. | Execute a fresh will, properly attested, revoking the earlier one, and physically destroy the old original yourself. |
| The testator’s capacity is questioned. | Section 59 requires a sound mind, and its illustrations set the standard: understanding the nature of the property, who the relatives are, and who it would be proper to benefit. | Where age or illness might raise the question, have a doctor as one of the attesting witnesses, or obtain a note of the same date recording the examination. |
| Nobody in the family knew the will existed. | Not a legal defect at all, and the best single predictor of a contested probate. A citation arriving at a house where nothing had been said produces exactly the reaction you would expect. | Tell the family that a will exists. Telling them what it says prevents more litigation than any clause you can draft — particularly where the shares are unequal. |
The original cannot be found.
What it meansThe commonest failure of all, and it has nothing to do with the drafting. Probate needs the original; a photocopy will not do.
The cheapest fixRegister the will, or leave it with the executor or the drafting advocate against a written acknowledgment. Tell the executor in writing where it is.
If that fails — A bank locker is the classic trap — the bank often wants the will before opening the locker the will is in. If you use one, register a nominee for the locker under Section 45ZE of the Banking Regulation Act.
An asset is described too vaguely to identify.
What it means“My house”, “my savings”, “my jewellery”. The bequest may fail for uncertainty, or may simply become the thing the family argues about.
The cheapest fixDoor and survey numbers for property, account numbers for deposits, demat or folio numbers for securities, and an annexed item schedule for jewellery. The test is whether a stranger holding only the will could identify the asset.
There is no residuary clause.
What it meansAnything unmentioned, anything acquired after signing and anything whose gift fails passes as on an intestacy — often to exactly the people the will was meant to exclude.
The cheapest fixOne sentence: all the rest and residue of my property, whether owned at the date of this will or acquired afterwards, and including anything that fails or lapses, to [name] absolutely.
An attesting witness cannot be produced.
What it meansSection 67 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam requires at least one attesting witness to be called where one is alive and available. A witness who has died or cannot be found pushes the will onto the much harder route in Section 68.
The cheapest fixChoose witnesses younger than you, with settled addresses, and write those addresses on the will. One traceable witness is enough.
The witness was also a beneficiary.
What it meansThe will is not invalid for want of attestation, but Section 67 of the Indian Succession Act deals with a bequest to an attesting witness, and a challenger now has material for an argument about suspicious circumstances.
The cheapest fixChoose two witnesses who take nothing under the will and are not the spouse of anyone who does. It costs nothing and it closes the argument entirely.
The will was amended by hand after signing.
What it meansCrossing out a name or writing in a new figure amends nothing, and produces a document that looks tampered with — the most damaging appearance a will can have.
The cheapest fixExecute a fresh will, properly attested, revoking the earlier one, and physically destroy the old original yourself.
The testator’s capacity is questioned.
What it meansSection 59 requires a sound mind, and its illustrations set the standard: understanding the nature of the property, who the relatives are, and who it would be proper to benefit.
The cheapest fixWhere age or illness might raise the question, have a doctor as one of the attesting witnesses, or obtain a note of the same date recording the examination.
Nobody in the family knew the will existed.
What it meansNot a legal defect at all, and the best single predictor of a contested probate. A citation arriving at a house where nothing had been said produces exactly the reaction you would expect.
The cheapest fixTell the family that a will exists. Telling them what it says prevents more litigation than any clause you can draft — particularly where the shares are unequal.
The review that keeps a will working
- 1Read the will again after every marriage, birth, death, divorce, or substantial purchase or sale in the family.
- 2Check that the executor and the alternate are still alive, still willing and still contactable.
- 3Check that the attesting witnesses can still be traced, and that their addresses on the will are current.
- 4Check that every asset described still exists in that form — an account closed and reopened elsewhere has a different number.
- 5Check that the residuary clause still names the person you would want to catch anything new.
- 6If anything has changed, write a fresh will rather than a codicil, and destroy the old original yourself.
Nothing on this list needs an advocate to prevent and nothing on it can be fixed after the testator has died. That asymmetry is the entire reason to draft carefully now.
You are here
Drafting and executing the document
What to do next
- 1
Decide what you actually want to happen before you draft
Format is the easy half. Who gets what, who is the executor, who looks after a minor child, and why wills get challenged — those are the decisions.
The decisions before the drafting → - 2
Check whether this will is one that needs probate
It turns on where the will was made and where the immovable property is, not on the size of the estate.
When probate is compulsory → - 3
Match your nominations to your will
The will decides ownership; the nomination decides who collects. Where they disagree, the family ends up holding money it cannot spend.
Nominee against legal heir → - 4
Check what you are actually entitled to leave
Self-acquired property can be willed freely. Where any part of the estate is ancestral coparcenary property, only your own undivided interest can be.
Ancestral property and coparcenary →