What Are the Will Registration Charges in Mumbai 2026? Fee, Offices and Process
What Are the Will Registration Charges in Mumbai 2026? Fee, Offices and Process
Registering a will in Mumbai costs Rs 100. That is the government's fee, set in Maharashtra's registration fee table, and there is no stamp duty on a will at all. You go to a Sub-Registrar with two witnesses, and it is usually done the same day.
If you were expecting a percentage, that is a fair thing to have expected. Every other property document in Maharashtra is priced on value, and the registration fee on a gift deed alone can run to Rs 30,000. A will sits outside that scale completely.
Where this page sits
This page covers Mumbai specifically: what the registration fee actually is, why there is no stamp duty on a will in Maharashtra, which office you can present it to, and how long it takes.
If you would rather hand the whole thing over, that is will registration.
Related guides:
- How to register a will, step by step
- Is a registered will valid in India
- How to register a will, step by step
- Is probate required for a registered will
What Are the Will Registration Charges in Mumbai?
The charge is Rs 100. Under the heading Wills and Authorities to Adopt, Maharashtra's registration fee table sets it at "Rs.100" for "registration of a will when presented open".
What surprises people is how far that hundred rupees stretches. It is not only the fee to register. It is the fee for almost everything the office will ever do with your will.
| What you are asking the office to do | Fee |
|---|---|
| Register a will, presented open | Rs 100 |
| Cancel a will you have already registered | Rs 100 |
| Deposit a will with the office in a sealed cover | Rs 100, plus copying charges |
| Withdraw that sealed cover again | Rs 100 |
| Open a sealed cover after the death | Rs 100 |
| Register a will after the testator has died | Rs 100 |
Read down that column and you have the whole life of a document priced at a hundred rupees a step. Write it, change your mind, write another, lodge it sealed, take it back: the office charges the same for each.
As far as the government is concerned, the will registration charges in Mumbai begin and end at that Rs 100. Anything larger in a quotation is a service fee, for drafting the will or for handling the visit, and it should be described as one.
This matters because the fee is almost never the real obstacle. Families put off registering because they expect the process to be priced like a property transfer and to bind them to one version forever, and neither belief survives the table above.
Is There Any Stamp Duty on a Will in Maharashtra?
None. Not a reduced rate, not a nominal amount: a will is simply not a chargeable instrument.
Schedule I of the Maharashtra Stamp Act lists every instrument that attracts duty in the state, and there is no article in it for a will. A will transfers nothing while you are alive, so there is nothing to charge duty on. Duty falls instead on the documents that move property now: conveyances, gift deeds, settlements.
The useful comparison is the gift deed, the other route by which property passes inside a family. A gift deed carries stamp duty under its own article of Schedule I, and its registration fee is scaled to value, one percent with a ceiling of Rs 30,000. A will carries no duty and a single Rs 100 fee, and the size of the estate never enters the calculation.
Can You Cancel or Change a Will After Registering It?
Yes. A cancellation is priced exactly like a registration, at Rs 100.
This is the part worth knowing before you decide. People hesitate to register because registration feels permanent, as though the document becomes harder to undo once it is on a government record. The table above says otherwise.
In practice most people do not cancel at all. They write a fresh will, and the later one speaks over the earlier. For instance, a testator who registered a will in 2019 might rewrite it this year after a grandchild arrives: registering the new will is another Rs 100, and the old entry stays where it is.
Registration does not lock you into the version you registered. It records that on a given day you presented that version and were identified doing it.
Want this handled end to end? WillJini drafts the will, arranges the witnesses and completes registration at the Sub-Registrar in Mumbai. The service fee is quoted on enquiry. Call 080 6453 3964 or see will registration services.
What If You Do Not Want Anyone Reading It?
Then lodge it sealed. It is the least known thing on this page and, for a lot of families, the answer to the objection that stops them.
Sections 42 to 46 of the Registration Act let you hand a will to the Joint District Registrar inside a sealed envelope. The office does not open it. It records that you deposited it, on that date, and keeps it. Nobody reads the contents while you are alive, including the officer who takes it in.
The deposit itself costs Rs 100, plus a copying charge added under the fee table. You can take it back whenever you like: withdrawal is an application, your photo identity card and Rs 100. After a death, the cover is opened on an application with the death certificate, again for Rs 100.
The office asks for a Rs 5 court fee stamp on each of those applications, so buy the stamps before you travel.
Which Office Do You Go To in Mumbai?
For an ordinary registration, a Sub-Registrar. For the sealed cover route, the Joint District Registrar of the district, because the deposit provisions name that officer specifically.
You are not tied to the office nearest your flat. Section 40(1) of the Registration Act lets a will be presented "to any Registrar or Sub-Registrar", which is a wider rule than the one governing sale deeds, and it is the reason a family living in Andheri with a property in Pune does not have to choose between them.
Take the will, your photo identity card and both witnesses. The office wants identity cards for the witnesses too, not only for you. A witness without one holds up the whole appointment, so check both cards before you leave.
How Long Does It Take, and What Do You Pay With?
Will registration in Mumbai is normally a same-day service. The Registration department's citizen charter puts it at same-day on verification, and where the officer raises a query, two hours after you satisfy it.
Payment goes through the state's GRAS system if you want to pay online before you arrive, and the office also takes cash or stamp paper.
If a file does stall, the escalation is the Joint District Registrar of the district. Ask about your specific document rather than about delay in general, and take the receipt with you when you ask.
What If Someone Has Died and the Will Was Never Registered?
It can still be registered, and it still costs Rs 100.
An unregistered will is a valid will, so nothing has been lost. Where the family wants the document on the record, the Registration Act allows a beneficiary to bring it in after the testator's death, and Maharashtra prices that at the same hundred rupees as any other will entry.
The office will ask for the will itself, the death certificate, your identity document, and evidence that the testator executed the will, such as the persons who were present when it was signed. Take those to the Sub-Registrar, and the same-day timeline above applies here too.
FAQs
What is the will registration fee in Mumbai?
Rs 100. Maharashtra's registration fee table sets "Rs.100" for registration of a will presented open, and no stamp duty applies to a will in the state. Anything above that figure in a quotation is a service or professional fee, not a government charge.
Is stamp duty payable on a will in Maharashtra?
No. Schedule I of the Maharashtra Stamp Act has no article for a will, so no duty attaches. Duty falls on conveyances, gift deeds and settlements, all priced on value; a will is not among them.
How much does it cost to cancel a registered will?
Rs 100, the same as registering one. The fee table treats registration of a will and cancellation of a will under the same article at the same charge.
Can I deposit my will without anyone reading it?
Yes. Under sections 42 to 46 of the Registration Act you can deposit it with the Joint District Registrar in a sealed cover for Rs 100 plus copying charges. It stays sealed, you can withdraw it at any time for Rs 100, and it is opened after death on an application with the death certificate.
Do the witnesses have to bring identity documents?
Yes. The department requires photo identity cards for all parties and for the witnesses, for appearance and admission of the document.
How long does will registration take in Mumbai?
Same day on verification, per the Registration department's citizen charter. Where the officer raises a query, the charter allows two hours after you comply.
Every figure, office and timeline on this page traces to a government publication. Where the state publishes nothing, this page says so rather than borrowing a number from elsewhere.
- Maharashtra registration fee table, Wills and Authorities to Adopt gov.inThe Rs 100 figure and the six separate acts it covers. This is the department’s own schedule, not a summary of it.
- GRAS, the Maharashtra government receipt accounting system gov.inWhere the fee is paid online before you arrive. The office also takes cash or stamp paper.
Jatin founded WillJini to make succession paperwork survivable for ordinary families, in a country where the office that issues a document, the fee it carries and the time it takes all change at the state line. He has been a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India since January 1995.
- B.G.L., University of Mumbai
- Company Secretary
- ICSI member since 1995
Every page in this guide series is reviewed against the issuing department’s own published material before it goes up. Where a state publishes nothing, this site says so rather than borrowing a figure from elsewhere.
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