A letter of administration puts the whole estate, a flat or land included, in the hands of the administrator the court appoints, across the State where it is granted. A succession certificate only lets you collect the debts and securities listed in it, such as deposits and company shares. On a net estate of Rs 10,00,000 with Rs 5,00,000 in deposits, the Maharashtra court fee is Rs 65,500 for letters and Rs 28,000 for a certificate covering the deposits.

WillJini assists with probate and letters petitions from the first advice to the court visits.

Where this page sits

If the deposits carry a nominee or a survivorship clause, a commercial bank pays them out with no court document, whatever the amount. Nominee or legal heir explains who keeps the money after that.

Related guides:

• Succession certificate procedure
• Probate or a letter of administration
• The probate petition
• How to apply for a legal heir certificate in Maharashtra
• Succession certificate in Maharashtra

Which Does Your Family Need: Probate, a Letter of Administration or a Succession Certificate?

Probate is the grant when a will appoints an executor who agrees to act. A letter of administration is the grant when the will has no such executor, or there is no will. Where the family only has debts and securities to collect, a succession certificate covers them. The executor who takes probate must be appointed by the will, expressly or by necessary implication (section 222).

Under Part X of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, a succession certificate never covers a flat, a house or land. It is limited to the debts and securities named in the petition. It settles no ownership, since whoever collects under it must still account to the person lawfully entitled (section 387). No certificate issues for a debt or security for which section 212 requires a right to be established by letters of administration (section 370(1)). A later probate or letters for the same estate supersedes the certificate as to its debts and securities (section 215).

Probate and letters can be sought from the District Judge of any district where the deceased had a fixed abode or any property. A succession certificate is sought from the District Judge for the deceased's ordinary residence, or for a place where property lies only if there was no fixed residence (section 371). In Greater Mumbai the Bombay High Court hears all three petitions on its Original Side, where the District Judge's powers over an uncontested petition are exercised by the Prothonotary and Senior Master (rules 370 and 371).

What Is the Difference Between a Letter of Administration and a Succession Certificate?

The main difference between a letter of administration and a succession certificate lies in how much of the estate each covers: letters vest the whole estate in the administrator, while a certificate covers only the debts and securities listed in it.

What Is a Letter of Administration, and Who Can Apply for One?

A letter of administration is the court's appointment of an administrator to represent someone who died with no executor, and the estate vests in that administrator (sections 2 and 211). For a Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, Jaina, Indian Christian or Parsi, letters are available but are not a condition precedent to establishing a right to the property in court (section 212). For anyone else, letters come first.

When a Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina dies without a will, letters can go to one or more of those entitled to a share under the law of inheritance that applied to them, or to a creditor (section 218). For anyone else, the widow has priority unless she is excluded. Others may be joined with her, and a creditor takes letters when no relative will act (section 219). If the will appoints nobody, or the executor it appoints is incapable, refuses or has died, a universal or residuary legatee may take letters with the will annexed (section 232). Failing that legatee, letters can go to the heirs who would take on an intestacy, to another legatee with a beneficial interest, or to a creditor (section 234).

What Is the Difference Between a Letter of Administration and an Heirship Certificate?

A Maharashtra heirship certificate under Bombay Regulation VIII of 1827 shows who is in legal management of the property; it gives no right to it. It issues after the application has been proclaimed, with one month for objections (section 2 of the Regulation). A letter of administration goes further: it vests the estate in the administrator and binds the deceased's debtors across the State (sections 211 and 273 of the Indian Succession Act).

The holder of an heirship certificate may act, grant deeds and sue, but the certificate yields to a preferable right, and a refusal does not bar a suit (sections 7 and 8). An heir without one may still manage or sue (section 1). A later probate or letters supersedes the certificate as to debts and securities (section 215 of the Indian Succession Act).

When the claimants to a flat in a Maharashtra housing society disagree, the society's committee calls for letters of administration, a succession certificate or a legal heirship certificate from the competent court (rule 106C-6(1)(e), inserted in June 2026).

What Is the Procedure for Obtaining a Letter of Administration?

You apply for a letter of administration by filing a petition with the District Judge, or with the Bombay High Court in Greater Mumbai, and WillJini assists from the first advice to the court visits.

Step 1: Advice and the choice of court

WillJini's process opens with advice and a lawyer's appointment. The first thing to get right is the court: for letters, the District Judge of a district where the deceased had a fixed abode or any property.

Step 2: The heirs, their consents and the affidavits

WillJini collects an affidavit from every heir and witness, with the properties and their valuations. The Bombay High Court's Original Side rules require the petition to name everyone with a prior right to the grant (rule 389). The petition does not have to carry the heirs' consents, but notice goes to every heir it names except those whose consent has been filed (rule 397(1)).

Step 3: The valuation, the court fee and the bond

In WillJini's process the court fee is calculated on the size of the estate, under each State's law. In Maharashtra no order is made until a valuation of the property is filed in the form the Court-fees Act sets out and the fee is paid (section 29(1)). Every administrator must give the District Judge a bond with surety (section 291).

Step 4: Court visits and a caveat

The last stage of WillJini's process covers court visits and any objection raised. Anyone objecting in the Bombay High Court has fourteen days from service to file a caveat, and eight days to file the affidavit supporting it; the petition then proceeds as a suit (rules 401 to 403; section 295).

By contrast, a succession certificate is decided summarily after notice is served and posted at the court-house (section 373(1)). In an intricate case the Judge may grant it to the applicant with the best prima facie title, and must then require a bond (sections 373(3) and 375(1)).

What Documents Does the Court Ask For?

For letters of administration the court asks for a petition stating the time and place of death, the family or other relatives and where they live, the right claimed, the assets likely to come to hand, and where the deceased had a fixed abode or property (section 278). In the Bombay High Court, letters on an intestacy use Form No. 103 with the oath in Form No. 104, and letters with the will annexed use Form No. 105 with the oath in Form No. 106, each with three schedules: the property, the debts and deductions, and any trust property (rules 375 and 376).

Under the Delhi High Court's rules, a probate or letters petition must come with a valuation affidavit and an affidavit of proof or a certificate of death (Chapter XXIX, rule 1).

A succession certificate petition, verified like a plaint, gives the time of death, the deceased's ordinary residence, the near relatives, the petitioner's right, confirmation that no bar applies, and the debts and securities to be covered (section 372(1)). In the Bombay High Court it is Form No. 110 with a schedule, the oath in Form No. 112 and a vakalatnama unless the petitioner appears in person (rule 377).

What Does Each Route Cost, and How Long Does It Take?

A net estate of Rs 5,00,000 carries a Maharashtra court fee of Rs 28,000 for probate or letters, and one of Rs 10,00,000 carries Rs 65,500. Article 10 of Schedule I to the Maharashtra Court-fees Act, 1959 sets one scale for probate and letters, applied to the net estate after debts, funeral expenses and mortgages: 2 per cent on the first Rs 50,000 (once the value exceeds Rs 1,000), 4 per cent on the part between Rs 50,000 and Rs 2,00,000, 6 per cent between Rs 2,00,000 and Rs 3,00,000, and 7.5 per cent on the part above Rs 3,00,000.

A succession certificate in Maharashtra is charged under Article 11 at the same bands on the debts and securities listed in it, and at twice that on any added by extension. The Regulation VIII certificate is charged under Article 12 at the same bands on the property certified, and the fee paid on either certificate is deducted from a later probate or letters for the same estate (Article 10 proviso).

No court publishes how long any of the four documents takes. Probate cannot issue within seven clear days of the death, or letters within fourteen clear days (section 293). The Bombay High Court grants none of the three until fourteen clear days after the citation or notice has been served, published and affixed (rule 397(4)). A first petition filed there more than three years after the death must explain the delay (rule 382), and one left unprosecuted for a year is treated as disposed of (rule 435). No period is fixed for a succession certificate in Part X of the Indian Succession Act.

WillJini's service pages for probate and a succession certificate estimate about 6 to 12 months, and say the time varies with the location, how complex the assets are and whether every family member cooperates.

How Does WillJini Work Out Which Grant Your Family Needs?

At the advice stage, when a lawyer is appointed, WillJini works out which grant or certificate your family applies for, going by the will, the executor it names and what the estate holds. WillJini quotes its own fee on enquiry.

FAQs

Are letter of administration and succession certificate the same?

Letters vest the deceased's whole estate, movable and immovable, in the administrator throughout the State of grant (sections 211 and 273). A succession certificate only authorises collecting the debts and securities listed in it, anywhere in India (sections 380 and 381).

Is there any alternative to a succession certificate?

A nomination or a survivorship clause on a deposit is one alternative to a succession certificate: a commercial bank pays the nominee or survivor with no court document, whatever the amount. Where there is no nomination, no will and no dispute, a commercial bank settles a claim of up to Rs 15 lakh on a legal heir certificate or a declaration, and one above Rs 15 lakh on a succession certificate, a legal heir certificate or a sworn affidavit (RBI directions, paragraphs 286, 288 and 290). Probate or letters also bind the deceased's debtors and supersede an earlier certificate (sections 215 and 273). In Maharashtra, a Regulation VIII heirship certificate, which gives no right to the property, lets its holder manage the estate.

Can property be transferred without a succession certificate?

A flat, a house or land can pass to the heirs without a succession certificate. The certificate never transfers immovable property. A Maharashtra housing society accepts a succession certificate as one paper among several, alongside testamentary documents, a legal heirship certificate and a family arrangement document, and it can also admit a nominee as a provisional member (section 154B-13 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960). An heir to land in Maharashtra reports to the Talathi within three months (Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966, section 149). Where a grant is wanted, letters of administration cover immovable property throughout the State of grant (section 273); see how property passes after a death.

What documents are required for a succession certificate?

A succession certificate needs a petition verified like a plaint, stating the particulars section 372(1) lists, from the time of death to the debts and securities sought. The Bombay High Court's version is Form No. 110 with a schedule, the oath in Form No. 112, and a vakalatnama if the petitioner does not appear in person (rule 377).

What is the purpose of a letter of administration?

A letter of administration gives an estate with no executor a legal representative: the court appoints the administrator (section 2), the estate vests in that administrator (section 211), and the administrator's title binds the deceased's debtors and anyone holding the deceased's property throughout the State of grant (section 273).