A registered will in India has no expiry date and remains valid until the maker revokes it. The Registration Act, 1908 allows you to present a will to a Sub-Registrar at any time under section 27, and the registration itself does not make the document legally valid or invalid. Registering a will gives it a dated public record, made in front of a government officer who checked who the testator was. It does not change how the will is proved in court: for a registered document other than a will, a court need not call an attesting witness unless its execution is specifically denied, but section 67 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 says "not being a will", so a registered will is proved by calling an attesting witness, exactly like an unregistered one.

What if the will has not been written yet?

If the will has not been written yet, start with writing a will step by step. For what the Sub-Registrar's office charges in Maharashtra, read will registration charges in Mumbai; for the office visit itself, the step-by-step guide to register a will. If you would rather have WillJini handle the registration, that is the Registration of Will service.

Related guides:

• Witness requirements for a will
• Transfer of property after death with a will
• Can a will be challenged after death?

What is the validity of a registered will in India?

A registered will has no expiry date. It remains valid indefinitely unless it is revoked or altered by the maker. Section 62 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, consolidated as on 19 June 2026, states that a will is liable to be revoked or altered by the maker of it at any time when he is competent to dispose of his property by will. The will takes effect when the testator dies. Registering it does not change any of that.

Section 70 of the Indian Succession Act lists the only ways an unprivileged will can be revoked. They are: another will or codicil; some writing declaring an intention to revoke the same and executed in the manner in which an unprivileged will is required to be executed; the burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the same by the testator or by some person in his presence and by his direction with the intention of revoking the same; and marriage, but only for a Christian's or a Parsi's will, because the proviso to section 57 says marriage does not revoke a will made by a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina.

Does registering a will make it valid?

No. The validity of a will comes from section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, not from the registration process. Section 63 requires the testator to sign or affix his mark to the will, or for it to be signed by some other person in his presence and by his direction. The signature or mark must be placed so that it appears intended to give effect to the writing as a will.

Section 63(c) requires that the will shall be attested by two or more witnesses, each of whom has seen the testator sign or affix his mark to the will, or has seen some other person sign the will, or has received from the testator a personal acknowledgment of his signature. Each of the witnesses shall sign the will in the presence of the testator, but it shall not be necessary that more than one witness be present at the same time, and no particular form of attestation shall be necessary. Registration is not in that list.

Registering a will is optional. Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908 lists the documents whose registration is optional, and clause (e) is "wills"; section 17(1), the list of documents that must be registered, opens clauses (b), (c) and (e) with the words "non-testamentary instruments" and never names a will.

Because registration is entirely optional, an unregistered will that meets the requirements of section 63 is just as legally valid as a registered one. A will that does not meet section 63 is not a valid will, registered or not.

If a bank has asked for probate, registering the will does not change the answer. Section 273 of the Indian Succession Act is why institutions ask, and it applies whether the will is registered or not. Section 213, which once made probate a precondition, was omitted with effect from 20 December 2025 by section 3 and the Second Schedule of the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 (37 of 2025), so no statute now requires probate for either kind of will; when probate of a will is required explains when an institution asks.

Is a registered will stronger in court than an unregistered one?

In court, no. A registered will has to be proved by calling an attesting witness, exactly like an unregistered one. The rule is section 67 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (47 of 2023, consolidated as on 6 October 2025), which came into force on 1 July 2024. Section 170(1) of the 2023 Act repealed the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 with effect from 1 July 2024. Because section 63(c) of the Indian Succession Act requires a will to be attested, section 67 applies.

The section states that if a document is required by law to be attested, it shall not be used as evidence until one attesting witness at least has been called for the purpose of proving its execution, if there be an attesting witness alive, and subject to the process of the Court and capable of giving evidence. The section then provides a shortcut for registered documents: it states it shall not be necessary to call an attesting witness in proof of the execution of any document, "not being a will", which has been registered in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Registration Act, 1908.

Because of the words "not being a will", that exception does not apply to a will.

The same Act covers what happens when that witness cannot be produced. Where no attesting witness can be found, section 68 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam lets the family prove instead that the attestation of one witness and the testator's signature are in their handwriting. Section 69 of that Act makes a person's own admission that the will was executed enough proof against that person. Under its section 70, where an attesting witness denies the execution or cannot remember it, other evidence may still prove it. Its section 71 covers documents that do not have to be attested and so does not apply to a will.

Choose attesting witnesses who are likely to be alive and easy to find when the will is proved, because they are the people a court will call under section 67. In Maharashtra there is a second pair: section 63(c) needs two attesting witnesses when the will is signed, and the department's published process document asks for two identifiers at the Sub-Registrar's office, whose job is to confirm to the Sub-Registrar who the testator is. The same two people can do both jobs, or they can be different people.

What are the conditions for a valid will?

Section 59 of the Indian Succession Act states that every person of sound mind not being a minor may dispose of his property by will. Under section 2(e), a minor means a person subject to the Indian Majority Act, 1875 who has not attained majority under it, and any other person who has not completed eighteen years.

Explanation 1 states that a married woman may dispose by will of any property which she could alienate by her own act during her life. Explanation 2 states that persons who are deaf or dumb or blind are not thereby incapacitated for making a will if they are able to know what they do by it. Explanation 3 allows a person who is ordinarily insane to make a will during an interval in which he is of sound mind. Explanation 4 states that no person can make a will while he is in such a state of mind, whether arising from intoxication or from illness or from any other cause, that he does not know what he is doing.

Section 61 states that a will, or any part of a will, the making of which has been caused by fraud or coercion, or by such importunity as takes away the free agency of the testator, is void.

If the person who made the will was a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina, section 57 and Schedule III apply these sections to a will made on or after 1 January 1927: Schedule III lists sections 59, 61 and 63, so the same rules on capacity, free agency and attestation apply. Section 58(1) of the Indian Succession Act says Part VI does not apply to a Muslim's will, so the conditions set out above are not the ones that govern it.

Can a registered will be changed or revoked?

Yes, a registered will can be changed or revoked at any time the maker is competent to dispose of property by will, under section 62.

Section 70 lists the only ways a will can be revoked: another will or codicil, a writing that declares the revocation and is executed the way a will has to be executed, or burning, tearing or otherwise destroying it with the intention of revoking it. For a Christian's or a Parsi's will, the maker's marriage is a fourth.

Whether marriage revokes a will depends on the religion of the person who made it. Section 69 says every will is revoked by the maker's marriage, but section 69 is not in Schedule III and the proviso to section 57 says marriage does not revoke a will made by a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina. So marriage revokes a Christian's or a Parsi's will, and it does not revoke a Hindu's, a Buddhist's, a Sikh's or a Jaina's.

If you cross something out or write a change on the will after it has been signed, the change has no effect unless it is executed the way the will was. That is section 71, and its proviso says how: you sign, and the witnesses sign, in the margin or near the alteration, or at the foot or end of or opposite to a memorandum referring to it, and the will as altered is then deemed duly executed. Section 73(1) states that a revoked will is revived only by re-execution or by a codicil executed as a will showing an intention to revive it.

Maharashtra charges Rs 100 for registering a will and the same Rs 100 for registering a cancellation of one, under Article V of its Table of Registration Fees; will registration charges in Mumbai carries the rest of that table.

Can a will be registered after the testator has died?

Yes. Section 40(1) of the Registration Act says that after the testator's death any person claiming as executor or otherwise under the will may present it to any Registrar or Sub-Registrar for registration. Other documents have to be presented within four months; section 23 excludes a will from that rule, and section 27 says a will may at any time be presented for registration.

Under section 29(1), the will can be presented at the Sub-Registrar's office where it was executed, or at any other Sub-Registrar's office under the State Government where the persons executing and claiming under it desire it to be registered. Section 30(1) allows any Registrar to receive and register any document a subordinate Sub-Registrar could register.

When a will is presented after death, section 41(2) requires the registering officer to be satisfied of three things: that the will was executed by the testator, that the testator is dead, and that the person presenting the will is entitled to present it under section 40.

In Maharashtra, the department's English Citizen's Charter (item 10) lists the documents as the original will deed, the testator's death certificate, and evidence that the will was executed, such as the persons who were present at the time. The department's Marathi process document lists the death certificate, an affidavit of authority, and then, in the alternative, probate of the competent court, a certificate that an administrator has been appointed, or the statements of the attesting witnesses. The two Maharashtra documents list different papers, so before you go, ask the Sub-Registrar's office you have chosen which list it works from; the death certificate is on both.

Where is a registered will kept?

The Registration Act gives a testator a way to have the will itself held by the Registrar: under Part IX, sections 42 to 46, any testator may deposit the will with any Registrar in a sealed cover.

Under section 42 the sealed cover must be superscribed with the name of the testator, the name of the agent if there is one, and a statement of the nature of the document. Under section 43, if the Registrar is satisfied of the identity of the person presenting it, they transcribe the superscription into Register-book No. 5, note the time of presentation, and place and retain the sealed cover in their fire-proof box. Section 44 allows the testator to withdraw it later. In Maharashtra, this sealed cover deposit is handled by the Joint District Registrar.

What does handing the registration over look like?

WillJini's Registration of Will service runs in four published steps. First, you share your location so WillJini can find the nearest Sub-Registrar's office. Second, you share copies of the will, a fitness certificate from a doctor, and identity proofs for yourself and the witnesses. Third, WillJini fixes an appointment at the Sub-Registrar's office at your convenience. Fourth, you attend with the original documents and two witnesses and the registration is done. WillJini reads the will before you sign it, tells you which papers and identity proofs the Sub-Registrar's office will want, and takes you through the formalities at the office so the application is not turned away. The service is priced at Rs 9,999 plus GST, and a WillJini lawyer calls you back within 24 hours.

No statute requires a doctor's fitness certificate, but step 2 asks for one and an elderly testator is asked for one in practice, so have it before the appointment. Step 4 says two witnesses; in Maharashtra the two people at the Sub-Registrar's office are identifiers, whose job is to confirm who the testator is, and they can be the two attesting witnesses or two other people.

FAQs

How many years is a registered will valid in India?

A registered will has no expiry date. It remains valid indefinitely until the maker revokes it or alters it under section 62 of the Indian Succession Act. Section 70 lists the only ways a will can end, among them executing a new will and destroying the old one with the intention to revoke it, and time passing is not one of them.

Does registering a will make it legally valid?

No, registration adds nothing to a will's legal validity. A will is made valid by meeting the execution requirements of section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, which include the testator's signature and the attestation of two or more witnesses. The Registration Act says in section 18(e) that registering a will is entirely optional.

Is a registered will stronger than an unregistered will?

As evidence in court, no. Section 67 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 spares other registered documents from calling an attesting witness, but its proviso excludes a will by name, so a registered will is proved by calling an attesting witness just as an unregistered one is.

Can a registered will be challenged in court?

Yes, a registered will can be challenged on the exact same grounds as an unregistered one. If the will was not executed the way section 63 requires, it is not a valid will; and if it was made by fraud or coercion, or by such importunity as takes away the free agency of the testator, section 61 makes it void.

Can a registered will be changed or revoked?

Yes, the maker can change or revoke it at any time while competent to dispose of property. Section 70 says a will is revoked only by another will or codicil, by a writing that declares the revocation and is executed in the way a will has to be executed, or by burning, tearing or otherwise destroying it with the intention of revoking it. Any pen mark or alteration on the document after execution has no effect unless it is signed and attested like a will, under section 71.

Does marriage cancel a will in India?

That depends on the religion of the person who made the will. Section 69 of the Indian Succession Act says marriage revokes a will, but section 69 is not in Schedule III and the proviso to section 57 says marriage does not revoke a will made by a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina; so it revokes a Christian's or a Parsi's will and not theirs.

Can a will be registered after the death of the testator?

Yes. Sections 40 and 41 of the Registration Act let any person claiming as executor or otherwise under the will present it after the testator's death, and section 23 excludes a will from the four-month rule that other documents follow. Section 29 allows presentation at any Sub-Registrar's office under the State Government where the parties desire it registered. The registering officer must be satisfied that the testator executed the will, that the testator is dead, and that the person presenting it is entitled to do so under section 40.

Is probate required for a registered will?

No statute requires probate for a registered or unregistered will. Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, which once made probate a precondition, was omitted on 20 December 2025 by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025. If a bank asks for probate, registering the will does not change the answer. Section 273 is why institutions ask, and it applies whether the will is registered or not.