If you are about to sign your will, you need at least two witnesses, and the law lets almost anyone act as one: your son, your neighbour, your doctor, the executor, even someone who inherits under the will. If you register the will, take the same two people to the Sub-Registrar's office. Section 63(c) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 sets no age, relationship or occupation test for a witness.

Your family will need these witnesses after your death, when it has to prove the will. Under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, a will cannot be used in court until one attesting witness is called to prove it, if one is alive and available, and registering the will does not remove that step. If neither witness can be found, the family must first satisfy the court of that and then prove a witness's handwriting and yours. The best witnesses are people who will still be alive and traceable when your family needs them.

Where this page sits

If the will is not written yet, the step by step guide to writing a will covers it, and WillJini's Detailed Will service ends with you signing it in front of your two witnesses.

Related guides:

• What registering a will does and does not change
• The duties of a will executor in India
• Can a will be challenged after death?
• Will format in India: where the attestation clause goes

Who can be a witness to a will in India?

Anyone who can later answer questions about the signing can be a witness to a will in India. Section 63(c) asks only that each witness has seen you sign or put your mark on the will, or has seen another person sign it in your presence and by your direction, or "has received from the testator a personal acknowledgment of his signature or mark", and that each witness signs while you are present.

The Act sets no minimum age, so the test is whether the witness could later testify. Section 124 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam treats every person as competent to testify unless the court considers them prevented from understanding the questions or giving rational answers "by tender years, extreme old age, disease, whether of body or mind". Choose adults who understand what they are signing and could explain it to a judge years from now.

Can a family member be a witness to a will?

A family member can witness your will, and the will is valid when a son, a daughter or a spouse signs. Nothing in section 63 bars a relative, and section 68 says no person is "disqualified as a witness" to prove a will by reason of an interest in it or of being its executor.

If the relative also inherits under the will, your religion decides whether that relative keeps the gift. If you can, pick two people who take nothing under the will, who are younger than you, and whose full names and addresses you write under their signatures.

Can a beneficiary be a witness to a will in India?

A beneficiary can sign your will as a witness and the will stays valid. Section 67 of the Indian Succession Act says that "a will shall not be deemed to be insufficiently attested by reason of any benefit thereby given" to a person attesting it or to that person's wife or husband. Whether the witness keeps his or her own gift depends on your religion.

On a Christian's or a Parsi's will, section 67 applies in full: the bequest or appointment "shall be void so far as concerns the person so attesting, or the wife or husband of such person, or any person claiming under either of them."

On a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina will, the gift to that witness is not void. Section 58(1) keeps Part VI of the Act away from these wills except as section 57 provides, section 57(c) applies to wills made on or after 1 January 1927 only the sections listed in Schedule III, and section 67 is not on that list while section 68 is. The Kerala High Court read the Act the same way in Jose v. Ouseph on 8 November 2006: legatees under such a will "do not forfeit their legacy on becoming attesting witnesses."

Even where the gift survives, a witness who inherits can make the will harder to prove. In Meena Pradhan v. Kamla Pradhan on 21 September 2023, the Supreme Court listed "the propounder himself taking a leading part in the making of the Will under which he receives a substantial benefit" among its examples of a suspicious circumstance, and where suspicion exists "the initial onus on the propounder becomes heavier."

How many witnesses does a will need, and do they have to sign together?

A will in India must be witnessed by at least two people, and you may use more. Section 63(c) requires attestation "by two or more witnesses" and adds that "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."

A witness who arrives after you have signed can still attest if you personally acknowledge the signature and the witness then signs in your presence.

What happens if a witness to your will has died?

If one witness has died and the other can be reached, the family calls the living witness and proves the will in the ordinary way. Section 67 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, in force since 1 July 2024, says an attested document "shall not be used as evidence until one attesting witness at least has been called for the purpose of proving its execution", if such a witness is alive and capable of giving evidence, and its registered-document exemption covers only a document "not being a will". Section 170(1) of the same Act repealed the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

If no witness can be found, section 68 lets the family prove "that the attestation of one attesting witness at least is in his handwriting, and that the signature of the person executing the document is in the handwriting of that person." On 13 August 2026 the Supreme Court, in Pazhanathal v. Alamathal (2026 INSC 860), said this route "is, therefore, not an alternative which the propounder may freely choose". The Court applied the Evidence Act's sections 68 and 69, whose words the new Act's sections 67 and 68 repeat.

The family must first show that no attesting witness is available, covering witnesses who are "dead, beyond the jurisdiction of the Court, kept out of the way by the adverse party, incapable of giving evidence, or untraceable despite diligent search". A death certificate is not "invariably indispensable", but there must be "satisfactory proof that no attesting witness remained available for examination".

If both your witnesses die before you, sign a fresh will with two new witnesses.

Are the witnesses at the Sub-Registrar's office the same as the witnesses to the will?

The people who identify you at the Sub-Registrar's office are attesting witnesses only if they also signed the will to witness your signature. Under section 34(3) of the Registration Act, 1908, the registering officer enquires whether the document was executed by the persons who appear to have executed it and checks the identity of the people before him. The Supreme Court said in Pazhanathal that "a person who signs only as a scribe, identifier or registering officer does not become an attesting witness unless the evidence establishes that he signed for the purpose of bearing witness to the executant's signature or acknowledgment."

The same judgment held that "even a registered Will remains subject to the requirement of proof through an attesting witness where such a witness is alive, available and capable of giving evidence." Registration may support the will's genuineness, but your family still needs an attesting witness to prove it.

Take your two attesting witnesses to the appointment. In Delhi, the Revenue Department's checklist for registering a will asks for the will on plain paper, the e-registration fee receipt, the testator's photograph, and original ID proof "of Testator and two witnesses".

Do Muslim wills and privileged wills need witnesses?

A Muslim's will does not need witnesses under the Succession Act, because section 58(1) says Part VI, which holds section 63, "shall not apply to testamentary succession to the property of any Muhammadan". Under Muslim law a will may be oral or written, and a written will "does not require to be signed or attested", in the Gauhati High Court's words in Rijia Bibi v. Abdul Kachem (2 January 2013).

The other exception is the privileged will: under section 65 a soldier employed in an expedition or engaged in actual warfare, an airman so employed, or a mariner at sea, who has completed 18, may make one, and under section 66(2) one written wholly in his own hand "need not be signed or attested". Sections 65 and 66 are not on the Schedule III list, so, read with sections 57 and 58(1), they do not apply to a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina will; on a Christian's or a Parsi's will that route is open.

How does WillJini handle the witnesses when you make and register a will?

With WillJini's Detailed Will service, the last published step is the signing: "Print and Sign your Will. Take a print-out of the final Will document and sign it in the presence of two witnesses. Your Legal Will is now ready!" The service is priced at Rs 7,499 plus GST.

WillJini's Registration of Will service runs in four published steps. You share your exact location so the nearest Sub-Registrar's office is found. You share copies of your will, a fitness certificate by a doctor, and ID proofs of yourself and the witnesses. An appointment is fixed at the Sub-Registrar's office at your convenience. You then visit the office with all original documents and 2 witnesses. The doctor's fitness certificate is something the service asks for, and the Act does not require one. Registration is priced at Rs 9,999 plus GST.

FAQs

Who can be a witness to a will in India?

Any person who could later answer questions about the signing in court can witness a will in India. Section 63(c) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 sets no age, relationship or occupation test, and section 124 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 decides who is competent to testify.

Who cannot be a witness to a will?

The Indian Succession Act bars nobody from witnessing a will. Avoid a person who could not later understand questions in court or answer them rationally, because section 124 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam lets a court find such a person unable to testify.

Can a beneficiary be a witness to a will in India?

A beneficiary can witness a will in India and the will stands, because section 67 of the Indian Succession Act says a benefit to a witness does not make the will insufficiently attested. On a Christian's or a Parsi's will the gift to that witness or the witness's spouse is void. On a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina will it is not, because section 67 is not on the Schedule III list.

Who can sign a will as a witness?

A person who has seen you sign, has seen someone else sign in your presence and by your direction, or has received your personal acknowledgment of the signature can sign a will as a witness. Under section 63(c) that person must then sign the will in your presence.

How many witnesses must a will have?

A will must be attested by two or more witnesses under section 63(c) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, and the section says it is not necessary for more than one witness to be present at the same time.

Can the executor of a will also be a witness?

The executor can also be a witness: section 68 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 states that no person, by reason of his being an executor of a will, shall be disqualified as a witness to prove its execution.

Does a witness need to read the will?

A witness does not need to read the will or know what it says. Section 63 sets no requirement about the contents.

Can a doctor or a lawyer be a witness to a will?

A doctor or a lawyer can witness a will, though no law requires either. A doctor who examines you that day and signs as witness can later speak to your state of mind.