Under section 59 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 you can make a will if you are of sound mind and not a minor, and section 2(e) puts that at 18 years. Section 63 says how to sign it: you sign the will, and two witnesses sign it after watching you. Three of the answers change with your religion: whether a beneficiary may witness the will, whether a guardianship clause operates, and whether marriage cancels it.

Do the rules change with your religion?

Three of them do: whether a beneficiary can witness the will, whether a guardianship clause works, and whether getting married cancels it. Each is answered for each community at the step where it arises. If you want the Act itself, read what is the Indian Succession Act, 1925; if you would rather hand the drafting over, that is the Detailed Will service.

Related guides:

• Witnesses for a will: requirements and eligibility
• Will executors in India: common duties and responsibilities
• Inheritance laws in India and what happens without a will

How do you write a will in India, step by step?

The process follows eight broad steps, answered in detail down this page. First, check that you can make a will at all: you must be of sound mind and at least eighteen years old. Second, you identify your assets without pricing them and decide who inherits what. Third, you appoint an executor who is an adult of sound mind to carry out your instructions. Fourth, if you have minor children, appoint a guardian, and know that a father's appointment has no effect if he dies before the mother, so both parents need wills. Fifth, you put the instructions in writing. Sixth, you execute the will by signing it in the presence of two witnesses. Seventh, you either store the original safely or take it to a Sub-Registrar for registration. Eighth, you alter or rewrite the will when life changes, because a crossed out line on the original document does nothing.

Who can make a will in India?

Section 59 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, consolidated as on 19 June 2026, states: "Every person of sound mind not being a minor may dispose of his property by will." Under section 2(e), a minor is any person subject to the Indian Majority Act, 1875 who has not attained majority, and any other person who has not completed the age of eighteen years.

The section carries four Explanations. Explanation 1 is a property scope rule: "A married woman may dispose by will of any property which she could alienate by her own act during her life." Explanation 2 states: "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 states: "A person who is ordinarily insane may make a will during interval in which he is of sound mind." Explanation 4 states: "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." The boundary for illness is clarified by illustration (iii): "A, being very feeble and debilitated, but capable of exercising a judgment as to the proper mode of disposing of his property, makes a will. This is a valid will."

Whether the rest of the Act's will rules apply to you depends on your religion. Section 58(1) says the provisions of Part VI "shall not apply to testamentary succession to the property of any Muhammadan nor, save as provided by section 57, to testamentary succession to the property of any Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina". So Part VI does not apply to a Muslim's will at all. For a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina will made on or after 1 January 1927, section 57 applies only "the provisions of this Part which are set out in Schedule III", and Schedule III is a numbered list. A section that is not on that list does not apply to those wills.

Sections 65 and 66 let a soldier employed in an expedition or engaged in actual warfare, an airman so employed, or a mariner at sea make a will by word of mouth. Neither section is on the Schedule III list, so neither applies to a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina will; on a Christian's or a Parsi's will that route is open.

What goes in the will, and should you write the values?

Identify each asset by number or description and do not price it. That is the position WillJini's own drafting product takes: it records "each asset with proper identification details, except its value, to ensure smoother execution and help avoid disputes", and it asks for asset details with "value not required". If you write down what a flat or an account is worth today, the figure will be out of date by the time the will is read, and the family will argue about the difference.

If you want to list your assets in a separate schedule, section 64 of the Act applies. It states: "If a testator, in a will or codicil duly attested, refers to any other document then actually written as expressing any part of his intentions, such document shall be deemed to form a part of the will or codicil in which it is referred to." This means a separate asset schedule forms part of the will only if it already exists when the will is executed and the will refers to it. One drafted afterwards does not.

Naming someone as the nominee on an account or a policy is not the same as leaving the asset to that person: in many cases the nominee only receives it on behalf of the legal heirs, so say in the will who is to have it. End the will with one line saying who takes everything you have not listed. Section 30 of the Act says that "a person is deemed to die intestate in respect of all property of which he has not made a testamentary disposition which is capable of taking effect", so anything the will misses passes as if you had left no will. Its second illustration is exactly that case: a will that appoints an executor and disposes of nothing, and the whole estate goes as on intestacy.

Who should be the executor, and does the executor need probate?

Section 2(c) defines an executor as a person to whom the execution of the last will of a deceased person is confided by the testator's appointment. Section 222(1) states: "Probate shall be granted only to an executor appointed by the will." Under section 223, probate cannot be granted to a minor, a person of unsound mind, or an association of individuals unless it is a company satisfying the prescribed conditions. If the will names no executor, probate cannot be granted on it, and the family has to apply for letters of administration with the will annexed instead. So name an adult of sound mind whom you trust to carry out the will, and name a second person in case the first cannot act. Section 211(1) makes the executor the deceased's legal representative for all purposes, and all the property of the deceased vests in the executor.

Section 213, which required probate or letters of administration with the will annexed before a right as executor or legatee could be established in court, was omitted with effect from 20 December 2025 by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 (Act 37 of 2025), section 3 and the Second Schedule. Your executor no longer needs a court's permission before acting. A bank or a registrar may still ask for probate, because section 273 protects an institution that pays out to the person holding the grant, and when probate of a will is required explains when an institution asks.

Can you appoint a guardian for your children in your will?

Section 60 of the Indian Succession Act states: "A father, whatever his age may be, may by will appoint a guardian or guardians for his child during minority." That section gives the power to a father only. Section 60 is not in Schedule III, so it applies to a Christian or Parsi will and not to a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina one.

For a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina family, the power comes from the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 (Act 32 of 1956), dated 25 August 1956. Section 9(1) allows a Hindu father entitled to act as the natural guardian of his minor legitimate children to appoint a guardian by will in respect of the minor's person, property, or both.

The rule that catches families out is section 9(2): "An appointment made under sub-section (1) shall have no effect if the father predeceases the mother, but shall revive if the mother dies without appointing, by will, any person as guardian." A father's guardianship clause does nothing in the ordinary case where he dies first and the mother survives him. It revives only if she dies without appointing a guardian by her own will. So both parents write wills, and the surviving parent's clause is the one that operates. Section 9(3) gives the same power to a Hindu widow entitled to act as the natural guardian of her minor legitimate children, and to a Hindu mother who is entitled to act as natural guardian because the father has become disentitled to act.

Where the child is a girl, section 9(6) ends the appointed guardian's right when she marries: "The right of the guardian so appointed by will shall, where the minor is a girl, cease on her marriage." If you write that the guardian acts until she turns eighteen, the right still ends on her marriage.

How do you sign the will, and who can witness it?

Section 63 sets out how every testator who is not making a privileged will has to execute the will. Clause (a) states the testator shall sign or affix his mark to the will, or it shall be signed by some other person in his presence and by his direction. Clause (b) requires that the signature or mark shall be so placed that it shall appear that it was intended thereby to give effect to the writing as a will. Clause (c) states: "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, in the presence and by the direction of the testator, or has received from the testator a personal acknowledgment of his signature or mark, or of the signature of such other person; and 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." So at the table you sign the will, or tell each witness in person that the signature on it is yours, and each witness then signs it while you are watching. The two witnesses do not have to be there at the same time, and no particular form of words is needed. Signing every page is good practice and the section does not require it.

A beneficiary may witness the will, and the will is still properly attested. Section 67 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 spouse, "but 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". Section 68 states that no person, by reason of interest in, or of his being an executor of, a will, shall be disqualified as a witness. Section 67 is not in Schedule III and section 68 is. So on a Christian's or a Parsi's will the gift to that witness is void. On a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina will the gift to that witness is not void, because section 67 is not on the Schedule III list. For every will, an interested person or the executor may attest.

The stronger reason to choose witnesses carefully is the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (Act 47 of 2023), in force from 1 July 2024, whose section 170(1) repealed the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Its section 67 requires 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 capable of giving evidence. Someone has to come to court years later and say they watched the will being signed. So choose witnesses younger than you, who know what they are signing, and record their full names and addresses.

Where do you keep the will, and should you register it?

You can keep the original yourself, or deposit it with a Registrar in a sealed cover. Keeping it at home is covered in how to properly store your will for future generations. Under section 42 of the Registration Act, 1908 (Act 16 of 1908), any testator may deposit with any Registrar his will in a sealed cover superscribed with the name of the testator and that of his agent. Under section 43(2), the Registrar shall then place and retain the sealed cover in his fire-proof box. Section 44 gives the testator the right to withdraw it in his lifetime.

Registration itself is optional under section 18(e), and there is no time limit. Section 23 leaves a will out of the limit of four months that applies to other documents, and section 27 says a will may at any time be presented for registration. Section 29(1) allows you to present a will at the Sub-Registrar in whose sub-district it was executed, or at any other Sub-Registrar in the State at which all the persons executing and claiming under it desire it to be registered. Section 40(1) allows the testator, or after his death any person claiming as executor or otherwise, to present it. Registering the will does not spare your family from calling an attesting witness in court. The proviso to section 67 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam excuses a registered document from that step, and it names a will as the exception. For what happens at the counter, read the step by step guide to registering a will. For what registration changes, read what registering a will does and does not do.

Under the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 there is no stamp duty on a will: section 3 charges only the instruments in Schedule I, and Schedule I runs from Article 1 to Article 65 with no article for a will. In Maharashtra the fee to register a will is Rs 100, under Article V of the department's Table of Registration Fees; will registration charges in Mumbai carries the rest of that table. Maharashtra's process document, in our rendering, adds a document handling charge of Rs 20 per page, and it also asks the testator to bring two people who can identify him to the Sub-Registrar's office; their identity cards are attached to the document. They are not the two attesting witnesses required by section 63(c), though the same two people may do both. The testator leaves with the original document, a thumbnail print and a CD.

WillJini's Registration of Will service runs in four 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 visit the Sub-Registrar's office with all original documents and 2 witnesses to complete the process. The fitness certificate is what registrars in practice ask an elderly testator for, not a statutory requirement. The price is Rs 9,999 plus GST.

Can you change or revoke the will, and does marriage cancel it?

Section 62 states 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. Section 70 says that no unprivileged will or codicil shall be revoked otherwise than by marriage, or by another will or codicil, or by some writing declaring an intention to revoke and executed in the same manner, or by burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the same with the intention of revoking it. Section 73(1) states a revoked will is revived only by re-execution or by a codicil executed as required showing an intention to revive it.

Marriage revokes a Christian or Parsi will under section 69. It does not revoke a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina will. Section 69 is not in Schedule III, the proviso to section 57 says so in words, and restriction 4 strips the words "than by marriage or" out of section 70 for those wills. So if you are Christian or Parsi, marriage revokes your will and you make a new one after you marry. If you are Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina, marriage does not revoke it, so read it again after the wedding and change it only if your wishes have changed.

Crossing a line out achieves nothing on its own. Section 71 states that no obliteration, interlineation or other alteration made after execution shall have any effect unless such alteration has been executed in like manner as is required for the execution of the will, or if the signature of the testator and the subscription of the witnesses is made in the margin or opposite or near to such alteration. So to change one line, either you and both witnesses sign in the margin next to the alteration, or you make a codicil, which is explained in what is a codicil in a will in India.

What does WillJini do if you hand the drafting to them?

WillJini's Detailed Will service is delivered in four published steps.

1. Give basic details about yourself. Provide your personal and family details, and choose the assets that you own.
2. Asset details and Distribution wishes. Provide asset details (value not required) like bank account no., property details, etc. Also mention how do you wish to distribute your assets.
3. Preview and download your draft. You may preview your Will, read it and then Generate (within 60 days). You will get an email with your Will document in word format.
4. 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 Detailed Will is priced at Rs 7,499 plus GST, and a WillJini lawyer calls you back within 24 hours.

FAQs

Who can make a will in India?

Every person of sound mind not being a minor may dispose of his property by will under section 59 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925. A minor is anyone under eighteen years of age. A married woman may dispose by will of any property she could alienate during her life. A person who is "deaf or dumb or blind", in the Act's words, may make a will if able to know what they do by it, and a person who is ordinarily insane may make one during an interval of sound mind.

Does a will have to be registered in India?

No. Registration of a will is optional under section 18(e) of the Registration Act, 1908. It can be presented for registration at any time, as section 23 excludes wills from the standard four months limit. It can be registered at the Sub-Registrar in whose sub-district it was executed or at any other Sub-Registrar in the State chosen by the parties.

Is there stamp duty on a will in India?

Under the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 there is no stamp duty on a will: section 3 charges only the instruments in Schedule I, and Schedule I runs from Article 1 to Article 65 with no article for a will.

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

Yes. Section 67 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 says a will is not insufficiently attested because a person attesting it, or that person's spouse, takes a benefit under it, so the will itself stands either way. On a Christian's or a Parsi's will the bequest to that witness is void, and on a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina will it is not, because section 67 is not on the Schedule III list. Section 68 allows an executor or a person with an interest to serve as a witness to prove the execution.

Does marriage cancel a will in India?

Marriage revokes a Christian or Parsi will under section 69 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925. It does not revoke a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina will because section 69 is absent from Schedule III, and the proviso to section 57 explicitly states that marriage shall not revoke such a will.

Does the executor need probate before acting on the will?

No. Section 213, which required probate or letters of administration with the will annexed before a right as executor or legatee could be established in court, was omitted with effect from 20 December 2025 by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 (Act 37 of 2025), section 3 and the Second Schedule. A bank or a registrar may still ask for a grant, because section 273 gives full indemnity to anyone who pays a debt of the deceased, or hands over property of the deceased, to the person the probate or letters of administration were granted to.

Can I change my will by crossing out a line?

Crossing out a line has no effect unless you follow section 71. No obliteration or alteration made after execution has any effect unless the alteration is executed like a will itself, or unless the signature of the testator and the subscription of the witnesses are made near the alteration or opposite a memorandum referring to it.

What happens if I die without a will?

Section 30 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 states a person is deemed to die intestate in respect of all property of which he has not made a testamentary disposition capable of taking effect. If you leave no will, or if your will appoints an executor but distributes nothing, the whole estate passes according to the intestate succession laws governing your religion.