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UMy friend’s father passed away last month in Karnataka. He did not leave a will. The family (wife + 2 adult children) needs to claim his assets — one SBI bank account (no nominee), one flat in his name, and his EPF.
We’ve been reading online and are now more confused than when we started. Everyone mentions Legal Heir Certificate and Succession Certificate but we’re not clear on the difference or which one we need.
Specific questions:
1. For the SBI bank account with no nominee — which certificate does the bank actually require? Legal Heir Certificate from Tahsildar, or Succession Certificate from court?
2. For property mutation in Karnataka — which certificate do we need? And which office do we go to — the sub-registrar or the municipal/gram panchayat office?
3. We’re in Bengaluru — do we need Probate for anything since there’s no will? I read probate is mandatory in Mumbai and Chennai but not sure about Karnataka.
4. The Legal Heir Certificate from Tahsildar — roughly how long does it actually take in Karnataka? Online it says 15–30 days but people say it’s much longer in practice.
5. If both the wife AND the two children are legal heirs — who should apply? Does one person apply on behalf of all, or does each person need to be named?
6. Is there any situation here where we’d need a lawyer, or can the family handle this without one?
We’re in Bengaluru. Family is Hindu. Father was a private sector employee. Any help from people who’ve actually done this in Karnataka would be really valuable.
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UIf there is no dispute within the family then there is no need to go to the court for succession certificate or legal heir certificate.
For flat transfer,
Death certificate
Family arrangement deed
Public notice
Indemnity bond for the society
Undertaking stating all documents are trueA covering letter from the lawyer.
This whole process can be done for under 20 thousand rupees and within one month.
If the society insists on succession certificate then fight it out with them. The society is protected by an indemnity bond and succession certificate is an indemnity for the heirs. If the heirs are ok with the risk then society should have no objections. There are many court rulings against insistence of succession certificate.
The bank procedure will depend on the amount. It it is less than a few lakhs then the bank can do it within a week of providing the death certificate, Indemnity bond but can also make the heirs run around forever.
With banks, your only help is by pleading with manager or if it was a salary account then take the help of the employer. Last resort would be threatening the bank to escalate the issue to ombudsman’s office. RBI has issued circulars to this effect..
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Ua lot of families get confused at this stage because banks property offices and epf departments sometimes casually use these terms interchangeably even though they serve different purposes practically. the good thing is there seems to be no dispute among heirs here because once family members start disagreeing the process becomes much harder and slower. for many people the first step usually ends up being the legal heir certificate simply because multiple later processes ask for it in some form. the bank side often becomes the most unpredictable part because different branches sometimes ask for different levels of paperwork depending on the amount involved. do you know roughly how large the sbi account balance is because that often changes how strict the bank becomes about succession related documents
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