Indian Succession Act, 1925, defines “will” to mean the legal declaration of the intention of the testator with respect to his property which he desires to be carried into effect after his death. Testator is the person who wants to make the will in respect of his property.
Registration of will is not compulsory. It is optional at the discretion of the testator. However, if a will is registered then it gives that much extra evidence of its genuineness. If a dispute arises among the successors about the genuineness of the will after the death of the testator, registered will definitely have a better legal backing. Therefore, a registered will is of better help in case of a future dispute, though, of course, even a registered will can be challenged.
Will is registered in the office of the sub-registrar.
Section 63 of the Succession Act, shown below, lays down how a will is to be executed and this applies even to an unregistered will:
“Every testator, not being a soldier employed in an expedition or engaged in actual warfare, or an airman so employed or engaged, or a mariner at sea, shall execute his will according to the following rules:—
(a) The testator shall sign or shall affix his marks to the will, or it shall be signed by some other person in his presence and by his direction.
(b) The signature or mark of the testator, or the signature of the person signing for him, shall be so placed that it shall appear that it was intended thereby to give effect to the writing as a will.
(c) 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, even an unregistered will has to be attested by two or more witnesses since the above provision applies to all wills whether registered or unregistered. But, the registered will has the additional advantage of being registered.
In view of what is mentioned above, it is definitely better to have a registered will rather than an unregistered will.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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