They say you have only two options: Either give it or leave it. There is no third option to take it along. This is the hard and inevitable truth of life: you can’t carry anything to the other world.
Estate or Succession Planning is nothing but a ‘decent’ word for ‘Will’ which in our society is a taboo. We don’t mind filling in the blanks in a ‘Nomination Form’, which is nothing but a short ‘Will’ though limited in scope, but we are averse to even talk about ‘Will’. We feel death is meant for others, not for us.
My mother-in-law died at the ripe age of 92 after a prolonged illness a decade ago. When she was 85 years old, my wife suggested to her to write a Will, her reaction was astounding as also shocking. She started crying violently, questioning my wife if she wanted her demise. She declared “I shall not write a Will so long as I am alive”. Mind you, she was not illiterate. She was a Doctor who had seen several deaths in her career.
Such a mentality is not rare and is not an aberration. Many people deem it synonymous with a death warrant. The mere mention of the word is treated as inauspicious, a bad omen. It is such a taboo that no one musters courage to even suggest it to his parents to write it. We tend to forget that man is mortal and all living beings have an expiry date. A person thinks that mortality strikes only others, not him.
The hard fact remains that death can strike anyone, at any age and without notice. We need to take steps in time to plan our succession so that our assets are smoothly passed on to our heirs as per our wish and they are not made to run from pillar to post because of our ‘allergy’ to the ultimate truth.
Will is an important tool of Estate/ Succession Planning. We must do it in time so that our hard earned assets are passed on without hassles and disputes after we are no more. An intestate death is a sure recipe for disaster for the heirs whom one loves so much when alive. A Will does away with the need to obtain a Succession Certificate from the Court which is a must in case of intestate death.
There is no age threshold to write a Will except that of not being a ‘minor’. It is not a signal/ pre-cursor of old age. A Will should be written as soon as one starts acquiring assets.
If ‘Will’ is inauspicious, then what is ‘Nomination’?
If you look at it dispassionately, what is a Nomination? And what is Life Insurance? These are nothing but our testaments about the receivables after death. Nomination is a diluted form of Will though the bequest made in the Will overrides it. The language used in the Nomination Forms does use the word “my death” but we sign it without question. We are ‘forced’ to appoint nominees in Bank/ PO Accounts, Life Insurance, Service Records, Pension Papers, FDs, GPF/ CPF/ PPF and what not. When nomination is not treated as a bad omen, why is the Will viewed as such?
Conditions for a Valid Will:
The conditions for a Will to be legally valid are:
- The testator should not be a minor.
- It should be voluntary and executed without coercion.
- It must be signed by the testator in the presence of minimum two witnesses who must also sign with date simultaneously.
- The testator must be mentally sound.
- It can be written even on plain paper.
- There is no prescribed format for a Will.
- There is no compulsion to get a Will registered (Section 17 & 18 of The Registration Act, 1908).
Witnesses not required/ supposed to read the Will:
Many people avoid writing a Will just because they don’t want the witnesses to read it. They are under the wrong impression that the attesting witnesses are required to know the contents of the Will. Please note that the job of a witness is only to attest your signatures, to certify that the testator has signed in his presence and that he is mentally fit/ sound while doing so. Witnesses are absolutely not required/ supposed to read the Will and they may be told so beforehand. If the matter goes to the Court, the Courts cannot/ do not question them about the contents of the Will.
The Shortest Valid Will:
Lastly, and to make your job simpler, here is the operative part of the shortest Will that was declared legally valid:
“Whatever and wherever I own anything in the world, will belong to my wife after my death”.
