HOW TO DISTRIBUTE WEALTH! BY WILL FORMAT OF WILL

WE ALL KNOW HOW TO CREATE WEALTH, HOW TO MANAGE WEALTH, NOW WE LEARN HOW TO DISTRIBUTE WEALTH!  We are born, and then death is certain...

WE ALL KNOW HOW TO CREATE WEALTH, HOW TO MANAGE WEALTH, NOW WE LEARN HOW TO DISTRIBUTE WEALTH! 

We are born, and then death is certain. So before the death we can predetermine the disposal of our wealth by making A WILL. 

A Will is an important document which enables the individual /any living person to rightfully leave his assets and wealth to whoever he chooses to, after his death. In a way a person can ensure that his wishes with respect to his assets and property are followed after his death. There often arise complexities when a person dies without a Will. Some people execute writings, prepared by themselves or with the help and advice of well-meaning friends or relatives. The crux is that the absence of a will or the invalidity of a will or parts of a will often generates problems for the legal heirs and successors.After the death of a person, his property devolves in two ways:

• · According to the respective law of succession, when no will is made- i.e. intestate 
• · By way of will i.e. testamentary

THE LAW APPLICABLE TO WILLS:– 

India has a well developed system of succession laws that governs a person’s property after his death. The Indian Succession Act 1925 applies expressly to wills and codicils made by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians but not to Mohammedans as they are largely covered by Muslim Personal Law. The laws applicable are as under: 

• Indian Registration Act, 1908 
• Indian Succession Act, 1925 
• Muslim Personal Laws 
• Hindu Personal Laws 

WHAT IS WILL? 

A Will is a legal declaration made by a person during his lifetime with regard to disposal of his properties after his death. The Will does not take effect from the date of its execution. It speaks from the death of the testator. During the Testator’s lifetime, the Will is an ambulatory document, revocable at any time and having no legal effect. 

There are two essential characteristics of a Will:- 

(i) It must be intended to come into effect after the death of the testator: A gift to take effect the life lime of the donor is a deed of settlement and not a Will. 

And, 

(ii) It must be revocable by the testator at any time. Although Wills are usually made for disposing property, they can also be made for appointing executors, for creating trusts and for appointing testamentary guardians of minor children. Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 provides that 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. 

WHO ARE THE PERSONS COMPETENT TO MAKE A WILL? 

According to Section 59 of the Indian Succession Act, The following persons cannot make a will: 

1. A person who 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 i.e. Lunatics, insane persons. 

2. Married woman, aliens and convicts are not debarred from making a will. 

3. Minors i.e. below 18 years of age. In case a guardian is appointed to a minor, such minor reaches age of maturity only at the age of 21 years. 

4. Corporate bodies, by their very nature, are incapable of making a will, though they may benefit under the will of an individual partner. 

WHAT IS THE NEED OF A WILL ? 

If one does not make a Will then his property will be inherited by legal heirs in accordance with the laws of inheritance applicable to him. However, most of the people would like to dispose of their property according to their own wishes. Thus, there arises the need for making one’s Will. Apart from it there are certain distinct advantages of making a Will, they are as follows- 

1. When a person dies without having made a Will, there is often confusion amongst the family members and relatives as to whether the deceased did make any Will prior to his death or not, but if a Will is available, the only question that needs to be ascertained is whether it is the last Will of the testator. 

2. A Will be absolutely personal document. More than anything it is an expression of the relationship with the members of family or relatives, etc. The views, opinions and feelings, etc., are indicated in this document. A Will allows the devolution of property in a personalized manner rather than letting the impersonal rules of inheritance take effect. 

3. By means of a Will, one can appoint in writing, a testamentary guardian for his infant children. A testamentary guardian is person, who is appointed b a testament or a Will. This point needs further clarification. In the event of the death of a parent the law would ordinarily uphold the right of surviving natural parent to be the guardian of the child.However, if there is no surviving parent, the law attaches great importance to the Will of a parent in deciding who to appoint as a guardian. This is a matter of great importance with regard to the future of the children and therefore, this issue must be discussed in details with the proposed guardian before appointing him testamentary guardian. 

4. A Will provides more room inter se the laws of inheritance, which sometimes do not cater to the special needs and requirements of the members of a family. For instance, a father has two sons. One is healthy but the other is handicapped due to any chronic disease since childhood. The laws of inheritance would treat both these children on an equal footing. But by means of a Will one can have somewhat greater provision for a handicapped son, a widowed daughter or an invalid parent. 

5. In the absence of a Will even the most unwanted son, who had left the house for disobedience, fraud, violence, etc. may turn up to claim his share of estate from his father’s property. Similarly, an adulterous wife might demand her share as per inheritance laws.

There are however, some disadvantages also in making a Will and they are mostly psychological. In many cases it has been observed that people lose all their interests in life and idem such before the time they would have lived. 

If there is no Will, the property would be dealt with as per the laws of inheritance. For Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs the laws of inheritance have been codified in the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. For Christians the Indian Succession Act, 1925 will be applicable. Parsis have a different law of inheritance. Similarly, Muslims have their own law. That has, however, not been codified in nay legislation but is based on their religious texts. There are two major sects of Muslims – Shias and Sunnis. Both of them have different laws of inheritance. 

HOW TO PREPARE A WILL?

1. Will must be in writing:  All religions except Muslims, the will must be made in writing. The only exception provided under the law are the members of the armed forces employed in an expedition or engaged in actual warfare and mariner at seas who are permitted to make an oral will. Such will is known as “Privileged Will”. 

2. Muslims can make oral will:  Muslims are permitted by their personal law to make a oral will. 

3. No particular form of will:  There is no particular form of will prescribed by law. The language employed should be as simple as possible and should be free from technical words. 

4. Will need not be on Stamp Paper:  It is wrong to say that a will has to be executed on a stamp paper as there is no such stipulation under the Indian Stamp Act.A will can therefore be made on any plain sheet of paper which must of course,be of durable quality. 

5. Typing is not essential but desirable:  A will need not be typed. It can be made in testator’s own hand using a ball pen or fountain pen. A handwritten will is known as holograph and is valid in the eyes of law. However, n a handwritten will some confusion is bound to be caused by illegible handwriting of the testator. It is therefore advised that will should be neatly typed with margins on both sides of the pages. 

6. Precaution In drafting a will: 

a) Prepare a list of all your assets and property which remain after taking into account all debts, liabilities and expenses to get a clear picture of how you wish to distribute the estate. 

b)The Will should be drafted in the language best understood by the testator so as to give the impression that the contents were fully understood by the testators wishes and intentions. 

c) In case the testator is illiterate the will should be executed in a language which the testator can comprehend. And the attesting witness or third attesting witnesses. 

d) Unusual characters of the will should be explained and clarified in the main body of the will itself. Thus where a testator bequeaths all his property to his daughter disinheriting and excluding his wife and other two sons or bequeaths his entire property to charity disinheriting his entire family it is desirable that in such circumstances reasons are clearly stated in the will itself. 

WHAT ARE THE LEGAL REQUIREMENTS FOR MAKING A WILL? 

Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act provides as under – 

Every testator, not being a soldier employed in a expedition nor 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 mark 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 of and by the direction of the testator, or has received from the testator a personal acknowledgement 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 witnesses be present at the same time ,and no particular for of attestation shall be necessary” 

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF WILL? 

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• Privileged and Unprivileged Wills: 
• Wills executed according to the provisions of section 63 of the Indian Succession Act are called Unprivileged Wills and Wills executed under section 66 of the Act, by a soldier employed in an expedition or engaged in actual warfare, or by an airman so employed or engaged, or by mariner being at sea, are called Privileged Wills. As a matter of rule, the wills have to be made in writing. However, a soldier during his engagement in an actual warfare or an airman so engaged or a mariner being at sea, may pronounce his will by or of mouth before two witnesses. The will so pronounced by such persons are called privileged wills. 
• Conditional or Contingent Wills 
• A Will may be expressed to take effect only in the event of the happening of some contingency or condition, and if the contingency does not happen or the condition fails, the Will is not be legally enforceable. Accordingly, where A executes a Will to be operative for a particular year, i.e., if he dies within that year. A lives for more years, after that years. Since A does not express an intention that the Will be subsisting even intestate. A Conditional Will is invalid if the condition imposed is invalid or contrary to law. 
• Joint Wills 
• A Joint Will is a testamentary instrument whereby two or more persons agree to make a conjoint Will. Where a Will is joint and is intended to take effect after the death of both, it will not be enforceable during the life– time of either. A Will executed by two or more testators as a single document duly executed by each testator disposing of his separate properties or his joint properties is not a single Will. It operates on the death of each and is in effect for two or more Wills. On the death of each testator, the legatee would become entitled to the properties of the testator who dies. 
• Mutual Wills 
• A Will is mutual when two testators confer upon each other reciprocal benefits by either of them constituting the other his legatee. But when the legatees are distinct from the testators; there can be no position for Mutual Wills. 
• Duplicate Wills 
• A testator, for the sake of safety, may make a Will in duplicate, one to be kept by him and the other to be deposited in the safe custody with a bank or executor or trustee. If the testator mutilates or destroys the one which is in his custody it is revocation of both. 
• Concurrent Wills 
• Generally, a man should leave only one Will at the time of his death. However, for the sake of convenience a testator may dispose of some properties in one country by one Will and the other properties in another country by a separate will. 
• Sham Wills 
• If a document is deliberately executed with all due formalities purporting to be a Will, it will still be nullity if it can be shown that the testator did not intend it to have nay testamentary operation, but was to have only some collaterally object. One thing must be born e in mind that the intention to make the Will is essential to the validity of a Will. 
• Holograph Wills 
• Such Wills are written entirely in the handwriting of the testator. 

WHO CAN BE THE EXECUTOR/WITNESS OF A WILL? 

An executor is the person appointed ordinarily by the testator’s by his will or codicil. 

 To administer testator’s property and 

 To carry into effect the provision of the will 

Casual selection of the witnesses to be will prove fatal in the event of the proof of the execution of the will at future date. It should be clearly understood that the attesting witness may on some future occasion be required to appear as a witness in court in order to prove the execution of Will. 

WHAT IS A CODICIL AND HOW TO MAKE ALTERATIONS IN THE NAME OF THE EXECUTOR? 

An instrument made in relation to a Will, Explaining, altering or adding to its dispositions, It shall be deemed to form part of the Will. If the Testator wants to change the names of the Executors by adding some other names, in that case this could be done by making a Codicil in addition to the Will, as there may not be other changes required to be made in the main text of the Will. It may be that the Testator wants to change certain bequests by adding to the names of the legatees or subtracting some of them. It may be some Beneficiaries or Executor may be dead and the names are required to be removed. All these can be done by making a Codicil. The Codicil must be reduced to writing. It must be signed by the Testator and attested by two Witnesses.

WHAT ARE THE FORMS & FORMALITIES TO MAKE A WILL? 

Form of a Will : 

There is no prescribed form of a Will. In order for it to be effective, It needs to be properly signed and attested. The Will must be initialed by the testator at the end of every page and next to any correction and alteration. 

Stamp Duty : 

No stamp duty is required to be paid for executing a Will or a codicil. A Will need not be made on stamp paper. 

Attestation : 

A Will must be attested by two witnesses who must witness the testator executing the Will. The witnesses should sign in the presence of each other and in the presence of the testator. However, according to Hindu Law, a witness can be a legatee. Under Parsi and Christian law, a witness cannot be an executor or legatee. A Muslim is not required to have his Will attested if it is in writing. 

Registration: 

Under section 18 of the Registration Act the registration of a will is not compulsory. It is strong legal evidence that the proper parties had appeared before the registering officers and the latter had attested the same after ascertaining their identity. A Will is to be registered with the registrar/sub-registrar with a nominal registration fee. The testator must be personally present at the registrar’s office along with witnesses. 

WHEN THE WILL MUST BE EXECUTED? 

On the death of the testator, an executor of the will or an heir of the deceased testator can apply for probate. The court will ask the other heirs of the deceased if they have any objections to the will. If there are no objections, the court will grant probate. 

A probate is a copy of a will, certified by the court. A probate is to be treated as conclusive evidence of the genuineness of a will. 

In case any objections are raised by any of the heirs, a citation has to be served, calling upon them to consent. This has to be displayed prominently in the court. 

Thereafter, if no objection is received, the probate will be granted. It is only after this that the will comes into effect. 

FORMAT OF WILL 

WILL 

I ……………………….. aged…..years, an male Indian Inhabitant, residing at………………………………………………………………………………………….. I Do hereby 

revoke all my former will, codicils or other Testamentary dispositions and hereby declare this to be my last will and Testament made at Mumbai this……. day of ………………., 2013.

1. I am maintaining good health and I am possessed of sound mind. This will is made by me of my own independent decision and free violation and in perfectly sound health and sound mind, I have not been influences, cajoled or coerced by any person.

2. My family consist of the following members:

i)___________________________________________. ii)___________________________________________. iii)___________________________________________. iv)___________________________________________. v)____________________________________________.

3. I have during my life time acquired properties and I am possessed of assets in the shape of Movable and Immovable Properties and chooses in action. Keeping in view the dissentions in the family and possible disputes, which may arise relating to inheritance opening out at my demise and in order to save the assets from unnecessary litigation amongst my relatives and others. I so hereby devise and declare all the estate which I am holding at present/or which I may acquire in future in the manner as mentioned herein below.

4. I hereby appoint my wife namely ………………… the Executor of this my Last will in case my wife…………………………….. predeceases me then my son …………………… will be executor of my this will.

5. I direct that the said Executor shall pay my funeral and other expenses for obsequies ceremonies, just debts, taxes and other liabilities, out of the property that I have at the time of my death and the balance of my total properties shall be bequeathed .

6. I devise and bequeath all my Immovable and Movable Properties to my Wife …………………….

and she will be owner for her life time and will be able to make her will as her desire.

7. In case my wife …………………….. predeceases me then all my Immovable and Movable property will bequeathed as follows :

(A) IMMOVABLE PROPERTIES

All my immovable property will be bequeathed to my son namely ……………………………

(B) MOVABLE PROPERTIES

i) Rs. …………… to be given to my daughter namely…………………

ii) Rs………………………. to given to my granddaughter i.e sons daughter.

iii) Rs…………………. to be given to my grandson i.e my daughters son

And after above amounts are paid whatsoever left including any assets which I may acquire in future or I may dispose of Some Assets will be given to my son ………………………………….

Signed by the within named Testatrix )

……………………………………………………………..) Acknowledged by her as her last will and)

Testament in the presence of each have )

WITNESSES:

1. …………….

2. ……………..