If you have asked yourself "will my family just walk into the bank and withdraw what's mine?" — the answer is, almost always, no. Here is what actually happens, account type by account type, and how a Will changes the picture.
Walk into any branch of any bank in India and try to withdraw money from a deceased relative's account. You will not succeed. You will be politely directed to a back-office desk that handles "deceased customer" claims, and the process you are about to embark on is, on average, three to nine months long even in the simplest case. This is not because banks are obstructive — it is because the law requires them to be careful. Bank deposits and securities are legal property, and dispensing them to the wrong hands creates liability for everyone involved.
This article walks through, asset by asset, what actually happens in those three to nine months — and what you can do today to make that journey shorter, smoother, and dispute-free for the people you care about.
The path the surviving family takes depends entirely on three questions:
This is the smoothest case. The surviving joint holder simply submits a death certificate, account is mutated to single-holder status, and operations continue. Most banks complete this in 7–15 days. Note that this does NOT change ownership. The surviving joint holder operationally controls the account, but the deceased's share still legally belongs to their estate and must be distributed per the Will or per intestate succession.
The nominee submits death certificate, identity documents, and an indemnity bond. The bank typically releases the funds to the nominee within 30-60 days. Crucially, under Indian law (especially post the Supreme Court judgments in Sarbati Devi v Usha Devi and Indrani Wahi v Registrar of Co-op Societies) the nominee receives the funds as a trustee for the legal heirs. The nominee is not the owner. They must distribute to the heirs as per the Will or per intestate succession. A lot of intra-family conflict happens at this step because the nominee — often a parent or eldest sibling — sometimes believes they are entitled to keep the money. They are not.
This is the painful case. The family must obtain a succession certificate from the local civil court under Part X of the Indian Succession Act, 1925. The process:
Once the certificate is issued, the bank releases the funds. Until then, the money sits in the account, idle, earning savings-account interest of 2.5-3% while the family pays legal fees out of their own pocket. This is the entirely avoidable scenario that proper estate planning prevents.
The process for FDs and RDs largely mirrors savings accounts, with one important nuance: FDs typically have a maturity date and a premature withdrawal penalty. Banks generally allow either:
For high-value FDs spread across multiple banks, the succession certificate route gets repetitive — each bank wants its own copy of the certificate and its own indemnity bond. A Will dramatically simplifies this by allowing the executor to act on behalf of the estate across all institutions.
Demat accounts hold equity shares, bonds, ETFs, REITs, and other securities. The process for transmission depends on whether the demat account is single or joint, and whether a nominee was registered.
The nominee submits death certificate, transmission request form (Form T-1), and KYC documents to the Depository Participant (DP). The DP forwards to NSDL or CDSL, which transmits the securities to a new demat account in the nominee's name (or to the nominee's existing demat account, if any). Typically 30-45 days end-to-end. Note again: the nominee holds these as trustee for the legal heirs unless they are also the beneficiary under a Will.
This requires either a succession certificate (for transmission of value up to ₹5 lakh) or a probate-validated Will or letters of administration for higher values. Some DPs have streamlined this with a "small value transmission" process for portfolios under ₹5 lakh, but anything above that follows the court route.
Cleanest case: surviving holder continues operations after death certificate submission. Again, legal ownership of the deceased's share still flows under the Will or intestate succession.
Mutual fund units held in the deceased's name follow a process broadly similar to demat accounts, mediated by the Asset Management Company (AMC) and Registrar (CAMS or KFintech).
If a nominee was registered at the folio level, the AMC transmits units to the nominee on submission of death certificate, nominee KYC, and ID proof. Typically 30-60 days. If no nominee was registered, the AMC will require either:
A single Will that grants the executor authority over all financial assets is significantly cleaner than chasing the AMC's standard form, especially when the deceased held multiple mutual funds across multiple AMCs (a typical Indian portfolio).
EPF balance is one of the larger components of most salaried Indians' estates and follows a slightly different path. The EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisation) processes claims under Form 20 (for EPF) and Form 5-IF (for the linked EDLI insurance benefit). The nominee registered with the EPFO receives the payout — typically within 30-45 days of claim submission with proper documents.
Critical: check your EPF nomination today. A staggering proportion of Indian employees have either no nominee registered or have an outdated nominee (parents instead of spouse, for example, despite having married years ago). EPF nomination is a 10-minute online task on the EPFO Member Portal and can save your family weeks of paperwork.
PPF accounts have specific rules under the Public Provident Fund Scheme. On the account holder's death:
PPF nomination, like EPF, is a quick task. Many PPF accounts opened a decade or two ago have nominees who are no longer appropriate (deceased parents, ex-spouses). Update them.
NPS Tier-I balance after the subscriber's death:
NPS has a structured nomination form (Form 303) and the PFRDA process is relatively efficient — usually within 30 days.
Life insurance is, ironically, the easiest asset to transmit on death — which is partly why so many Indians buy it for estate planning purposes. The nominee submits the claim with death certificate, identity documents, and policy documents. Most insurers settle within 30 days, with regulatory pressure for faster settlements.
One important note: the Insurance Act amendment in 2015 created the concept of a "beneficiary nominee" — a nominee who is also the legal owner of the policy proceeds rather than a mere custodian. To qualify, the nominee must be a parent, spouse, child, or other near relative as defined. Verify what kind of nominee you have registered for each policy.
Bank lockers are notorious for being the asset class that takes the longest to access after death. The bank generally requires:
Lockers with joint operation rights are smoother. Lockers in the sole name of the deceased can take 6-12 months to access.
The pattern across every asset class above is consistent:
The Will is not just a sentiment document. It is, very specifically, an operational document that drastically reduces the friction of transferring your financial assets to the people you want to receive them.
The most common misunderstanding we encounter at Law Tarazoo is: "I have nominated my spouse on every account, so I don't need a Will."
This is wrong on two levels:
Nomination + Will is the correct combination. Nomination smooths the operational transfer of specific assets. The Will determines who legally owns those assets after transfer.
The whole exercise takes a focused weekend. The relief to your family if anything goes wrong is permanent.