The Estate Planning Questionnaire: 23 Questions Every Adviser Should Ask Clients Each Year

An estate planning questionnaire is a short, structured set of questions an adviser asks a client every year to check that the client's Will, nominations, ownership records and guardianship choices still match their family and assets. In my practice, the gap between what clients think they have arranged and what the law will actually do is rarely about a missing Will. It is about a Will and a set of nominations that quietly went out of date.

A question I hear in almost every meeting with wealth planners and CAs is: "My client already has a Will. What else is there to discuss?" This article is my answer. It is the annual succession conversation I would like every adviser in India to have with every client, with the reason behind each question.

Why is "my client has a Will" not the end of the conversation?

Most people believe that once a Will is signed, succession is settled. In practice, a Will controls only what the testator owns, in their own name, at the date of death, and only to the extent personal law allows. It does not override a co-owner's survivorship, it does not reach assets held through a company or trust, and it can be undercut by a nomination form signed years apart from it, with different names on it.

Families often come to us after a death holding a Will that is perfectly valid and still produces the wrong result. The house was sold and a new one bought. A son moved to Canada and became an NRI. A daughter married and her husband was named in the bank nomination but not in the Will. None of this makes the Will invalid. It makes it stale.

That is why I treat succession like an annual financial review rather than a one-time document. The adviser who already meets the client every year to rebalance a portfolio is the best person to ask these questions.

Which family questions should an adviser ask every year?

Start with people, not assets. Every succession plan breaks first at a change in the family.

1. Has anyone been born, married, divorced or died in the family since we last spoke? Each of these can change who should inherit and who should be executor or guardian.
2. Has the client married or remarried since signing the Will? Under section 69 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, marriage revokes an earlier Will for Christians, Parsis, Jews and couples married under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. It does not revoke the Will of a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain or Muslim. An adviser who knows the client's personal law knows whether a wedding has just cancelled the Will.
3. Who would look after minor children? A Hindu parent can appoint a testamentary guardian by Will under section 9 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956. If the Will does not name one, the family may end up asking a court. See our note on appointing a guardian for minor children.
4. Is any child or dependant unable to manage money? A special-needs child, an elderly parent or a young adult may need a trust or a staggered bequest rather than an outright gift.
5. Are there children from an earlier marriage, or step-children? Step-children do not inherit on intestacy under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. If the client wants to provide for them, only a Will or a lifetime transfer will do it.
6. Has any family member moved abroad? An heir who has become an NRI or OCI cardholder brings FEMA and repatriation questions into the estate.

What should the asset map look like?

The second block of questions builds a current list of assets and, more importantly, how each one is held. Ownership format decides which document actually controls the asset.

7. What has been bought, sold or inherited this year? A Will that gifts "my flat in Pune" does nothing if that flat was sold in 2024. The specific bequest fails, and the replacement asset falls into the residue or into intestacy.
8. Which assets are held jointly, and on what terms? A joint bank account with "either or survivor" mandate, or a property held jointly, will usually be paid or transferred to the survivor first, and whether the survivor may keep it depends on the client's intention and the paperwork. Few clients have thought this through. Our guide to joint property and Wills explains the traps.
9. Is any property self-acquired, ancestral, or HUF property? A person can bequeath their own interest, but not the whole of an HUF property or a coparcenary share that belongs to others. Since the Supreme Court's decision in Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (11 August 2020), daughters are coparceners by birth, which changes many family maps.
10. Does the client own shares in a private company, a partnership firm or an LLP? The articles of association, partnership deed or LLP agreement may restrict who can step in. The Will must be read together with those documents.
11. Are there ESOPs, foreign brokerage accounts, crypto holdings or digital accounts? These are routinely missing from Wills. An inventory with access instructions, kept separately from the Will, saves months.
12. Are there assets outside India? Immovable property abroad is usually governed by the law of the country where it sits. Some families need two Wills; our article on one Will or two for NRIs covers this.

Do the client's nominations match the Will?

This is the block where advisers add the most value, because nominations sit in the systems they already work with. The core point surprises many clients: in Indian law a nominee is generally a trustee who receives the asset on behalf of the legal heirs, not its final owner. In Shakti Yezdani v. Jayanand Jayant Salgaonkar (Civil Appeal 7107 of 2017, decided 14 December 2023) the Supreme Court held that nominations under the Companies Act and the Depositories Act do not override the law of succession. We explain the doctrine in nominee vs legal heir.

The main exception is life insurance. Under section 39(7) of the Insurance Act, 1938 (inserted in 2015), a nominee who is the policyholder's parent, spouse or child is the beneficial owner of the claim. Read more on beneficial nominees under section 39.

13. Is there a nominee on every bank account, locker, demat account, mutual fund folio, insurance policy, EPF, PPF and NPS account?
14. Does each nominee name match what the Will intends? If the Will leaves the portfolio to both children but the demat nominee is one son, that son will receive the shares and then has to be persuaded, or sued, to share them.
15. Has the client used the new multiple-nominee options? Since 1 November 2025, under the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025, a bank depositor can name up to four nominees, either simultaneously with fixed percentages or in succession. Lockers and safe custody articles allow only successive nominations.
16. Have the demat and mutual fund nominations been checked against SEBI's latest rules? SEBI's circular of 29 May 2026, effective 1 September 2026, replaced its earlier nomination circulars, allows up to three nominees per demat account or folio, and makes nomination or a written opt-out mandatory for new single-holder accounts. Ask the client to confirm with their depository participant and fund house how their existing nominations now stand.

Is the Will itself still sound?

17. When was the Will signed, and has anything in it become impossible? Look for dead executors, sold assets, renamed banks and closed accounts.
18. Was it properly signed and attested? Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act requires the testator's signature and attestation by two witnesses. Under section 67, a gift to an attesting witness or that witness's spouse is void, though the rest of the Will stands. A client who asked their son-in-law to sign as witness may have cut their own daughter out without knowing it. See who can witness a Will.
19. Does the executor still want the job, and are they the right age and location? An executor abroad, or one older than the client, is a practical problem.
20. Does the client know where the original Will is, and does the executor? An original that cannot be found is the most common avoidable dispute.
21. Does the family understand that probate is no longer mandatory? Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act was repealed with effect from 21 December 2025, so probate is no longer compulsory anywhere in India. Banks, societies and registrars may still ask for it in disputed cases, so a clear, well-witnessed Will remains the best protection. Our note on the end of mandatory probate explains the change.

Which personal law applies, and what does it limit?

Advisers sometimes assume that a Will can do anything. Personal law sets the boundaries, and the questionnaire should record the client's religion and marriage law once, then revisit it only if something changes.

22. Is the client Muslim? A Muslim can generally bequeath only up to one-third of the estate by Will, and Sunni law restricts bequests to legal heirs without the other heirs' consent. Larger plans need lifetime gifts or other tools.
23. Is the client Parsi or Christian, or married under the Special Marriage Act? Then the Indian Succession Act's intestacy rules apply to anything the Will misses, and the section 69 marriage rule above applies.

What does the annual succession checklist look like?

Here is the one-page version I suggest advisers keep in each client file. It takes about twenty minutes to run through at an annual review.

How should an adviser open the conversation with a client?

Clients avoid this topic because it feels like talking about death. In my experience it works better framed as housekeeping: "We review your asset allocation every year. Let us also check that the paperwork sending these assets to your family still matches what you want."

Ask the questions in the order above, family first. Write down the answers in the client's own words. If any answer raises a red flag, the next step is a conversation with an advocate, not a quick change to a nomination form, because a nomination changed in isolation can make the mismatch worse.

Advisers should also be clear about their own role. A wealth planner or CA can spot the gap and keep the asset map current. Drafting the Will and advising on personal law is legal work. A good working relationship between the adviser and the family's advocate is what keeps the plan current year after year.

What can a family do this week without an adviser?

If you are reading this as a client rather than an adviser, three things will close most of the gaps:

• Log in to each bank, demat and mutual fund account and write down who the nominee is.
• Compare that list with your Will. Where they differ, decide which one reflects your real wish.
• Tell your executor where the original Will and your asset list are kept.

If you do not yet have a Will, or yours predates a marriage, a move or a property sale, it is time to make a new one. Law Tarazoo's Online Will is advocate-approved and delivered in your inbox in 30 minutes; families with business interests, foreign assets or blended families often prefer a Personalised Will after a consultation. For more on the patterns we see most often, read my earlier piece on estate planning blind spots, and the official text of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 on India Code.

Frequently asked questions

This article is general information on Indian succession law as of 4 October 2026. It is not legal advice for your situation. For advice on your own family and assets, speak to one of our advocates.