As featured in
Parliament repealed Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 through the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025. Probate is no longer mandatory anywhere in India — for any religion, in any city. Here is what actually changed on 21 December 2025, what stayed the same, and when probate is still tactically wise despite no longer being compulsory.
The Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 received Presidential assent on 20 December 2025 and came into force on 21 December 2025. Among its provisions, it repealed Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 in full.
Before the repeal, Section 213 said that no right as executor or legatee could be established in any court of justice unless probate of the Will had been granted — for Wills made by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, or Parsis executed within the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the High Courts of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras (or where the property was situated there), and for Christian Wills more broadly. In practice this meant Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai residents in those communities were forced through a mandatory probate process.
The 2025 amendment ends that compulsion. Probate is no longer a legal prerequisite to establish an executor's or legatee's right anywhere in India, for any religion.
Probate is still available. Sections 222–288 of the Indian Succession Act, which govern the grant of probate and letters of administration, remain in force. Any executor who wants a court-granted probate can still apply for one. The 2025 amendment removed the compulsion, not the availability.
Already-granted probates are unaffected. If probate has already been granted before 21 December 2025, that grant continues to have full legal effect.
Pending probate petitions continue. Probate petitions filed before the repeal date continue in the ordinary course. Petitioners can withdraw if the petition is no longer needed, but nothing forces them to.
Muslim Wasiyats are unaffected. Section 213(2) had already exempted Muslim Wills before the repeal. The position for Muslim testators does not change with the 2025 amendment.
Sections 232 (Letters of Administration for intestate estates) and 370 (Succession Certificate for debts and securities) are unchanged. If there is no Will, LoA is still the route. If quick access to bank deposits or securities is needed, a Succession Certificate is still the fastest court-issued instrument.
Removing the legal compulsion does not remove the practical utility. Executors should still seriously consider probate in these situations:
High-value estates or immovable property with a substantial market value. A probate order is a court decree — it is much harder to dispute later than an unproved Will. Buyers, financiers, and their diligence lawyers still ask for it.
Family tension or foreseeable challenges. If a disinherited heir might contest, a probate obtained on notice binds everyone who received the citation. It is far cheaper to fight the challenge inside the probate proceeding than to defend a title suit five years later.
Cross-jurisdiction executors. An NRI executor administering an Indian estate benefits from a probate order to satisfy foreign banks, foreign courts, and the RBI/AD banker.
Institutions that still ask. Many banks, mutual fund registrars, sub-registrars, and cooperative housing societies continue to ask for probate out of habit, internal policy, or plain risk aversion. That practice will take time to catch up with the law. Executors who anticipate friction should still consider getting probate — but they should also be ready to push back with a copy of the 2025 amendment when they meet a manager applying yesterday's rules.
Estates likely to face litigation. If any part of the estate is likely to be sued, having probate in hand narrows what can be re-litigated.
Straightforward estates with cooperative heirs. A properly drafted, registered, and witnessed Will can now be acted on directly. The executor can approach the bank, the AMC, the depository, or the sub-registrar with the Will, the death certificate, KYC, and the standard indemnity/affidavit set — and, where the institution's internal SOP allows it, complete transmission without a court order.
Nomination-driven transmission. For bank deposits, EPF, insurance proceeds, mutual funds, and demat holdings, nomination continues to be the fastest transmission route. The nominee holds as trustee for the Will beneficiary (per Sarbati Devi and Ram Chander Talwar lines of authority) — that legal position is not affected by the 2025 amendment.
Small immovable property in the testator's sole name where heirs cooperate. Sub-registrars in many states will accept the Will plus family NOCs for mutation. Post-repeal, this route is on stronger legal footing.
1. Read the Will. If there is a valid, executed, and (ideally) registered Will, you can now approach institutions with the Will itself.
2. Check the institution's SOP. Banks, AMCs, and society secretaries take time to update their internal manuals. If they still demand probate, either escalate with a copy of the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025, or bite the bullet and file — depending on how urgently you need to move.
3. Weigh probate anyway if the estate is large, contested, or cross-border. The 2025 change made probate optional, not obsolete.
4. For intestate estates, Letters of Administration under Section 232 remain the route. Nothing about the 2025 amendment helps here.
Not much. The essentials do not move: draft under Section 63 ISA (or under Muslim personal law for Wasiyats), sign in the presence of two witnesses, register it if practical, keep the original safe, tell the executor where it is.
What does change: your executor no longer has a mandatory court process to run before doing their job. If your estate is straightforward and your family is cooperative, that saves 4–9 months and ₹1–3 lakh in court fees and advocate fees post-death. If your estate is complex, name an executor with the appetite (and budget) to still opt for probate voluntarily.
Bombay High Court: court fees capped at approximately ₹75,000. Calcutta and Madras: capped in the ₹75,000–₹1 lakh range. Delhi: on a slab basis, capped around ₹1 lakh. Advocate fees for probate work: ₹40,000–₹2 lakh depending on complexity and whether the petition is contested. For substantial estates where the executor voluntarily chooses probate for tactical reasons, budget ₹1.5–3 lakh all-in.
Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 — Presidential assent 20 December 2025, in force 21 December 2025.
Indian Succession Act, 1925 — Sections 222–288 (grant of probate/LoA, unchanged), Section 232 (LoA), Section 370 (Succession Certificate), all unaffected by the 2025 repeal.
Trilegal knowledge repository, December 2025 update on the Repealing and Amending Act.
Khaitan & Co thought leadership on the repeal of Section 213 and its practical implications for private client practice.
Mondaq articles (December 2025 – January 2026) on the removal of mandatory probate in India.
Section 213 is history. From 21 December 2025 onward, probate is no longer mandatory for any Will in India — not in Mumbai, not in Kolkata, not in Chennai, not for Hindus, not for Christians, not for Parsis. Executors can act on a valid Will directly.
Probate is still available and still often wise for large estates, disputed families, cross-border executors, and institutions that have not updated their internal SOPs. But it is a choice now, not a compulsion.
This is general legal information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, consult a Law Tarazoo expert advocate.
Start with the ₹5,000 Online Will — advocate-reviewed, delivered in your inbox in 30 minutes. Or book a 30-minute Consulting Will at ₹7,500. NRI Will at ₹50,000.
Start My Will →
