Before you start
You can make a will covering Indian assets from the United States. There is no residency or citizenship condition, no requirement to use stamp paper, and no requirement to have a lawyer sign it. What Indian law focuses on is the document being in writing, signed by you, and attested by two witnesses.
Set aside an hour for the information gathering — that is the part people underestimate. The drafting itself is short.
The nine steps
1. Identify your Indian assets
Walk through property, bank accounts, fixed deposits, demat holdings, mutual fund folios, insurance, PPF/EPF, jewellery and any business interest. Collect the identifiers: addresses and survey numbers, bank and branch, folio numbers, client IDs.
2. Decide who receives what
Name beneficiaries by full legal name and relationship. Use percentages that add to 100 where you are splitting an asset, and decide who receives anything not specifically listed.
3. Appoint an executor and an alternate
Pick someone who can realistically deal with Indian institutions, and always name a second person in case the first cannot act.
4. Create the will
Draft it in English, limited expressly to your assets situated in India, with a declaration, a scoped revocation clause, the specific bequests, a residuary clause, guardianship provisions if you have minor children, and an attestation block for two witnesses.
5. Check it against your US will
Make sure neither document revokes the other and that no asset appears in both. If a US attorney drafted yours, tell them the India-only will exists.
6. Sign it correctly
Print one clean original. Sign and date it in blue or black ink, initial every page, and do not sign multiple originals.
7. Arrange two witnesses
Both must be in the room when you sign, and both must then sign in your presence. Record their full names and addresses. Do not use a beneficiary or a beneficiary's spouse.
8. Understand registration
Registration at a sub-registrar's office in India is optional and does not affect validity. Decide whether it is worth doing on your next trip.
9. Store the document and tell your executor
Keep the signed original somewhere safe and reachable, give your executor scanned copies and the location of the original, and revisit the will after any marriage, birth, divorce or property sale.
Signing day, concretely
- One printed original, single-sided, stapled once and never unstapled.
- You, witness one and witness two in the same room at the same time.
- You sign and date first; both witnesses then sign while you watch.
- Everyone initials every page.
- Witness names and addresses written legibly on the attestation page.
Who not to use as a witness
Anyone who inherits under the will, and their spouse. A gift to an attesting witness is void under the Indian Succession Act, so using your daughter as a witness can cancel her inheritance while leaving the rest of the will standing.
After you sign
Store the original where it can be found and reached — a home safe, a US bank locker your executor can access, or with a trusted family member. A locker nobody can open is a common practical failure.
Send your executor a scan and tell them where the original is. Review the will after any marriage, divorce, birth, death in the family, or sale or purchase of Indian property.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I have to travel to India to make the will?
- No. The will can be written and signed in the United States. Travel only becomes relevant if you decide to register it at a sub-registrar's office in India, which is optional.
- Can my witnesses be US citizens?
- Yes. Witnesses do not need to be Indian citizens or residents. They should be capable adults who do not inherit anything under the will.
- Does the will need to be notarised in the US?
- Notarisation is not part of the statutory execution requirements for an Indian will. Some families add it as extra evidence of when and where signing took place.