Application to Deposit a Will with the Registrar

To, The Registrar [registrar_office] Date: [application_date] Subject: Deposit of a sealed cover containing my Will, under Section 42 of the Registration Act, 1908 Sir/Madam, 1. I, [testator_name], son/daughter/wife of [testator_father], residing at [testator_address], tender for deposit the accompanying SEALED COVER. 2. PARTICULARS OF THE COVER Contents : My last Will and Testament dated [will_date] Superscription : "WILL OF [testator_name]" Tendered by : [agent_name] 3. The said cover has been superscribed with my name and the name of the person tendering it, as required. 4. I request that the cover be received and deposited in your office for safe custody, that the particulars be entered in Book No. 5, and that a receipt be granted to me. 5. I am aware that: (a) I may withdraw the cover at any time during my lifetime by applying in person or through a duly authorised agent; (b) the cover will not be opened during my lifetime except on my application; and (c) after my death, any person claiming to be entitled may apply for it to be opened. 6. I make this deposit of my own free will and while of sound mind. Yours faithfully, [testator_name] [testator_address] DOCUMENTS 1. The sealed cover, superscribed as above 2. Identity and address proof of the testator 3. Prescribed fee ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── WHY DEPOSIT A WILL AT ALL Registration of a will is optional in India, and an unregistered will is perfectly valid. But a will that cannot be FOUND, or that is produced in a version the family disputes, causes exactly the trouble it was written to prevent. Depositing the will in a sealed cover with the Registrar addresses three risks at once: IT CANNOT BE LOST. Not in a cupboard, a bank locker nobody can open, or a house cleared out after a death. IT CANNOT QUIETLY BE SUBSTITUTED. The cover is sealed, superscribed and entered in the Registrar's own register with a date. A later "discovered" will has to explain itself against that record. IT CANNOT BE SUPPRESSED by a person who dislikes its contents, because its existence is on an official record independent of the family. WHAT IT DOES NOT DO: depositing does not make the will valid, and it does not prove capacity or due execution. Those still depend on the will being properly executed and ATTESTED BY TWO WITNESSES under Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 — and on neither witness being a beneficiary, because a bequest to an attesting witness is VOID under Section 67. That is the commonest way a home-made Indian will fails, and no amount of safe custody cures it. YOU REMAIN IN CONTROL. You can withdraw the cover during your lifetime and deposit a fresh one whenever the will is changed. If you make a codicil or a new will, do that — a sealed cover containing a superseded will is worse than no deposit at all. TELL SOMEONE IT EXISTS. A deposited will that nobody knows about is still a lost will. Tell your executor which Registrar's office holds it, and keep the receipt with your important papers.