Estate Planning Services in India | Savlana Init

International Tax & Estate · Estate Planning

Estate Planning — Decide Now, or a Court Will Later.

India charges no estate duty, so planning is not about tax — it is about certainty, control and avoiding the years of litigation that follow an unplanned estate.

Because India levies no estate duty, estate planning here is driven by control and certainty rather than by tax mitigation. The costs of not planning are procedural and human: assets frozen while heirship is established, banks and registrars demanding probate or indemnities, minority or vulnerable beneficiaries left without a structure, business shareholdings deadlocked, and disputes among family members that take years to resolve and are rarely repaired afterwards. A properly drawn will and, where appropriate, a trust, replaces all of that with a documented instruction.

The instruments are well established. A will is the foundation and should cover the entire estate with a residuary clause, appoint executors, and deal with guardianship where minors are involved. Registration is optional in India but strongly advisable; probate is mandatory for wills relating to immovable property within certain historic presidency jurisdictions and useful elsewhere. A private family trust under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 goes further, allowing assets to be settled during lifetime, insulated from succession disputes, and administered for beneficiaries over time — with the important caveat that trust taxation differs sharply between specific and discretionary trusts, the latter often being assessed at the maximum marginal rate.

Cross-border families need a further layer. A single will attempting to cover assets across jurisdictions frequently causes delay in all of them; separate situs wills, carefully drafted so that neither revokes the other, are usually cleaner. Foreign estate taxes are a live exposure even where India has none — the United States levies estate tax on US-situs assets held by non-domiciliaries above a very low exemption, and the United Kingdom levies inheritance tax by reference to domicile and residence. Forced heirship rules in some jurisdictions can override testamentary intention entirely. We plan the Indian estate and coordinate it with the foreign position rather than treating them as separate exercises.

Our Estate Planning Services

Will Drafting and Review

Drafting of a comprehensive will with executors, residuary clause, guardianship provisions and specific bequests, and review of existing wills for gaps and conflicts.

Private Family Trust Structuring

Design and settlement of private trusts under the Indian Trusts Act, with attention to the specific and discretionary distinction and its tax consequence.

Business Succession Planning

Succession for family businesses — shareholding structure, shareholder agreements, transmission mechanics and continuity of management.

Nomination and Joint Holding Review

Alignment of nominations and joint holdings across bank accounts, deposits, securities and insurance with the testamentary plan, since nomination is not succession.

Asset and Liability Inventory

A consolidated schedule of assets, liabilities, holdings and access details so that executors and heirs are not searching for the estate after the event.

Cross-Border Coordination

Situs will structuring across jurisdictions, and assessment of foreign estate tax and forced heirship exposure affecting the family’s overall plan.

Trust Taxation Advisory

Taxation of private trusts including representative assessee provisions and the maximum marginal rate exposure that discretionary structures attract.

Periodic Plan Review

Review of the plan on marriage, birth, divorce, migration, business sale or a change in law, since an out-of-date plan can be worse than none.

Our Process

Family and Asset Discovery

We build a complete picture of the family, the assets in India and abroad, the liabilities, and the objectives and concerns of the person planning.

Structure Selection

We recommend the combination of will, trust, nomination and shareholding arrangement that meets the objectives with the least friction on death.

Drafting and Execution

Documents are drafted, reviewed with the family, and executed with proper attestation, registration where advisable, and safe custody arranged.

Alignment Across Holdings

Nominations, joint holdings, insurance and shareholder agreements are aligned to the plan so that no instrument contradicts another.

Review and Update

The plan is revisited on major life or legal changes, and executors and family are briefed so that the plan is capable of being implemented.

Why It Matters

✓No estate duty in India — so planning buys certainty, not tax savings

✓Assets released to heirs without years of court process

✓Minor and vulnerable beneficiaries provided for through structure

✓Nominations aligned with the will, not contradicting it

✓Business shareholding succession settled before it is contested

✓Separate situs wills where assets span more than one country

✓Foreign estate tax exposure identified while it can still be managed

✓A plan reviewed on life events rather than left to go stale

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Estate duty was abolished with effect from March 1985 and no inheritance or estate tax has replaced it. Property received under a will or by inheritance is expressly excluded from the charge under Section 56(2)(x). Estate planning in India is therefore driven by certainty, control and avoiding dispute — and, for families with overseas assets, by foreign estate taxes that very much do apply.

Registration is optional. An unregistered will executed properly — in writing, signed by the testator and attested by two witnesses who saw him sign — is fully valid. Registration nonetheless makes the will harder to challenge on grounds of authenticity and reduces the risk of the original being lost or suppressed, which is why it is generally advisable notwithstanding that it is not required.

No, and the confusion causes a great deal of litigation. A nominee is ordinarily a trustee who receives the asset in order to hold it for the legal heirs, not an owner entitled to keep it. Where a nomination and a will point in different directions, the will generally prevails as regards beneficial entitlement. The right approach is to align nominations with the testamentary plan so the two never conflict.

They serve different purposes and often work together. A will operates only on death and requires the succession process to run. A trust takes effect during lifetime, can hold assets across generations, provides for beneficiaries who cannot manage assets themselves, and insulates holdings from succession disputes. The trade-off is complexity and tax: discretionary trusts are frequently assessed at the maximum marginal rate, so the structure must be chosen deliberately.

Where assets are in more than one jurisdiction, separate situs wills are usually cleaner — each estate can be administered under its own law without waiting for the other, which avoids long delays in both. The drafting must be careful: each will should be expressly limited to assets in its jurisdiction, and the revocation clause must not inadvertently cancel the other. This is a common and expensive drafting failure.

They can. The United States levies estate tax on US-situs assets — including US shares held by non-domiciliaries — above an exemption that is very low for non-domiciliaries. The United Kingdom levies inheritance tax by reference to domicile and residence, which can persist after leaving. Several jurisdictions also apply forced heirship rules that override a will. These exposures should be identified while the assets can still be restructured.

Want your estate settled by your instructions rather than by a court?

Tell us what the family holds and where. We will design the will, trust and nomination structure that fits, and coordinate it with your position in any other country.