State-wise checklist: execution, registration & where it differs
This page summarises how Will execution and registration work across India, and flags the places where the rules genuinely differ by state or union territory. It is general information, not legal advice — see our disclaimer.
What is the same everywhere in India
- Execution: the testator signs (or marks) the Will, and at least two witnesses who are not beneficiaries — and not the spouse of a beneficiary — sign in the testator's presence and in each other's presence. This requirement comes from the Indian Succession Act, 1925, and applies the same way in every state and union territory.
- Registration is optional, not compulsory, everywhere. Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908 lists Wills among the documents for which registration is at the discretion of the person making them. An unregistered Will remains legally valid if it was properly signed and witnessed.
- No stamp duty applies to a Will in any state, because a Will does not transfer property during the testator's lifetime — stamp duty is a transfer tax, and a Will only takes effect after death.
- If you do choose to register it, you do so at the Sub-Registrar's office. Sub-Registrar offices maintain a dedicated "Register of Wills" and a separate register for Wills deposited in a sealed cover, under the Registration Act — this structure is uniform across India, though local appointment systems, working hours, and minor procedural steps vary by district, so it's worth checking with your local Sub-Registrar's office directly.
- Personal law depends on who you are, not where you live. Whether the Hindu Succession Act, Muslim personal law, the Indian Succession Act (for Christians, Parsis, and others), or a special marriage/succession framework applies to you is generally determined by your religion and how you married, not by which Indian state you're domiciled in — with one significant exception below.
Where it genuinely differs: Goa (and Daman & Diu)
Goa does not follow the Indian Succession Act framework used elsewhere. It continues to apply the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867 (as adapted by the Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceeding Act, 2012), which was retained after Goa's integration into India and has been treated by courts as Indian law in its own right. Two features make it fundamentally different from the general clauses this tool generates:
- Community of property between spouses — much of a married couple's property is treated as jointly owned by both spouses by default, which limits what either spouse can dispose of individually by Will.
- Forced heirship (a "legítima" or mandatory share) — close relatives (typically children and a surviving spouse) are entitled to a fixed portion of the estate regardless of what the Will says. A Will that ignores this can be challenged and reduced by the forced heirs.
In 2019, the Supreme Court of India confirmed that this framework applies to a Goan-domiciled person's property wherever it is located in India, not only property physically situated in Goa. Given this, anyone domiciled in Goa should treat this tool's output as, at most, a starting point for a conversation with a Goa-qualified lawyer, not a usable draft.
Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh
Before the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 took effect, the region had its own separate succession statutes (for example, a distinct Jammu and Kashmir Hindu Succession Act) and was expressly excluded from several central succession laws. Since the 2019 reorganisation, those exclusions have been removed and the central succession statutes used across the rest of India now extend to the union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh as well. Because this is a comparatively recent legal transition, it's still sensible to confirm current local practice with a lawyer in the union territory if your situation is at all complex.
General good-practice checklist (all states)
- Read the entire draft carefully before signing — confirm every name, relationship, and asset.
- Arrange at least two witnesses who are not beneficiaries and not the spouse of a beneficiary.
- Sign every page and the final signature block in the physical presence of both witnesses.
- Have both witnesses sign the attestation clause in your presence and in each other's presence.
- Write the date and place of execution clearly.
- If there's any risk of a future challenge (illness, family friction, a will that departs from what people expect), consider a contemporaneous medical fitness certificate and/or a video recording of the signing.
- Store the signed original safely and tell your executor where to find it.
- Registration at the Sub-Registrar's office is optional everywhere, but if you want the added evidentiary weight, contact your local office for their current appointment process and fee — these details are set locally and change from time to time.
- Review and update your Will after marriage, divorce, a child's birth, major new assets, or the death of a beneficiary or executor.
Sources: Indian Succession Act, 1925; Registration Act, 1908 (Section 18 and the Sub-Registrar's statutory registers); Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceeding Act, 2012; Jose Paulo Coutinho v. Maria Luiza Valentina Pereira, Supreme Court of India, 2019; Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. This page is general information only and is not a substitute for advice from a lawyer qualified in your state or union territory.