A well-drafted will is the single most important document in estate planning — but it is only the beginning. The will must be valid under the law that governs it, drafted in a form that survives probate challenge, and structured to achieve the intended distribution efficiently. For business families, the will intersects with shareholding structures, family trusts, HUF arrangements, and succession planning for the business itself. For NRI families, the will must work across the jurisdictions where assets are held — an Indian will does not automatically govern overseas assets, and an overseas will does not automatically govern Indian property.
GP's inheritance and succession practice covers the full spectrum — from advising a first-generation business family on a comprehensive estate plan, to representing a beneficiary in a contested probate proceeding, to guiding an NRI through the process of inheriting Indian property from overseas and repatriating the proceeds in compliance with FEMA. The same team handles the planning and the disputes — which means the planning advice is informed by an understanding of how succession arrangements fail in practice, and the dispute strategy is informed by a deep familiarity with how estates are properly structured.
Drafting and registration of wills under all personal laws — Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Parsi, and Special Marriage Act. Comprehensive estate planning for HNIs and business families — integrating the will with trust structures, HUF arrangements, and business succession. Living wills and advance directives. Cross-border estate planning for NRI families with assets in India and overseas.
Learn More →Probate proceedings before the High Courts — obtaining the court's seal of approval on a will and the executor's authority to administer the estate. Letters of administration where there is no executor. Succession certificates for movable assets — shares, bank deposits, debts — where there is no will or where the will does not cover certain assets. Intestate succession proceedings under the applicable personal law.
Learn More →Contested probate proceedings — challenges to the validity of a will on grounds of lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, fraud, or improper execution. Partition suits for ancestral property. Disputes between legal heirs over intestate estates. Challenges to succession certificates. Will contests where multiple wills exist or where the authenticity of the will is disputed.
Learn More →Hindu Undivided Family — constitution, management, partition, and dissolution. Coparcenary rights under the Hindu Succession Act 1956 as amended in 2005 — including daughters' equal rights as coparceners. HUF as a tax planning structure. Disputes between coparceners over HUF property and management. Partial and complete partition of HUF assets.
Learn More →Private family trusts under the Indian Trusts Act 1882 — for asset protection, succession planning, and managing family wealth across generations. Charitable and religious trusts. Trust disputes — removal of trustees, breach of trust, beneficiary rights. Recognition of foreign trusts in India. Trust structures for NRI families holding Indian assets.
Learn More →NRI inheriting Indian property — the legal process from obtaining succession documents through to mutation of title and FEMA-compliant repatriation of sale proceeds. Cross-border estate planning for families with assets in India and Australia, Singapore, UAE, or the UK. Recognition of Indian succession orders overseas. Power of attorney for NRI succession matters.
Learn More →Most will contests succeed on one of three grounds: lack of testamentary capacity (the testator did not understand what they were signing), undue influence (a beneficiary pressured the testator), or improper execution (the will was not witnessed or signed in the manner required by law). A well-drafted will addresses all three — with medical evidence of capacity, an independent witnessing process, and meticulous execution formalities.
An NRI inheriting Indian property must complete two distinct processes: the Indian succession process (obtaining probate or a succession certificate, mutating title in the land records) and the FEMA compliance process (RBI approval for repatriation where required, documentation of the inheritance for the authorised dealer bank). GP manages both — ensuring the Indian title documents are obtained correctly and the repatriation is structured in compliance with FEMA and RBI regulations.
The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005 gave daughters equal coparcenary rights in HUF property — including the right to demand partition. Many family arrangements made before 2005 do not reflect this change. GP advises HUF families on the implications of the amendment for their existing structures and on how to document and formalise arrangements that were made informally before the law changed.
Indian families are not always religiously homogeneous — and Indian law does not always apply a single personal law to a single family. A Hindu-Christian marriage under the Special Marriage Act, a family with Muslim and Hindu branches, a Parsi testator with Christian beneficiaries — these situations require a team that is fluent across all personal laws and can identify which law governs each asset and each beneficiary. GP's succession team handles all personal laws as one integrated practice.
For NRI families, succession is never just an Indian legal matter. The overseas assets, the overseas recognition of Indian succession documents, the FEMA repatriation of sale proceeds, and the tax implications in both India and the receiving country must all be managed. GP coordinates the Indian succession process and advises on the overseas dimensions — with direct relationships with legal counterparts in Australia, Singapore, UAE, and the UK for matters that require local legal steps in those jurisdictions.
GP's succession team handles both the planning and the disputes. This matters because the most common succession disputes arise from arrangements that seemed clear at the time but were poorly documented, ambiguously drafted, or structured without anticipating how family circumstances would change. GP's planning advice is shaped by a real understanding of how succession arrangements fail — and builds the safeguards into the original documents rather than trying to fix them in litigation after the fact.
Represented the executor of a will challenged by one of three siblings on grounds of undue influence — alleging that the testator had been pressured by the other two siblings to exclude the challenger from the residuary estate. GP defended the probate application before the Bombay High Court — presenting evidence of the testator's independent instructions to the drafting solicitor over three separate meetings, the testator's medical records demonstrating full testamentary capacity, and the absence of any pattern of unusual asset transfers to the other beneficiaries. The High Court granted probate and rejected the undue influence challenge.
Advised an Australian-resident NRI who inherited three Mumbai residential properties from her father, who died intestate. GP managed the complete process — obtaining a succession certificate for the movable assets, applying for a legal heirship certificate for the immovable property, mutating title in the land records of all three properties, advising on the capital gains tax implications of the sale, managing the sale of all three properties, and structuring the repatriation of the net sale proceeds to Australia through the authorised dealer bank in compliance with FEMA 1999 and RBI Master Directions on remittances by NRIs. Total time from first instruction to final repatriation: 14 months.
Advised the Karta of a three-generation Mumbai HUF on the complete partition of the family's HUF assets following a breakdown in relations between the coparceners. The HUF assets comprised two commercial properties in Mumbai, a portfolio of listed shares, and a business interest in a private limited company. GP advised on the valuation of all assets, the tax implications of partition (including capital gains and stamp duty), the equal entitlement of the two daughters as coparceners under the 2005 amendment, and the documentation required to effect a valid and binding partition. The partition deed was executed by all four coparceners without court proceedings.
The practice sits at the intersection of family law, property law, tax law, and — for NRI families — foreign exchange regulation. The same team advises on estate planning, manages probate and succession proceedings, handles contested inheritance disputes, and coordinates the FEMA compliance for overseas repatriation. For clients whose succession matters have an international dimension, GP coordinates directly with legal counterparts in Australia, Singapore, UAE, and the UK.
For business families, the succession practice works alongside GP's corporate team — ensuring that the will, the trust structure, and the business succession plan are aligned and that the transition of ownership on death does not trigger unintended tax consequences or shareholder disputes.
The five most common reasons wills fail to achieve the testator's intentions — from ambiguous residuary clauses to failure to update the will after a major life event.
Read Guide →Every step of the NRI inheritance process — from obtaining the Indian succession documents through to repatriating the sale proceeds to Australia, Singapore, UAE, or the UK — with the current timelines and the FEMA compliance requirements at each stage.
Read Guide →Whether you need a will drafted, a probate application filed, an inherited property transferred, an HUF partitioned, or an estate plan built for your family — speak to us today.
Strictly confidential. All succession matters handled with complete discretion.