This is the least interesting lesson in the curriculum and quite possibly the most valuable. Thousands of crores of Indian shares, deposits and mutual fund units sit unclaimed — not because families were unaware the money existed, but because claiming it without a nomination is genuinely difficult.
You own the house outright. But if nobody knows where the key is, your family must prove ownership to a locksmith, a court and a registrar before they can open the front door.
Your demat account is the house. A nomination is the key handed over in advance. Without it, the shares are still legally your family's — they simply need succession certificates, affidavits and often a court to establish it.
Nomination versus a will
These are different instruments and people routinely confuse them. A nominee is a receiver — the person the depository or fund house may pay without further proof. A will decides who ultimately owns the asset. Courts in India have generally held that a nominee holds in trust for the legal heirs rather than automatically inheriting.
- Tells the institution who to release assets to
- Free, and takes minutes online
- Applies per account or folio
- Makes the transfer administratively simple
- Decides who legally inherits
- Covers everything you own at once
- Overrides the nominee on the question of ownership
- Prevents disputes between heirs
Joint holding
A joint demat account held "either or survivor" passes to the surviving holder with far less friction than a sole account with a nominee. For a married couple treating investments as shared, this is often the simplest arrangement — though it does mean both names appear on every transaction.
| Arrangement | What the survivor must do | Friction |
|---|---|---|
| Joint, either or survivor | Submit a death certificate and a short form | Low |
| Sole, with nomination | Death certificate, transmission form, KYC | Low to moderate |
| Sole, no nomination, small value | Affidavit, indemnity, heir NOCs | Moderate |
| Sole, no nomination, large value | Succession certificate or probate — via court | High, often measured in years |
The checklist
- 1Add or refresh nominations everywhere
Demat account, every mutual fund folio, bank accounts, EPF, PPF, NPS and insurance policies. Each is separate; updating one updates nothing else.
- 2Check the details are current
Nominations made years ago often name a parent who has since died, or a spouse from before a divorce. An outdated nomination can be worse than none.
- 3Write a simple will
A plain, signed, witnessed document naming who inherits what is valid in India. Registration is optional but makes it harder to challenge.
- 4Leave a findable list
Not passwords — a list of which institutions hold what. Families frequently miss accounts entirely because nobody knew they existed.
A nomination names one child; the will leaves everything equally to two children. What generally happens?
Ghar aapka hai, par agar kal ko kuch ho jaaye aur ghar walon ko pata hi na ho ki kaunse bank mein kya hai — toh saal-do saal kachehri ke chakkar. Nomination bharna 5 minute ka kaam hai. App mein jo notification baar-baar aata hai aur aap cut kar dete ho — woh yahi hai.
- A nominee receives assets; a will decides who owns them. You want both, agreeing.
- Nomination is per account and per folio — updating one changes nothing else.
- No nomination on a large sole holding can mean a court process lasting years.
- Outdated nominations naming a deceased or former relative can be worse than none.
- Consolidating accounts reduces the work your family will have to repeat.
Mark it done to track your progress through the curriculum.
Common questions
Short, direct answers to what people ask about this topic.
- difference between nominee and legal heir
- A nominee is the person an institution may release your assets to; a legal heir is the person who actually owns them under your will or under succession law. Indian courts have generally held that a nominee receives the assets in trust for the legal heirs rather than inheriting them outright, which is precisely why the nomination and the will need to say the same thing.
- the process of transferring securities to a nominee or legal heir after the holder dies is called
- Transmission. It is distinct from a transfer, which is a voluntary sale or gift between living parties. Transmission happens by operation of law on death, and how much paperwork it demands depends almost entirely on whether a nomination or a joint holding was put in place beforehand.
- what happens to shares in a demat account if there is no nomination
- The family has to establish their entitlement before the depository will release anything. For smaller holdings that usually means a death certificate plus an affidavit, an indemnity and no-objection letters from the other heirs; above the value threshold the depository applies, it escalates to a succession certificate or probate obtained through a court, which can take years. This is the main reason so much Indian securities value sits unclaimed.
- is a will valid in india without registration
- Yes — a will in writing, signed by the person making it and attested by two witnesses, is valid whether or not it is registered. Registration is optional and inexpensive, and its real value is evidentiary: a registered will is harder for a disappointed relative to attack as a forgery later.
- what does either or survivor mean in a joint demat account
- It means that when one holder dies the securities pass to the surviving holder against a death certificate and a short transmission form, with no succession paperwork in between. That makes it the lowest-friction arrangement available, which is why many couples use it — the trade-off is that both names sit on every holding and both sets of KYC have to be kept current.