Procedure to Procure Legal Heir Certificate

The Legal Heir certificate is an important document for the family of a deceased person. This certificate is needed when a person passes away without any nominee or will. In addition to resolving disputes regarding assets, an heir certificate assists in establishing authority over the assets. However, it helps determine who is the right heir to the deceased's assets.

In order to learn more about this topic, you can continue reading this article. The purpose of this article is to give you a comprehensive understanding of the legal heir certificate, its procedure, and the documents that are required.

A legal Heir Certificate is a legal certificate that transfers the assets of a deceased to the rightful heir or person. Indian Succession Act, of 1925 permits an individual to apply for a legal heir certificate. It also talks about the succession of a deceased person’s property.

A Legal Heir certificate appoints the person who is the right person for that asset. These heirs can be the deceased’s spouse, children and parents. This document served as evidence of the successor properties and provided legal authority over them.

Below given documents are required for the legal heir certificate:

• Signed Application form.
• Applicants’ ID proof
• Applicant's Address proof
• Death Certificate
• All Heir's DOB proof
• Affidavit with stamp

For getting the legal heir certificate the applicants have to deal with a legal process. This complete procedure can be clear by the below-mentioned points:

1. Approach to Court or tahsildar:The first step to getting a legal heir certificate, the applicants have to approach a legal authority. This approach area could be Talukdar, Tahsildar, city corporation, municipality or district court as per the residence of the deceased person.
2. Application SubmissionAfter approaching the right authority, the applicant has to file the application. In this stage, he/she has to submit the signed application with all legal heirs with attach the required documents that clearly mention below.
3. Affidavit with stamp paper:During this process, the applicant also has to submit an affidavit with the stamp paper. If he/she does not use stamp paper it will be rejected.
4. Examination by administrative officers: After submitting the application or documents, the next step will be the examination. In this stage, the administrative officers conduct an enquiry and inspect all the aspects regarding the authority over the assets.
5. Issued Legal Heir Certificate: Once the examination will be successful and no objection comes then the legal heir certificate will be issued to the right person. And the assets of the intestate will be in control of that heir.

A legal Heir Certificate is a legal document that establishes control of a right person upon a deceased person’s assets. This certificate is required for various purposes such as transferring money, property and other valuable articles. Getting a legal heir certificate is a legal procedure therefore the applicant must consult with a professional lawyer first. This process can take 14 to 15 days to receive the certificate.