Acceptability Of A 'Will' In Financial Institutions: Problems And Possible Solutions

Although a 'Will' is a legal instrument but when it comes to its acceptability, it is obviously not treated at par with that of the Succession Certificate or a letter of administration. Since, Succession certificate is a conclusive finding of the court regarding determination of the property rights of the members of the family of deceased in case of intestate succession, therefore, Succession Certificate shall always hold a better position in terms of acceptability in the financial institution than a 'Will'. Therefore, the question arises here as to how the 'Will' should be treated by such financial institutions in order to strike a balance between the interest of the customer as well as the legislative intent of use of a 'Will' as a document for conveyance of property rights and safeguarding the security interest of such financial institutions? Even though it has not been made mandatory as mentioned above, it is the only legal proceeding which gives finality to the 'Will' when it comes to its genuineness and authenticity and can be easily relied upon by the financial institutions and increases that scope of acceptability of the document since it can be easily verified as there is a record created in form of an order of probate and authenticity of such document has already been verified by the Court. One can argue that the basic purpose of creating a 'Will' is to make a document which could create property rights without any hassle and as already stated, avoid the hardship of getting a succession certificate from the Court and the very purpose of making a 'Will' is frustrated if the person is subjected to visit court and incur expenses for a legal proceeding which is not even mandatory in law.