Next: Structures and succession
HUF: one family, one extra taxpayer
A Hindu Undivided Family is a separate tax entity with its own PAN — and a decades-long family commitment, not the quick tax hack the internet makes it sound.
18 min
beginner
Wills and succession: who inherits what
Testate versus intestate, the default heir lists in each personal law, and how a valid will is made — two witnesses, plain paper, and no stamp-paper drama.
3 lessons · about 20 minutes · written for reading age 13 · last checked 2026-08-11
With a will, or without one
Testate means your written wishes decide. Intestate means a default list in the law decides. There is no third mode where the family just sorts it out.
6 min
Intestate: the default lists, by personal law
India has no single inheritance law. Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Parsi succession each follow their own rules — here is the broad shape of each.
7 min
A valid will, and what happens after
Plain paper, your signature, two witnesses — that is the whole recipe. Plus probate, executors, the witness-gift trap, and why young people write wills too.
7 min
Check yourself
4 questions at the end. Every wrong answer explains itself.
What changed recently
Dated commentary on this topic — a Budget change, a new rule, a scam pattern.
Sources
- Indian Succession Act, 1925; Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (as amended in 2005); Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937; Registration Act, 1908 — India Code, Ministry of Law and Justice · checked 2026-08-11