What is a Will?

A will is a declaration of the writer of the will about how he or she wishes to distribute his or her property after their demise. A will cannot deal with ancestral property, it only deals with self-owned property.

In the case of “Maturi Pullaian v. Maturi Narasimham”, the court ruled that registration of a will is not compulsory. A will, which is properly signed and clearly expresses the wishes of the testator, will be legally valid even if it is not registered with the Registrar. This exception falls under Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908 which regulates the registration of official documents.

A will needs to be interpreted such that the intention of the testator is clearly known irrespective of the words of the will seeming ambiguous. This was established in the case of Rajrani Sehgal v. Dr. Parshottam Lal (1992).

In the case of Badari Basamma v. Kandrikeri (1984), the court has held that in the case of two wills, the latter one will prevail.