If you die without a valid will, it means that your estate would be distributed according to the laws of your state. However, this doesn't happen automatically because if there is no executor appointed in a person's will, then another judge decides who should take charge and handle the distribution process called probate. If an individual dies with their last wills not meeting certain requirements like being witnessed legally or what have you (requirements vary from one state to another), then someone else needs to be named as administrator for them - which is usually determined by a judge. All wills need to meet certain standards such as witnessing and so forth (these may vary from jurisdiction).

The administrator will be someone who is not known to you or your family, and he or she will be bound by the laws of your state. That's why they may make decisions that don't necessarily agree with the wishes of yourself or your heirs- which would mean a new experience for everyone involved.

You may not need to hire a lawyer to prepare your will, but an experienced lawyer can provide useful advice on estate-planning strategies. DIY wills are widely available and meet the legal requirements; they're valid whether they were drafted by you or prepared by a professional.

It is not uncommon for a person to pass away without leaving a will. In such cases, the property of the deceased will be distributed according to their personal law. For example, if an Indian Hindu male dies without making a will, his wife and children (including daughters) get equal shares in the inheritance. When it comes to different Muslim communities’ different laws of inheritance apply depending on which community they belong too- with some having more rights than others! What’s important is that assets can be shared amongst family members before they go into probate court so it's best to contact a lawyer beforehand

Testators with the right to make a will for future benefits of their family members have certain types of wills they can use:

• Privileged ‘Wills’:

  It is important to understand the meaning of privileged Will, which are made by certain persons. A privileged Will is one which is made by any soldier, airman, navy person or mariner who wishes to dispose of their estate during their course for employment. A privileged will can be revoked by an unprivileged will or codicil, or any act that expresses the intention to revoke it and is accompanied by formalities sufficient for a privileged Will. It may also be destroyed, torn up, or burned in some way.

• Unprivileged ‘Wills’:

  Wills executed according to the provisions of 'Section 63' of the Indian Succession Act, 1925,' are called Unprivileged Wills. An unprivileged Will is one that is not made by soldiers, airmen and mariners so employed. It can be revoked only by another Will or some writing declaring an intention to revoke it and executed in the same manner as an unprivileged will under this Act, or burnt torn destroyed etc., either person present at its execution with intention of revoking it.

Registration of a Will is not compulsory as per Section 18 (1908) of the Registration Act. Once it's registered, it becomes strong legal evidence that all parties were present at the time and after being attested by the registrar or sub-registrar. The process begins when you deposit an instrument with your will to this person who then registers it with appropriate details.

Once the requirements for certification are met, the registrar will write the date of submission, time of submission and certification in their Register of Wills, along with any other noteworthy information. The relevant legal documents are in order and that each person named in the Will is alive and knows about their responsibility as an executor (if there is one) and/or beneficiary, then a certified copy of the Will will be filed in a county-wide registry. In case if the county clerk refuses to accept a Will for filing then an individual can appeal to a judge who will rule on whether or not they find sufficient evidence presented by the petitioner that would justify ordering that it be registered.

Wills can be revoked by their creators at any time before they expire. For example, you may wish to change the document in a way that makes it invalid. The process of doing so varies depending on the kind of Will that is being changed. Will revocation is of two types –

• Voluntary Revocation: A testator can recall revoke their original Will dated the specified date and time of creation and make a new written instrument by signing a subsequent Will or codicil that is duly executed just as much as the previous will was. The previous instrument of a Will can be destroyed by burning, tearing, destroying or striking out its signature.
• Involuntary Revocation: According to Section 69 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, a testator's remarriage does not invalidate a will. However, this provision does not apply to Hindus. Section 57 of the Indian Succession Act clearly states that a married testator's remarriage does not make the will invalid.

Probate courts disposes the assets in accordance with the last will and the law. The application for probate must be made to a court of competent jurisdiction, accompanied by a copy of the deceased's last will and testament. A probate is obtained on a death certificate to authenticate the validity of a will, while it also serves as evidence of an executor’s appointment. The grant of probate does not give authority to any person over the things which are not in fact the property of the deceased testator. The probate proceedings are not referable to arbitration. The probate court, whether it is that of District Court or High Court, has exclusive jurisdiction to decide cases regarding granting probate of the Will of the deceased.

You can have any person you trust be a witness to your will, but only if he or she is not going to be a beneficiary of your estate. Some states require witnesses for a will to hold up in court. If you have your lawyer, write your will, his or her work on the document is just so happen to be a conflict of interest and therefore cannot serve as a witness. The best thing you can do is enlist people who are not part of your business such as family members or close friends. It's important to take into consideration the specifics in which your will has to be written and most importantly notarized. Sometimes your states will not require a will to be notarized, but others do. It's best that you check as it is better to do whatever is necessary so that there are no loopholes allowing anyone contesting your last wishes to get any traction on getting what they want rather than what you specified when writing your will, yourself. We also encourage looking into using a self-proving affidavit if possible because they make the process go much smoother by only requiring those who are witnesses (or the person making the will) their signatures on a paper with their name information without having to appear before court officials or even before judges during matters of probate so it can save everyone time and money!

You can name your spouse, a trusted family member, or another adult like a friend you've grown up with. If your affairs are relatively simple, you might want to name an attorney who has the experience and maturity necessary to guide and manage your estate so that it won't be at risk of being mishandled by someone not suited to handle such important responsibilities. You can also appoint joint executors, such as your attorney and your child or partner if they have the fortitude necessary to deal with all of the inevitable complications which come when tasked with arranging for someone’s final wishes to be carried out in accordance with their instructions.

If you would like your assets to be distributed according to a will of any kind, it is important for the court to have access to that original document. A safe deposit box in a bank could be vulnerable and the family might have trouble getting into it. It would be best if you had a steel safe inside your house. You need to be sure to have someone you trust hold onto a signed copy at all times. If the original is destroyed, you'll want to prove that the will you created is legit. However, the absence of an original copy can complicate things in terms of your estate being settled as you'd hoped.

You and your spouse are best friends, so what do you need separate wills for? Well, let's imagine a situation where over the years some of your property starts breaking down. Maybe you have a car that has been damaged during this time or perhaps even an appliance and because your will is joint, these assets would automatically be left to the other person after you pass away. A separate will could help solve this issue by specifying in greater detail what happens when one of you dies. Think of joint property as kind of like a savings account - eventually there's going to be nothing left once it's spent!

Separate wills are quite advantageous, especially if a person has been married before. They allow each spouse to deal with ex-spouses and children from previous relationships, as well as any property that was obtained during a previous marriage. Similarly, it is important to be clear about who gets what when one gets deceased. These matters are often decided by probate laws which usually favor the current spouse of the decedent.

The primary difference between a Will and a Living Will is that the former obligates your estate executor to dispose of your assets upon death, while the latter is used to inform medical staff on how to proceed when you're in a coma or seriously ill. You can use a living will to state whether or not you wish to remain on life support, or if certain treatments should be withheld.

Your will is like your "Last Will and Testament" so it should be simple and easy to locate. It should store away in a fireproof metal box, file cabinet, or even your home safe (which typically expires every 5 years). Keeping your will inside of a safe deposit box may not be the best place for storage as banks have limited access to them after you pass on. Make sure to tell your personal representative and at least one other person that you trust where it can be found, and make sure they know where to find it when the time comes!

If a person's last will and testament is challenged by their beneficiaries, it is usually because the family member(s) who were disinherited aren't pleased with the way their inheritance was distributed --- usually due to the fact that their portion of assets weren't what they would have liked. Common grounds for challenge stem from concerns that the testator --- a person who wrote his or her own will --- was not in possession of his or her full mental faculties. It's crucial that wills are tailored so that each item (property) left behind after someone has passed away is clearly delineated, so there doesn't end up being confusion down the road.

When making your will, you must revoke any earlier version and declare yourself to be of sound mind. It’s important to be honest about why you are disinheriting anyone, so elaborate if necessary. A will can be revoked or modified at any time before the testator dies. However, it is good practice to register each alteration or amendment on the official registry just in case the original version was not registered.

The main requirement for a valid will of any individual is that they will be in compliance with his or her own personal preferences. If the person decides of their own free will to dispose their property, then the will can be treated as valid and it will hold legal ground.

• Sound Mind: A person competent enough to create a valid will should be in full control of their mental faculties at the time they are doing it. If the person writing a will is drunk or otherwise not in control of his or her sanity, there is no way they can produce a legal will.
• Only Majors: An individual under the age of 18 years cannot make a will in India. He/she requires having a Testamentary Guardian legally appointed by the Court to handle his property affairs until he overcomes the minority.
• Only Own Property: All people are able to make wills, which is often done without the assistance of a lawyer. Thus, many spouses and other beneficiaries receive assets that perhaps rightfully belong to someone else in the family. The wife might end up with her husband's house for example. This creates problems.

Unfortunately, not everyone bothers to make a will. This may be for a variety of legitimate reasons, or maybe it's just negligence that is the cause. However, without an estate plan a lot of problems could arise and solving them can be legally difficult at best. In case of such a dispute, the law has also laid out rules for members of different religions, as specified in Indian Succession Act, 1925, Hindu Succession Act, 1956, and by Shariat law, and these are to be followed. Here is how the property will be divided, should it reach the courts:

Male Hindu (covered under Hindu Succession Act; also includes Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains

1. First, the property will devolve upon relatives specified in Class I;
2. If there is no Class I heir, then upon Class II relatives;
3. In case there’s no Class II heir, then upon agnates (those related to another wholly through males, whether by blood or adoption, are agnates) and;
4. If there is no agnate, then upon the cognates (related, by blood or adoption, but not wholly through males).

Female Hindu

1. First, the property will devolve upon sons and daughters (including the children of any predeceased son or daughter) and the husband in equal measure;
2. Secondly, upon the husband’s heirs;
3. If the husband has no heirs, then upon the parents;
4. Upon the heirs of the father;
5. Lastly, upon the heirs of the mother.

However, any property a female Hindu inherits from her parents shall devolve, in case she has no children (including the children of any predeceased son or daughter), upon the heirs of the father. Similarly, property inherited from in-laws shall go to the in-laws’ heirs if she dies without children or grandchildren.

Christians (covered under Indian Succession Act)

1. A third of the property shall go to the wife and the rest will be divided equally among children (including the children of any predeceased son or daughter);
2. If there is no wife, the property will be divided among the children;
3. If there are no children, the property is shared equally by the wife and the husband’s relatives.
4. Lastly, it will devolve upon the parents of the deceased;

Parsis (covered by the Indian Succession Act)

1. Half goes to the wife, the rest to the children;
2. If there is no wife, the property is distributed equally among children;
3. If neither wife nor child survives, the assets go to the parents of the deceased.

Muslims (covered by Shariat)

The Qazi (judge ruling according to Islamic religious law) takes the burial expenses and makes a list of the assets of the deceased that need to be distributed among the wife and children.

Hindu Undivided Family (HUF; by survivorship):

The property of a HUF devolves by survivorship. If the Karta dies, the property devolves upon the surviving members for four generations. Regardless of the fact that the heirs are Hindu, the property will not devolve in accordance with Hindu Succession Act.

However, a Class I male or female relative may make a claim on a share of the property, in which case the property would devolve upon the claimant as provided under the Hindu Succession Act