A person is said to have died intestate when he/she does not leave behind a legal will. Such is the scenario when the requirement of obtaining a Succession Certificate jumps in. The Indian Succession Act, 1925 defines a succession certificate as a certificate issued by a court to the legal heirs of a deceased to establish the authenticity of the heirs and give them the authority to inherit debts, securities and other assets of the deceased.
What we do to help –
1. Apply for Succession Certificate
- We gather details of all possible securities previously invested by the deceased person both from the legal heir of the deceased and our growing database of Dividend unclaimed & with the Company and Shares transferred to the IEPF.
- Re-confirm with the Company or its respective RTAs regarding the shareholding as on date and generate /prepare supportings.
- Liaise with our lawyers, explain the scenario and make them touch base with the client, namely the legal heirs.
- The Lawyer will make an application in the prescribed format with the competent Civil Court mostly within that jurisdiction, where the deceased person was residing.
- All the petitioners viz a viz the legal heirs will have to be present at the Court on hearing dates set by the Court decree.
- The lawyer will further handle the petition, court proceedings, court hearings which will be about two or three and do the needful to successfully obtain the Succession Certificate.
- The Court and lawyer shall levy a fixed percentage of the value of the estate as the Court Fee & Sitting Fee respectively.
2. Modification/Amendment of Succession Certificate.
- According to Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) who is the Capital Market Regulator, for securities held in physical form, when the market value of the said securities in a particular Company invested by the deceased is over Rs.2 lakhs, the same can be transmitted to the legal heir only upon production of Succession Certificate.
- For securities held in dematerialized form, when the market value of the beneficiary (deceased) account is over Rs.5 lakhs, the same can be transmitted to the legal heir only upon production of Succession Certificate.
- When the legal heirs have already obtained the Succession Certificate but details of some securities have not been included altogether or have been included in part and the same is required to be completely included in the Succession Certificate by the Company or RTA, the Succession Certificate has to be modified/amendment.
- The procedure for amendment is like that of applying for a fresh Succession Certificate.
- After the proceedings, the old Succession Certificate is issued with a fresh inclusion schedule.
