NRI wills: how to handle Indian assets when you live abroad

If you're an Indian citizen living abroad, or a foreign citizen of Indian origin holding Indian assets, the will you write affects two countries' courts, two tax authorities, and two banking systems. Get it wrong and your spouse spends three years in cross-border probate while the Indian rupee balance you saved sits frozen in a Mumbai bank. Get it right and the handoff is mechanical. The decisions you make in the next hour matter more than the size of the estate.

Decision 1: one will or two? This is the single most consequential choice. The conservative position, and the one most cross-border lawyers take, is two separate wills, one per jurisdiction. Your Indian will covers Indian assets only (bank balances, immovable property in India, mutual funds, demat holdings, PPF, NPS, Indian insurance). Your foreign will covers your foreign assets. Each is executed under the law of its own country. They reference each other (so neither accidentally revokes the other), and they're consistent in spirit (so they don't contradict at the level of beneficiary intent).

Why two? Because a will proved abroad still has to work in India. Indian banks and registries usually want an Indian grant, such as letters of administration with a copy of the foreign will attached, and getting one is slow and gives Indian courts unfamiliar foreign terms to query. A separate Indian will avoids most of that friction.

Decision 2: the revocation clause is the trap. Most will templates start with 'I revoke all previous wills and codicils.' If your Indian will says this, it can be read as revoking your US/UK/UAE will too. The fix: in your Indian will, write 'I revoke all previous wills and codicils to the extent they relate to my assets situated in India.' The foreign will mirrors this for its jurisdiction. Lawyers in either country will recognise this language; templates often don't. Sort My Legacy's Will Builder is for people living in India; if your profile country is India, its NRI template uses this scoped revocation by default.

Decision 3: who is your executor in India? Executors must physically appear before banks, registries, and (sometimes) courts. If your executor is also an NRI, every transaction involves them flying in or signing notarised affidavits from abroad; each requires apostille or consular attestation, each takes weeks. The pragmatic answer for most NRIs is two executors named jointly: one resident Indian (a sibling, an old college friend, a trusted CA) who handles day-to-day paperwork, and an NRI family member who handles the bigger decisions. The Indian will explicitly grants the resident executor delegated authority for day-to-day administration.

NRO vs NRE accounts on death. NRE balances are freely repatriable. NRO balances can be sent abroad up to USD 1 million per financial year, a limit that also covers assets you inherit, with the tax forms now called Form 145 and Form 146 (Form 15CA and 15CB before April 2026). On the holder's death, RBI rules let NRE and FCNR balances go to a non-resident nominee, while money due to a non-resident nominee from other accounts is credited to their NRO account; a resident nominee generally receives it in a resident account. Give your executor express power in your will to convert accounts, repatriate money and pay taxes, or banks will ask for separate authority each time.

Immovable property: where the foreign court has no say. A US court proving your will cannot transfer your Pune flat to your spouse. The sub-registrar and the housing society act on Indian documents: your will together with probate or other transmission papers. Whether probate is compulsory depends on the will and the property, and a 2025 amendment changed the rules, but it is often the smoothest route for property. Registering your Indian will is optional, and the fee is set by each state. Keep the original in India, in your locker or with your Indian executor, and a scanned copy in your Sort My Legacy documents.

Inheritance and FEMA. India has no inheritance tax, and none has been enacted. When an NRI inherits money or property in India, it is generally held through an NRO account, and sending it abroad uses the USD 1 million a year facility, backed by papers that prove the inheritance: the will or succession papers, the bank's transmission letter, and a CA's certificate on Form 146. Keep these together so the money can move without a fresh round of questions.

Practical packet for your executor. Whether you have one will or two, leave your executor a single physical envelope (and a digital copy in Sort My Legacy) containing: your Indian will (and the registered copy, if you registered it), your foreign will (notarised copy), PAN card copy, Aadhaar copy if you have one, a list of all Indian bank accounts with branch and nominee details, a list of all foreign accounts with bank and beneficiary details, a list of immovable property with survey numbers and title deeds, life insurance policies (Indian and foreign), the name and contact of your Indian CA, the name and contact of your foreign accountant, and a one-page 'first 30 days' instruction sheet. Sort My Legacy's inventory and document storage can hold all of this in one place.

Final note: this is a guide, not legal advice. NRI succession crosses tax law, succession law, exchange control, and (sometimes) succession treaties between countries. Use it as a checklist for the conversation you'll have with an Indian estate lawyer and (separately) a lawyer in your country of residence. We are building a network of vetted cross-border specialists; join the Professionals waitlist and we will email you when they are onboarded.

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Laws and rules change, so check with a qualified lawyer or CA before you act.