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Estate Planning

What is Estate Planning?

Estate may be defined as:
All the property a person owns or controls, which includes:

  • financial assets (e.g., bank accounts, shares, bonds, or business interests),
  • tangible personal movable assets (e.g., collectibles, or vehicles),
  • immovable property (e.g., residential real estate, agricultural rights), and
  • intellectual property (e.g., trademarks, royalties)

Planning your Estate means: Preparing on how estate would be owned and managed in case of death or incapacitation of the holder of the estate.

Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

In the absence of a planned estate:

  • The exact status of deceased or incapacitated person’s assets is not known;
  • Even if it is known the intended beneficiaries may not be able to receive the assets;
  • The law that applies to the individual would prevail over the estate and applies “Forced Heirship”;
  • Laws of succession apply differ from religion to religion adding to the confusion.

The Position in the Country

  • As of December 2019, RBI reported there are 6.41 crore unclaimed deposits totalling ₹18,379.52 crore: most of which belong to deceased persons;
  • Almost 40 percent of disputes pending in Indian courts pertain to matters that relate in some form of heirship, succession or immoveable property;
  • Multitude of laws relating to succession causes further confusion and misunderstanding among people;
  • Professional and specialist help in this area of financial services is only evolving

How can Estate Planning be done?

  • Estate planning should be discussed and carefully reviewed with experts in finance and law specialising in these areas
  • Preparing a will that clarifies how estate will devolve;
  • Setting up a trust to manage the estate;
  • Both the above options have downsides therefore a carefully planned combination should be chosen;
  • Do not delay to plan – even by a day.

How can we help?

  • Services firm with experienced talent that provides guidance on financial services, investment advice, audit, tax and estate planning;
  • Finance professionals with wide knowledge in the above areas;
  • Legal experts to take care of documentation, statutory office and legal requirements;
  • Secretarial and compliance team for support in compliance and obligation mapping.