Next: Structures and succession
Wills and succession: who inherits what
Testate versus intestate, the default heir lists in each personal law, and how a valid will is made — two witnesses, plain paper, and no stamp-paper drama.
20 min
beginner
Nominee vs heir: who actually gets your money
Naming a nominee does not decide who inherits — succession law does. Bank, demat, mutual fund, insurance, EPF and PPF each follow a different rulebook.
3 lessons · about 19 minutes · written for reading age 13 · last checked 2026-08-11
The receiver is not the owner
A nominee is who the institution pays. Who owns the money is decided by a will, or by succession law — and the gap between those two facts splits families.
6 min
One word, six rulebooks
Bank, demat, mutual funds, insurance, EPF and PPF each treat a nominee differently — and insurance's 'beneficial nominee' is the exception worth learning.
7 min
What happens after, and how to keep it clean
The sequence a family actually goes through after a death, a tree for working out who ends up owning any asset, and the stale-nomination trap.
6 min
Check yourself
4 questions at the end. Every wrong answer explains itself.
What changed recently
Dated commentary on this topic — a Budget change, a new rule, a scam pattern.
Sources
- Insurance Act, 1938 (section 39); Married Women's Property Act, 1874; Hindu Succession Act, 1956; Indian Succession Act, 1925 — India Code, Ministry of Law and Justice · checked 2026-08-11
- RBI — nomination facility for deposit accounts — Reserve Bank of India · checked 2026-08-11
- Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 1952 — nomination rules (paragraph 61) — Employees' Provident Fund Organisation · checked 2026-08-11
- SEBI — nomination for demat accounts and mutual fund folios — Securities and Exchange Board of India · checked 2026-08-11
- IRDAI — policyholder information on nomination — Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India · checked 2026-08-11