Can I bequeath my property to only one of my children?

I am a 65 year old female and have two sons. Can I bequeath all my property to my elder son who takes care of me? Do I need a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from my younger son?

Name withheld on request

You are entitled to bequeath all your property to anyone of your choice, be it one of your children or a third party. Also, there is no need to obtain any NOC from any of your children to execute your Will in a manner that you consider fit and proper. However, please note that the manner in which your property can be bequeathed also depends on the personal law that applies to you at the time of your death. Therefore, we recommend that you contact a lawyer who can assist you in executing the Will taking into account the appropriate law applicable to you.

I have a bungalow in Mumbai. Now, I want my wife to be the co-owner of the bungalow. Is it possible to do this without any consideration or do I have to prepare a will and hand over the bungalow to him?

Name withheld on request

There are two ways to transfer 50% of the ownership of your bungalow in favor of your wife without any consideration.

If you wish to do so during your life time, you can execute and register a gift deed in the name of your wife, such that 50% rights in the bungalow are transferred to your wife’s name. At the time of execution and registration of the gift deed, you will have to pay stamp duty, metro cess and registration charges as applicable on the gift deed.

In the event that you wish to transfer the rights to the bungalow upon your death, you can execute a will specifying that 50% of the rights to the bungalow should be transferred to your wife upon your death. However, in this case, we would advise that you also specify how the remaining 50% entitlement in the bungalow will be dealt with.

Sagar Kadam and Mithali Naik are partners at DSK Legal.

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