Family
Claiming what a loved one left behind?
The family, listed properly — the paper every transmission desk asks for first.
Legal Heir Declaration
The deponent's sworn or self-declared statement of who the deceased's legal heirs are: the deceased's particulars matched to the death certificate, a numbered schedule of every surviving heir with relationship, age and address, the declaration that there are no others, and optionally the specific account, policy or deposit the affidavit supports. The claims-side instrument the will prevents — banks, insurers and PF offices ask for it constantly during transmission. It is an affidavit of facts, NOT a certificate: it does not replace a legal heirship certificate from the revenue authority or a succession certificate from a court, which institutions may require for larger claims — where an institution has named one of those, this affidavit usually accompanies it rather than substitutes for it. For records that simply misname a living person, use the name-change or one-and-the-same-person declarations instead.
What makes it hold
What this document contains
5 clauses every legal heir declaration carries, plus 2 you can add.
- 01
Deponent
The opening recital naming who is making the statement — name, age, parentage and address. The only clause carrying the deponent's personal particulars, and the one that sets whether the document reads as declared, affirmed or sworn. Occupation is printed where the party record carries it, in the same place an affidavit has always stated it — never invented, and never a code.
- 02
The Deceased
Who died, when, and how the deponent is related — the particulars every transmission desk checks against the death certificate.
- 03
The Legal Heirs
The schedule this affidavit exists for: every surviving legal heir of the deceased, with relationship, age and address, rendered as a numbered list — followed by the declaration that there are no others.
- 04
No fraudulent intent
Disclaims any intent to evade a debt, tax, obligation or proceeding. Takes no input. Banks and passport authorities routinely refuse a document that omits it, which is why it is mandatory rather than optional.
- 05
Verification
Affirms the numbered assertions above are true and nothing material is concealed, and carries the deponent's signature block. This is the paragraph that makes a false statement actionable — sworn or not.
Optional clauses
The Claim
What the affidavit supports: the asset of the deceased being claimed or transmitted — an account, deposit, insurance, PF or similar — named with its institution. Optional, for the transmission-desk form.
Worth adding when: The affidavit is for a bank, insurer, PF office or depository transmitting a specific asset of the deceased to the heirs
Purpose
Names the scheme or authority the affidavit is made for, and confines it to that.
Worth adding when: the user named the scholarship, concession, court or office asking for it
What the law requires
- An affidavit of heirship, not a grant of it
- This declaration states facts within the deponent's knowledge: who died, and who survives as heirs. It confers nothing. A legal heirship certificate comes from the revenue authority; a succession certificate for debts and securities comes from the court under Part X of the Indian Succession Act 1925; and institutions set their own thresholds for which paper they require. Never present this affidavit as equivalent to either certificate — where an institution asks for one, this affidavit accompanies the application.
- Part X (ss. 370–390), Indian Succession Act 1925; institutional transmission rules (e.g. RBI directions on settlement of claims of deceased depositors)
- Who the heirs are is a matter of personal law
- The persons entitled as heirs follow the succession law applicable to the deceased — the Hindu Succession Act 1956 for Hindus (Class I heirs first), the Indian Succession Act 1925 for others, Muslim personal law for Muslims. The affidavit does not decide shares or entitlement; it lists the surviving family completely so the institution can apply its rules. Guidance may explain the framework; the document only ever states the facts.
- Hindu Succession Act 1956 (s. 8 and the Schedule); Indian Succession Act 1925; personal law of the deceased
- A false or incomplete list is the one real danger
- Omitting an heir is the classic defect — it exposes the deponent to prosecution for false evidence and the institution to competing claims, and it is why the no-other-heirs paragraph exists. Ask expressly about a surviving spouse, all children (including from earlier marriages), and the mother of the deceased before the list is closed; a deceased child's own children stand in that child's place.
- Sections 227 and 229, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (false evidence); the no-other-heirs and no-fraudulent-intent paragraphs of this form