22 Sep 2023 4:45 AM GMT
Recently, a Division Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Sanjay Karol, laid down certain principles required for proving the validity and execution of the Will. In substance, these principles enunciated that apart from statutory compliance under Section 63 of the Succession Act, broadly, it has to be proved that (a) the testator signed the Will out of his own free Will, (b) at the time of execution, he had a sound state of mind, (c) he was aware of the nature and effect thereof and (d) the Will was not executed under any suspicious circumstances.
The Court relied upon several judgments, including H. Venkatachala Iyengar v. B.N. Thimmajamma, 1959 Supp (1) SCR 426 and Bhagwan Kaur v. Kartar Kaur, (1994) 5 SCC 135, for deducing the said principles.
A Will is required to fulfill all the formalities required under Section 63 of the Succession Act
Pertaining to the statutory compliance, the Court laid down following requirements:
Remaining Principles In Depth
Case Title: MEENA PRADHAN & ORS. V. KAMLA PRADHAN & ANR, CIVIL APPEAL NO.3351 OF 2014
Citation : 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 809; 2023INSC847