Estate & Legacy Planning

Legacy planning is about intention, not just documents. We help you think through succession, nomination hygiene, will structuring and — where relevant — coordination with legal specialists on trusts and family governance.

What we do for you

• Nomination and beneficiary hygiene across all holdings
• Will structuring guidance in coordination with legal counsel
• Trust and family governance conversations where relevant
• Cross-border considerations for NRI families
• Documented succession playbook for the family

How we work

1. 01Map assets, liabilities and family stakeholders
2. 02Clarify intentions and succession preferences
3. 03Coordinate with legal counsel on wills and trusts
4. 04Refresh nominations and documentation periodically

Why estate planning is usually postponed

Estate planning is rarely avoided because it is complicated. It is avoided because it requires a conversation nobody wants to have. The result is predictable: assets scattered across institutions, nominations naming people who are no longer appropriate, no will, and a family that spends its first grieving year filing paperwork.

Our approach is to make the first step small and administrative rather than emotional. Consolidate the record. Fix the nominations. Then, with a clear picture in front of you, decide what structure the estate actually needs. Most families find that once the record exists, the difficult conversation becomes considerably easier.

Nomination is not succession

This distinction causes more family disputes than any other point in this field. A nominee is, in most asset classes, a receiver and trustee of the asset — the person the institution may lawfully pay. A legal heir is the person entitled to the asset under a will or under the applicable succession law. They may be different people, and where they are, the nominee does not automatically own the asset.

Nominations still matter enormously, because they determine how quickly a family can access funds without a court process. So both jobs need doing: nominations current across every folio, demat account, bank account, deposit and policy; and a will that says who is actually entitled to what.

The will, and why most families need one

A will is the simplest instrument for directing your estate, and in India it does not require registration to be valid, though registration adds a layer of evidentiary comfort. It must be in writing, signed by the testator and attested by two witnesses who are not beneficiaries. A guardian can be appointed for minor children — often the single most important clause for a young family.

Wills should be revisited after marriage, the birth of a child, a significant acquisition or disposal, a death in the family, or a move abroad. We do not draft wills; we work alongside your lawyer, prepare the asset schedule that makes drafting efficient, and make sure the financial holdings referenced in the will actually match the holdings that exist.

When a trust structure is worth considering

A private trust is not for everyone, and it carries cost, administration and its own tax considerations. It becomes worth examining in specific situations: providing for a dependant with special needs over their lifetime, holding assets for minor children with staged distribution, managing a business interest across a generational transition, or where family circumstances make a straightforward testamentary distribution likely to be contested.

Where a structure is warranted, we coordinate with specialist legal and tax counsel rather than pretending to that expertise ourselves. Our contribution is the financial picture: what is held where, what income it produces, what liquidity exists, and how the investment portfolio should be shaped to support whatever structure is chosen.

Cross-border families and documentation hygiene

Families with members or assets in more than one jurisdiction need particular care. Succession law, tax on inheritance and the recognition of foreign wills all vary by country, and a will valid in one place may create complications in another. Where a client has assets abroad or heirs who are non-resident, we flag the need for jurisdiction-specific advice early rather than after the fact.

Underpinning all of it is documentation hygiene: a single consolidated register of assets, account numbers, institutions, nominees, advisers and where original documents are held, reviewed annually and known to at least one trusted person. It is the least sophisticated part of estate planning and, in our experience, the part that spares families the most difficulty.

Risks & important considerations

• CONFI does not provide legal services and does not draft wills or trust deeds. We coordinate with your lawyer and tax counsel.
• Nomination and succession are distinct concepts; a nominee is generally a receiver of the asset, not necessarily the legal owner.
• Succession is governed by applicable personal and statutory law, which varies by community and jurisdiction.
• Cross-border estates may attract foreign succession and inheritance tax rules requiring jurisdiction-specific advice.
• Nothing on this page constitutes legal or tax advice.

Frequently asked questions about Estate & Legacy Planning

More questions are answered on our general FAQ page and in the Knowledge Centre.

Who this typically suits

Not sure where you fit? Our seven-step process begins with a discovery conversation before anything is recommended.