Once the owner dies, does the nominee become owner of the flat?

No. The nominee is a trustee for whoever is entitled by will or succession law. The Supreme Court has ruled in two cases, Indrani Wahi and Shakti Yezdani, that a nomination cannot override succession.

Can a nominee sell the flat without other family members?

Only if the nominee is the sole heir or the sole beneficiary of a valid will. Otherwise every heir signs the deed, or gives up a share earlier through a registered release deed.

Does a will in Karnataka have to go through probate?

Mostly not. The Indian Succession Act's section 213 has gone since the 2025 repeal. Even so, a buyer may insist on probate if someone disputes the will.

Is a succession certificate good enough for buying an inherited flat?

No. That certificate is for money-type assets. A flat needs the death certificate, a family tree certificate, any will and every heir's signature.

Does the nominee's name on the e-khata prove ownership?

No. A khata only records who is assessed to tax. Title comes from the registered deeds plus the will or succession law, so other heirs retain their shares.

Nominee Selling a Flat: Why Every Legal Heir Must Sign

The advertisement describes the flat as the seller's late father's, with the seller as his nominee. The association already lists the seller as the member, and the water and maintenance bills come in the seller's name. A buyer in Bangalore could easily treat that as proof of ownership, but it is not. The sections below explain why and set out what must be collected before any money moves.

Nomination is a convenience for institutions

An institution holding a dead person's asset wants to know to whom it can safely hand it over. A nomination answers that for banks, insurers, provident funds, co-operative housing societies and numerous apartment associations, who can pay or transfer to the nominee and be discharged.

The nominee gets custody and not ownership. As a trustee, the nominee keeps the asset on behalf of those entitled under succession law, and the Supreme Court has applied that idea to different assets over some forty years.

Sarbati Devi (1983) is about a life insurance policy: the nominee drew the money, and the heirs' entitlement stayed untouched. Indrani Wahi (2016) involved a society flat, whose membership moves to the nominee without closing off the family's succession claim. Shakti Yezdani (2023) involved company shares and held that nomination cannot override succession.

The 2016 decision is the nearest to a flat purchase. It accepts a society entry recorded against the nominee as correct, while declining to treat it as an answer to who owns the flat.

Who inherits

Only two routes lead to ownership. A valid will passes the flat to whoever it names, and without one the legal heirs inherit under whichever succession law applied to the owner.

Under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, a Hindu man's Class I heirs share equally. They are his widow, mother, sons and daughters, and a predeceased child's children take that child's place. A Hindu woman's property goes first to her husband and children. The 1925 Succession Act governs Christians and Parsis, while Muslims are governed by personal law.

A nominee is frequently the spouse or a child, so the right to a share may come from heirship. The remaining heirs still hold their shares in the flat.

Records that show one name

After a death, many documents show only one name. The society register reveals the person the body accepts as member, and says nothing about other heirs.

Tax records, e-khata included, name the person assessed, yet title comes from deeds and succession. Utility bills reveal the payer of each connection, and keys reveal the occupant. The rights of heirs living elsewhere remain intact.

The registered sale deed stays in the dead owner's name. Whoever sells must bridge from that deed to themselves with a will or evidence of heirship, and transferring the khata to one heir on the basis of a family tree removes nobody else's share.

If a will exists

A nomination yields to a will. Request the original will, the death certificate and an assurance that no later will exists. A registered will inspires more confidence, although an unregistered one is just as valid.

Probate is the court's stamp of genuineness on a will, and it was never compulsory for wills on Karnataka property. Later, the 2025 Repealing and Amending Act, to which assent was given on 20 December 2025, removed the Indian Succession Act's section 213, the clause that had demanded probate in some cities.

Probate can still be requested if the will lacks registration, passes over a close relative or is contested. Another safeguard is to have the other natural heirs sign the deed as confirming parties, showing that they accept the will and claim nothing.

If there is no will

All legal heirs are co-owners from the day of death, so the buyer must fix the complete list and have each of them join the sale. In Karnataka the list is proved with several papers.

The owner's death certificate comes first, along with those of heirs who have since died. Then comes a vamshavruksha, the family tree certificate, from the revenue department through Nadakacheri, with identity and address proofs of each heir checked against the tree to back it. The heirs also swear a notarised affidavit that the list is complete.

A succession certificate is designed for money-type assets like deposits and shares, so a flat needs something else. Should the seller offer only that certificate, press for the family tree and the signatures. Where a court document is wanted for immovable property, families apply for letters of administration.

Closing the deal safely

With the heirs identified, there are two ways to sell. One is for every heir to sign as a seller and take a part of the price. The alternative is that all but one hand over their shares through a registered release deed, leaving the last heir to sell alone. A nominee may sell solo only if also the sole heir, or the sole beneficiary of a valid will.

Money should travel with ownership. If the nominee gets the whole price, the buyer is exposed when another heir says nothing was received. Each heir should therefore be paid by cheque or transfer pro rata, with the amounts written into the deed.

Particular facts add steps. Where an heir is a minor, the guardian must seek court permission to sell that share. An heir overseas should execute a power of attorney before the Indian consulate, to be adjudicated in Karnataka.

If a home loan is still running, the lender must issue a closure letter and release the original deeds ahead of registration. Where there was a second marriage, heirs from both families belong on the list.

The order of work matters, because each step must finish before the next starts:

Inspect the registered sale deed to find the name it carries.
Get the death certificate and enquire about a will.
Secure the family tree certificate, and then check each heir shown on it in person.
Let an advocate work out the shares under the correct law.
Make the balance payable only after every heir has signed or released.
Examine the encumbrance certificate for any deed an heir has already signed.
Pay heirs directly, with the deed registered only when all signatures are present.

Title proved this way also stands up to a bank's legal review, which helps with the buyer's loan and with resale. For a title review of an inherited flat before the advance, talk to our team.