Upto 5 lakhs banks are empowered to release the sum on a simple indemnity bond. Else, the succession certificate has to be applied for by all legal heirs giving details of all assets in single name of the deceased person.- bank balances, demat balances, properties, FDRs and so on. Court fee is a percentage of the value of assets which can be hefty. There is no escape from this painful, time consuming and laborious process. If there is dispute among the heirs things can get further complicated.
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This is where HUF can be of great help provided assets had been pooled into HUF. Then there are no issues. Ladies were permitted to be conparceners in 2015, in today's paper one of the HCs has allowed ladies to be Karta as well, further simplifying the estate management.