Where should I keep the original will?

Somewhere your executor can reach without a court order. A bank locker the executor cannot open is a common trap. Registering the will or leaving it with a trusted lawyer, and telling the executor exactly where it is, works better.

How often should an estate plan be reviewed?

Once a year, and immediately after any marriage, divorce, birth, death, property transaction or move abroad.

Estate Planning Checklist for Indian Families (2026)

Eight categories, roughly forty line items. Work through them once and your family will never need to guess.

Estate planning in India fails less often for legal reasons than for informational ones. The family cannot find the policy, does not know the locker exists, or cannot log in to the demat account. This checklist is ordered by what causes the most damage when it is missing.

1. Identity and civil documents

Aadhaar, PAN, passport, voter ID — numbers and location of originals
Birth and marriage certificates
Death certificates of predeceased family members (needed for many claims)

2. Bank and investment accounts

Every savings and current account with bank, branch and account number
Fixed and recurring deposits with maturity dates
Demat and trading accounts with DP ID and client ID
Mutual fund folios, including old physical folios
PPF, EPF, NPS and small savings accounts
Current nominee on each of the above

3. Insurance

Life policies: insurer, policy number, sum assured, premium due date, nominee
Health policies including employer cover, and what happens to it after retirement or death
Motor and home policies
Whether premiums are on auto-debit, and from which account

4. Property and physical assets

Title deeds, sale agreements, society share certificates
Property tax receipts and electricity connection details
Bank locker — branch, locker number, who is the joint holder, where the key is
Gold and jewellery with an approximate inventory
Vehicles with RC and current loan status

5. Liabilities

Home, car, personal and education loans with lender and outstanding amount
Credit cards and any revolving balance
Informal loans given or taken within the family
Whether any loan carries its own insurance cover

6. Digital life

Primary email account — recovery for almost everything else runs through it
Banking and UPI app credentials, and where the 2FA device is
Cloud storage and photo archives
Domain names, subscriptions and any online business accounts
Cryptocurrency wallets and seed phrase location

7. Legal instruments

A valid will with two non-beneficiary witnesses
Executor named, with an alternate
Guardian named for minor children
Power of attorney if relevant, especially for NRIs
Location of the original will

8. The human layer

One person outside the household who knows the plan exists
Instructions for pets, rituals and funeral preferences
A short note to each family member — the part they will actually keep

Saarthi scores the same eight areas as five pillars and shows which line items are still missing, so the checklist stays live instead of becoming a one-time exercise.

Saarthi is a readiness and organization platform. It does not provide legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Any generated drafts, checklists, or recommendations should be reviewed with qualified professionals before use.

The estate planning checklist for Indian families