A nominee is not an heir
This is the single most widely misunderstood point in Indian personal finance, and it causes more family disputes than any other.
A nominee is the person the registrar is authorised to hand the units to. In most cases the nominee receives them as a trustee for the legal heirs — not as the owner. Who finally inherits is decided by your will, or in its absence by the succession law that applies to you.
Where the nomination and the will say different things, the family ends up in court. Both documents should exist, and both should say the same thing.
What transmission actually involves
Transmission is the process of moving units from a deceased holder to the claimant. With a nomination registered, it is usually straightforward:
- The prescribed transmission request form.
- The original or attested death certificate.
- The claimant's KYC, bank details and a cancelled cheque.
Without a nomination the requirement escalates quickly — an indemnity bond, affidavits from other heirs, and above a threshold set by the AMC, a succession certificate or probated will. That last route runs through the courts and routinely takes a year or more.
The three mistakes that cost the most time
- No nomination at all. Still the commonest, and the most expensive in both time and legal cost.
- A stale nomination. Registered decades ago and never revisited after a marriage, a birth or a bereavement.
- Nobody knows the investments exist. Folios nobody can find are the reason unclaimed amounts sit with AMCs for years.
A single sheet listing every folio, policy and account — kept where your family can find it — solves the third problem entirely, and costs nothing.
Gifting units while you are alive
Mutual fund units cannot simply be transferred between living people the way shares can. In practice, gifting means redeeming and investing afresh in the recipient's name — which is a taxable event in your hands.
Gifts to specified relatives are generally not taxed in the recipient's hands, but the capital gain on your redemption still applies to you, and clubbing provisions may apply where the recipient is a spouse or a minor child. Worth checking before, not after.
What to do this month
- Check the nomination on every folio, and on your bank accounts, demat account, insurance policies and provident fund.
- Make sure your will and your nominations agree with each other.
- Write the one-page list of what exists and where. Tell someone where it is.
We help clients get nominations in order as part of the annual review. If you are not sure what is currently registered against your folios, ask and we will check.