Simple will template with signing and witness steps
Fill in your family, your property and who should receive it to get a draft of a basic will, with the steps for signing it in front of two witnesses. This template is for simple estates, and each person makes a separate will. Please read the list of who it does not suit before you start.
This is general information, not legal advice for your situation. What you type stays in your browser unless you choose to send it to an advocate.
Step 1: check that this template suits you
Tick anything that applies to you.
Step 2: your draft will
Gift 1
Gift 2
Gift 3
Signing, witnesses and who this does not suit
Who this template does not suit
- Muslims. Muslim personal law applies, with limits on what a will can give.
- Complex estates. Businesses, company stakes, partnerships, joint family property or trusts need careful drafting. You can give only what you could have transferred in your lifetime.
- Property abroad. The law of another country may decide how that property passes.
- Disputes expected. This includes leaving out a spouse or child, a second marriage, or a family that is already in disagreement.
- Minors or dependants needing care. Guardianship and long-term arrangements need advice.
For a couple
A couple should make separate wills unless an advocate advises otherwise. Each person gives only what they own. For a flat in joint names, each deals with their own share, and the title papers need checking. Many couples name each other first and their children as the second choice, using the gift boxes above. Each will has its own signing and witnesses.
How to sign it
- Read the final text aloud to yourself, then print it. Avoid handwritten changes after printing.
- Choose two adult witnesses you trust. Do not choose anyone who receives something under the will, or their spouse. Pick people likely to be available later.
- Sit together. Sign at the end and initial each page, while both witnesses watch.
- Each witness then signs in your presence and adds a full name and address. The law does not require both to be present at once, but it makes the signing easier to prove.
- Add the date. If your age or health might be questioned later, ask an advocate whether a doctor’s certificate from the same day would help.
- Keep the original in a safe place, and tell your executor where it is.
After signing
- Registration: it is not compulsory. You can choose to register a will, which some people do so that the office holds a record.
- Changes: make a new will, or a codicil signed and witnessed in the same way. Do not write on the signed original.
- Nominations: a society or bank nomination is not a will. The Bombay High Court has been reported as holding that a housing society nominee holds the flat for the real owners, and that succession follows personal law.
- Probate: since Section 213 was omitted in December 2025, probate is no longer required by that section for wills in Mumbai. It remains available, and a society may still ask for it under its bye-laws. Ask an advocate what your family would need.
Our pages on will drafting and probate and inheritance without a will explain more.
Common questions
How many witnesses does a will need in India?
Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 requires two or more witnesses. Each must see you sign, or receive your personal acknowledgement of your signature, and must sign in your presence. Both need not be present at once, though having them together makes it easier to prove later.
Can a person who receives something under the will be a witness?
Please avoid it. Under Section 67, a gift to an attesting witness or the witness's spouse is void, though the will itself survives. Schedule III does not list this section for wills by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains, but a benefiting witness can still invite questions later.
Does a will have to be registered in India?
No. Registering a will is not compulsory, and a will that meets Section 63 can be valid without it. No stamp duty is reported as payable on a will. Some people choose to register because the office keeps a record. Ask an advocate whether it suits your family.
Is probate still needed for a will in Mumbai?
The Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 omitted Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, which had made probate necessary for certain wills in Mumbai. The Act received assent on 20 December 2025. Probate is still available, and a society may still ask for it, so take advice.
Should a husband and wife make one joint will?
A couple should make separate wills unless an advocate advises otherwise. With separate wills, each person deals only with what they own and can change it without the other. Each will needs its own signing and two witnesses. A joint will can raise harder questions after the first death.
Can a Muslim use this will template?
No. The will rules in Part VI of the Indian Succession Act do not apply to Muslims, under Section 58. Muslim personal law, as reported, generally limits a will to one third of the estate without the heirs' consent. A Supreme Court challenge to this limit was pending when last checked.
- Indian Succession Act, 1925, Sections 57 to 70 and Schedule III, copy on the Telangana High Court website (Section 213 in this copy has since been omitted)
- Repealing and Amending Act, 2025, Second Schedule, Gazette copy on PRS India
- LiveLaw report on the Supreme Court plea about the one-third limit, 18 August 2025
- Free Press Journal analysis on probate and housing societies
- BCA Journal, Registration of Wills, October 2018
- BCA Journal, report of a Bombay High Court ruling on nominees, June 2009