How to Claim a Bank Account After a Death in India: Full Process

When someone dies in India, the money in their bank accounts does not freeze forever, but it also does not move on its own. Someone has to make a claim, and how hard that is depends almost entirely on one thing the depositor set up years earlier: whether the account had a nominee or a surviving joint holder.

The Reserve Bank of India's 2025 directions on settling the claims of deceased customers are built around that split. Where there is a nominee, or a joint account with a survivorship clause, banks are asked to release the balance quickly and with light paperwork. Where there is neither, the family has to prove who inherits, and that is the slower road — and it is the part this guide spends the most time on, because it is where families actually get stuck.

Every claim starts with the same core documents: the bank's own claim form, the original death certificate issued by the municipal authority, and identity and address proof (KYC) for the person claiming. The bank keeps certified copies and returns the originals.

Beyond that, the paperwork depends on the account. A savings or current account, a fixed or recurring deposit, and a safe deposit locker are each settled under their own part of the same RBI directions, so the specific list of what is asked for is not identical across them even when the same person is claiming all three.

Ask the branch for its current claim checklist for your exact situation rather than assuming, because the requirements differ by account type and are exactly where families lose weeks by bringing the wrong papers twice.

A nomination is the fast path. The RBI's directions ask banks to pay the nominee on a valid claim without insisting on a succession certificate, probate, letter of administration or an indemnity bond — and to do so whatever the balance is.

Since 1 November 2025, the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025 also lets a depositor name up to four nominees on deposits, lockers and safe custody articles, either simultaneously — with a stated percentage share for each, adding to a hundred — or successively, where the next nominee only becomes operative if the one before them has died. If the account you are claiming against was opened or updated after that date, check which of the two models the depositor chose, because it changes who the bank pays and in what order.

Whichever model applies, a nominee typically receives the money as a trustee for the legal heirs, not automatically as its owner — who ultimately keeps it is settled by a will or by succession, not by the nomination form.

A joint account with an 'either or survivor' or 'former or survivor' mandate behaves like the nominee case: the surviving holder can usually have the account continued in their own name, or the balance paid out, simply on producing the death certificate — no succession certificate needed for that holder's access to the funds.

A joint account without a survivorship mandate — one that reads 'jointly' and required every holder's signature to operate — is different. There, the deceased holder's share does not automatically pass to the survivor; it falls into their estate, and the surviving holder generally needs the same nominee-or-heir documentation as a sole account would, for that share specifically.

So the wording on the account matters as much as the fact that it is joint. If you are not sure which mandate an account carries, ask the branch to read it back to you before assuming either way.

This is where it gets slower, because the bank now needs to know who is legally entitled rather than simply who was named. The RBI's 2025 directions set a threshold for a simplified route even here: for claims up to ₹15 lakh at a commercial bank, or ₹5 lakh at a co-operative bank, the bank can settle on a claim form, the death certificate, identity proof, an indemnity bond, and a no-objection or heirship declaration from the other legal heirs — without requiring a court document at all.

Individual banks are free to run an even simpler process for smaller amounts under their own board-approved policy, so the practical limit at your branch may sit below the RBI ceiling. Ask what the branch's own threshold is before assuming the full ₹15 lakh applies everywhere.

Above the ₹15 lakh (or ₹5 lakh co-operative) ceiling, or above whatever lower limit the specific bank has set, the directions expect a legal document that establishes the heirs — a succession certificate from a civil court for the deceased's debts and securities, a legal heir certificate from the local revenue authority, or a probate or letter of administration where a will exists. Our guide on the succession certificate walks through which of those applies and how long each takes.

This is also the point at which it is worth checking the exact figure with the bank rather than this guide: an individual bank's own claims policy can set a lower ceiling than the RBI's, and that internal number is set by each bank's board and is not published in one place — [verify: your bank's own indemnity threshold below the RBI ceiling — ask the branch or check the bank's deceased-claims policy page before assuming the full limit applies].

Where a nominee or a surviving joint holder is claiming, the RBI's 2025 directions require the bank to settle a complete claim — deposits, or a locker inventory — within fifteen calendar days of receiving every document it asked for. That is the number to hold the branch to if a straightforward claim is dragging.

Where the claim needs a succession certificate or similar, the timeline moves outside the bank entirely and into the court described in the next guide, which typically runs to several months rather than days. Because these directions only became binding on banks by 31 March 2026, a claim made just before that date is worth double-checking against the bank's own updated policy if the branch still seems to be working from an older process.

The recurring failures are mundane: a nomination never made, or left out of date in a maiden name; a death certificate not yet issued because the registration step was missed; KYC that does not match across the bank's records; and families assuming every account of the deceased works the same way when a savings account, a fixed deposit and a locker each have their own rules and, sometimes, their own survivorship wording.

The fix for almost all of it is done while the account holder is alive — keep nominations current, keep a record of which institution holds what and under what mandate, and tell the people you have named. An unannounced claim on a dead relative's account looks, to the person on the counter, a lot like fraud, and clearing that impression up costs the family time it does not have to spare.

It also helps to know that different products at the same bank can move at different speeds even within one claim: a savings account nomination might clear in a week, while the locker attached to the same customer, held under a separate nomination or none at all, takes longer because a locker claim under the RBI's directions also involves scheduling an inventory of its contents in the presence of witnesses. Do not assume that because one part of the claim has settled, the rest is automatically close behind.