Will cannot be cancelled for excluding legal heirs, says Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Thursday observed that a will cannot be declared invalid merely because the names of legal heirs have been excluded from it.

The court upheld a previous judgment delivered by the Karnataka High Court in the matter.

The case related to a woman named Sheena Nairi, who had executed a will transferring her property in favour of her sister.

Challenging the will, her wife and children had approached the court alleging that the document was fabricated.

After hearing the matter, the Supreme Court said exclusion of legal heirs alone cannot be a ground to treat a will as fake or invalid.

The court also noted that the will itself mentioned that sufficient assets had already been given to the children. Based on these observations, the court dismissed the case.