Can there be a wrong nominee for your investments, financial assets? – ​Who is the right nominee and who isn’t? | The Economic Times

Clipped from: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/legal/will/can-there-be-a-wrong-nominee-for-your-investments-financial-assets/who-is-the-right-nominee-and-who-isnt/slideshow/87205515.cms

2/7

​When nominee and actual heir are different

Sometimes the person one nominates to receive money from his/her fixed deposit is not the same as the person to whom one bequeaths the same FD in the will. In most cases, after the holder’s demise, the bank will transfer the FD money to the nominee mentioned in the FD form when the FD is not jointly held. If jointly owned/held and the first holder too passes away, then to whom the asset is transferred will depend on the mode of operation of that asset.

Also read: Shares, FDs, property, mutual funds: If 1st holder dies will joint holder get money or nominee?

Supreme Court states that a nominee is merely a custodian of the asset/money, and the actual heir to the FD is the person clarified in the will. If the two persons are different then the actual heir will have to claim the money from the nominee. This can lead to legal wrangles if the nominee does not want to part with the asset/money received, aggravted further by the cost of legal battles in India.