How long does it take to get a deceased person's money released?
With a registered nominee and a complete file: two to four weeks, and the Reserve Bank expects banks to settle within fifteen days of receiving everything. Without a nominee but below the institution's limit: four to twelve weeks. Where a succession certificate is needed: six months to a year, most of it waiting on the court. Almost every delay beyond these traces back to an incomplete first submission.
The three timelines
Nominee: the quick route. Death certificate, nominee KYC, the claim form. Banks are directed to settle within fifteen days of complete documents; insurers within thirty. Two to four weeks is realistic once the file is in.
No nominee, modest balance: affidavit, NOCs, indemnity bond. The branch forwards it to a regional centre, which checks it and comes back with queries. Four to twelve weeks, and longer if anything is missing.
Succession certificate: a civil court petition, a public notice with a waiting period of typically forty-five days, then the order. Six months is a good outcome; a year is common; a contested petition takes longer.
What actually causes delays
An incomplete first submission is the overwhelming cause. The branch accepts the file, it travels to processing, and weeks later it returns with one document missing — a name mismatch, an NOC from an heir nobody mentioned, the wrong stamp value. Each round trip costs three weeks.
The second cause is doing institutions one at a time. Each runs its own process, so submit to all of them in parallel: the bank, the fund house, the insurer and the provident fund office can all be working at once.
Find out what your case needs
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Related
Last reviewed 2026-08-31. This is general information, not legal advice. Institution requirements change — confirm before you file.