Hiding assests, bank accounts fixed deposit and property documents

Dear client, withholding of assets, bank accounts, fixed deposits, shares, etc., of your father, without legal heirs, is quite a serious legal offence, as as a Legal Heir you have a right to an equal share in everything. The first step would be to get a Legal Heir Certificate / Succession Certificate from the civil court. This would establish your name legally as a lawful heir/heir of succession and banks, share registrars, etc., would be compelled to deal with you and not the siblings/other assumed legal heirs of the dead. For the bank account in which a name is listed as the nominee, the bank is legally bound to release the money in your name on receipt of a death certificate/identity document, excuse any pretext/refusal that you have not received the share certificate of assets, serve the bank a formal written notice and lodge a complaint with the Banking Ombudsman the same day. To find out all the undisclosed or furtive assets, you have to file a suitable application at the civil court for the court directed accounting of the whole of father's estate this will legally oblige your brothers and sisters to disclose all assets and then, if necessary, file a suitable application at the registrar of companies and NSDL/CDSL depository to track his shares using his PAN number and it will disclose all his demat holdings irrespective of what your brothers and sisters tell you. Now to get the 2016 property proceeds, you have to file a civil suit for accounts and partition if your brothers and sisters don't provide proper accounting, etc, and the courts keep issuing discovery orders against them in such circumstances, constrained discovery orders mean proper full disclosure of all assets/losses, etc.

I hope this helps, and if you have any further issues, do not hesitate to contact us.
 

Dear Client, 

In case your father died intestate, i.e., without making a will, all the heirs have an equal right to their share in the property, and no heir can keep any asset secret or make use of the money from the estate just for himself. Initially, you need to secure the death certificate and inheritance papers of your father, and then you need to approach banks, depositories, mutual funds, companies, and other financial institutions, asking them about accounts and investments made by your father. As for the stocks, if original stock certificates are not available or not forthcoming, the concerned company might have some policy of transferring shares and issuing duplicate stock certificates. In case there is evidence of siblings having withheld assets or misappropriated money, you can take the matter to a court of law, and initiate succession, partition or other kind of legal action against them to get hold of estate assets.

I hope this helps and if you have any further issues do not hesitate to contact us.