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PART VI TESTAMENTARY SUCCESSION · CHAPTER III.—Of the Execution of unprivileged Wills

Section 63: Execution of unprivileged wills

The Indian Succession Act, 1925

Every testator, not being a soldier employed in an expedition or engaged in actual warfare, 1[or an airman so employed or engaged,] or a mariner at sea, shall execute his will according to the following rules:—

(a) The testator shall sign or shall affix his mark to the will, or it shall be signed by some other person in his presence and by his direction.

(b) The signature or mark of the testator, or the signature of the person signing for him, shall be so placed that it shall appear that it was intended thereby to give effect to the writing as a will.

(c) The will shall be attested by two or more witnesses, each of whom has seen the testator sign or affix his mark to the will or has seen some other person sign the will, in the presence and by the direction of the testator, or has received from the testator a personal acknowledgment of his signature or mark, or of the signature of such other person; and each of the witnesses shall sign the will in the presence of the testator, but it shall not be necessary that more than one witness be present at the same time, and no particular form of attestation shall be necessary.

Footnotes in the official text

  1. 1.Ins. by Act 10 of 1927, s. 2 and Sch. I (w.e.f. 4-4-1927).

Questions on this section

3 questions in 11 of our papers cite Section 63. Try these from the free papers:

  1. 1. Consider the following statements regarding execution of an unprivileged will under Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925: 1. The will must be attested by two or more witnesses. 2. Both attesting witnesses must be present together when the testator signs. 3. A witness who has received from the testator a personal acknowledgment of his signature may attest the will. 4. A particular form of attestation clause is mandatory. Which of the statements given above are correct?

  2. 2. To prove a will, the propounder examines only one of its two attesting witnesses, though the other is alive and available. The examined witness proves the testator's signature but does not depose that the other witness attested the will. The propounder relies on Section 70 of the BSA (proof by other evidence where the attesting witness denies or does not recollect execution). Following Janki Narayan Bhoir v. Narayan Namdeo Kadam (2003):