Can I add all my children as nominees for my bank accounts and locker, and do I still need a will?

For most ordinary families in India, basic estate planning starts at the local bank branch. However, until recently, families faced a frustrating, decades-old hurdle: the single-nominee limit.

If a parent wanted to divide their life savings or family gold kept in a bank locker among their children, they couldn’t do it in a single form. They were forced to open separate bank accounts or hire multiple safety lockers just to name different nominees. If they didn't, and the sole nominee passed away first, the family members had to run from pillar to post and face administrative delays to access the funds.

The Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025, which came into force on 1 November 2025, appears to be aimed at resolving this issue. It allows you to name up to four nominees for a single bank account or locker.

For savings and fixed deposit accounts, you can now choose between two simple ways to split your money. The first is simultaneous nomination, in which you name up to four people (e.g., your spouse and children) and write down exactly what percentage of the account balance each person should get. The second is successive nomination, where you list up to four people in order of priority. The bank will only hand the money to the second person if the first person passes away before you.

For lockers and physical items, only successive nomination is allowed because a bank cannot physically divide and distribute a gold necklace, property paper, or family heirloom. You must therefore list your nominees in sequence (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and so on) so that the bank has a single, clear person to hand the locker keys to.

The new framework makes it easier for individuals to plan for the transmission of their bank deposits, safe-custody articles and locker contents by permitting multiple nominations and providing mechanisms for simultaneous or successive nominations. However, the existence of a nomination should not be viewed as a substitute for a comprehensive succession plan or a will.

This distinction is particularly important where a person's intended beneficiaries and nominees are not the same. Section 45ZA(4) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, along with the corresponding provisions for safe custody and lockers, preserve the rights or claims that other persons may have against the person to whom the bank makes payment or delivery.

Individuals should use the new nomination facility to ensure that their bank assets can be smoothly accessed or dealt with after their death, while separately using a will or other appropriate succession-planning instrument to determine how those assets are to ultimately devolve. Nominations and testamentary succession should be reviewed together, particularly when family circumstances or intended beneficiaries change.

Aditya Chopra is a managing partner and Isiri Rajaneesh is an associate at The Victoriam Legalis (TVL).

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