Page 50 - Banking Finance December 2022

FEATURES

How family members or legal

heirs can trace deceased person's

assets

ome people are very organized about their deceased's PAN card as his legal heir. "This application will
S investments-they maintain records, specify most likely get rejected as there is no defined process for
re-issuance of a deceased's PAN card. If it is rejected, you
nominees, and even keep their families informed.
could possibly reach out to the courts in a writ jurisdiction
But there are many who spend much time
agonizing over where to invest, and also do not pass on the to issue a directive to the I-T authorities to re-issue the
information about their assets to their family members. deceased's PAN to the family members," says Sarguroh.
What happens when individuals die without giving their
families any clues about their investments? Are there ways Physical documents and IDs: One can begin by searching for
to unearth information about a deceased's investments? bank and other investment documents at home such as the
deceased's bank passbooks or cheque books, diaries with
Family members or legal heirs of a deceased can start by notes, or PAN card and bank locker keys-all of which can
searching for any physical documents, or get in touch with come in handy for tracing assets.
their chartered accountant (CA) or tax advisor, if any. Else,
"We have seen that even people who are relatively less
they can rely on the deceased's income tax return (ITR) or
organized, tend to collect all their disorganized material
Annual Information Statement(AIS). But, for these, one
(documents) in one place. This could be a drawer, box or
needs access to that person's mobile phone and PAN. If you
shelf, the one place where they put everything," says Vishal
do not have the PAN, is there a way out? According to
Dhawan, founder & CEO, Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors. Past
Nadiya Sarguroh, principal associate, MZM Legal, LLP one
bank statements can provide a mine of information on
way to do this could be to apply for re-issue of the
income, expenses and investments, including interest
income from deposits and dividends from shares. Gaining
access to the bank account, however, will depend on
whether the claimant is a nominee or not.
CA /tax advisor: Yet another crucial source of information
can be the deceased person's CA or tax advisor. "The CA is
likely to have lot more details about a person's investments.
He can give clues on bank accounts, the kind of incomes filed
in the income tax return (ITR), which, in turn, can be used
to trace investments made, "says, Nishant Agarwal, senior
managing partner, CFP - Advisory, ASK Private Wealth.

ITR: If the deceased person was filing returns on his own,
then the family members can try accessing the deceased
person's tax returns on the Income Tax (I-T) portal.

50 | 2022 | DECEMBER | BANKING FINANCE