The KinNest notebook · Plain guide

How to register a nominee — the one hour that saves your family months.

26 July 2026 · General guidance — always confirm with your bank or insurer

When something happens to a person, there are two very different roads for the family.

If a nominee is registered at the bank or insurer, the claim is a form, a death certificate and some ID — banks are expected to settle such claims in about 15 days. If no nominee is registered, the family usually has to prove who the legal heirs are, often with a succession certificate from a court. That road commonly takes 3 to 12 months, sometimes longer.

The one-line summary: registering a nominee costs nothing, takes minutes at each place, and is the single kindest paperwork you can do for your family.

Where to do it

Bank accounts and FDs

Ask your branch for the nomination form, or look in your net-banking or bank app under "Nomination" (usually inside Services or Profile). It is free. Do it for every account and every FD — nomination is per account, not per bank. A recent law change lets banks accept more than one nominee on deposits; ask your branch what they support today.

Where to do it

LIC and other insurance policies

The nominee is usually set when the policy is taken — but people forget to update it. Ask your agent or the branch to check who the nominee is on each policy, and to change it if it's out of date. It is free, and it matters most here: insurance money goes to the registered nominee first.

Where to do it

PF and pension

For EPF, log in to the EPFO member portal with your UAN and complete e-nomination — it is fully online and takes a few minutes. If you don't know your UAN, your employer's HR can tell you.

Where to do it

Mutual funds, demat and shares

Fund houses and brokers now require you to either add a nominee or clearly opt out. Check each platform — and remember funds bought directly from a fund company (HDFC, Franklin Templeton and others) are registered with that company's registrar (CAMS or KFintech), so check there too if you invested directly.

Keep it true

Check it once a year

A nomination done twenty years ago may name someone who has passed away, or miss someone who matters now. After any big life change — a marriage, a birth, a loss — spend one evening checking every nomination again.

One honest note: a nominee is the person the institution hands the money to — the law treats them as a caretaker for the legal heirs, not automatically the owner. Who finally inherits is decided by the will or succession law. Registering a nominee doesn't change who inherits; it changes how fast the family can act.

And after you've registered them — write down where each nomination stands, so your family knows which accounts have one and which don't. That's exactly the kind of note KinNest keeps for them.