Heirs Living Abroad Cannot Be Turned Away for Lack of a Local Address, Kerala High Court Tells a Village Officer

On 6 October 2026 the Kerala High Court directed the village officer at Sasthamangalam, Thiruvananthapuram, to accept legal heir certificate applications from two sisters, one living in Britain and one in France. The officer had refused to receive the applications at all because the sisters had no local address. The court said the application must be accepted through their counsel or a power of attorney holder and dealt with within 30 days.

The case

The judgment is WP(C) No. 17449 of 2026, Mrs Samantha Legg née Iyer and Mrs Vidyadevi Krishnan née Iyer v. The State of Kerala and the Village Officer, Sasthamangalam, neutral citation 2026:KER:76999. Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan heard it alone. The petition came up for admission on 6 October 2026 and the court delivered judgment the same day. The final judgment was uploaded on 8 October 2026.

What happened

The petitioners are the daughters and sole legal heirs of their parents, "Indian nationals who had been residing in France until their demise in 2024" (para 2). Both death certificates were issued by the Embassy of India in Paris on 24 September 2024 (appendix, Exhibits P1 and P2).

After their parents died, the sisters tried to file applications for legal heir certificates with the village officer. The officer "refused even to receive the applications on the ground that the petitioners did not possess a local address within the jurisdiction" (para 2).

The court recorded it as "an admitted fact" that one sister now lives in Britain and the other in France, and that their parents own property at Sasthamangalam under a sale deed (para 4). The appendix dates that sale deed 3 March 2003. According to the sisters, their parents also had fixed deposits (para 6).

What the court held

The court relied on its earlier ruling in Baby Kurian v. District Collector, Kottayam [2026 KHC OnLine 829] (para 5). That ruling noted there is no codified law on legal heir certificates, and read paragraph 213 of the Village Office Manual in the Kerala Land Revenue Manual (2019), Volume VI. Paragraph 213 says the usual rule that an applicant must be an Indian citizen does not apply to people "who have roots in India", who can apply to the village officer where they last stayed or to the Tahsildar. Foreigners who own land in India can apply for certificates about that land where the land is situated. Baby Kurian held that rejecting an application because the applicant lives in the USA was incorrect (para 5).

Applying that, the court found that "the petitioners and their parents have roots in India and that they have properties" (para 6), and that the application must be considered on merit. It directed the village officer "to accept the application submitted by the petitioners, either through their counsel or through the Power of attorney" (para 6(i)), and to act in accordance with law within 30 days from receiving a copy of the judgment, in the light of Baby Kurian.

The judgment refers at one point to "the petitioners status as an Overseas Citizen of India" (para 6). It does not record the sisters' citizenship anywhere else, and that wording follows the Baby Kurian extract. We describe them by where they live.

Why it matters if you inherit in Kerala from abroad

A legal heir certificate is often the first paper an heir needs before a bank, a mutation or a sale. This judgment says a village officer in Kerala cannot refuse to receive the application only because the heirs live overseas and have no local address, and it names two ways to file: through counsel or through a power of attorney holder.

The order does not decide who the heirs are or direct that a certificate be issued. It sends the application back to the officer to be decided on merit.

This is a report of one judgment, not legal advice. When you need a legal heir certificate and when you need a succession certificate is in our guide on succession versus legal heir certificates for NRIs. Updating the property record after that is in khata and mutation for a remote owner. Our earlier report covers a Kerala High Court ruling on powers of attorney executed abroad.

FAQ

Why did the village officer refuse the applications? Because the sisters did not have a local address within the village's jurisdiction. The officer would not receive the applications at all.

What did the High Court order? The village officer must accept the application through the sisters' counsel or a power of attorney holder and act on it in accordance with law within 30 days of receiving a copy of the judgment.

Which rule did the court rely on? Paragraph 213 of the Village Office Manual in the Kerala Land Revenue Manual (2019), Volume VI, as read in Baby Kurian v. District Collector, Kottayam. It lets people with roots in India apply for certificates even if they are not Indian citizens.

Did the court issue the legal heir certificate? No. It directed the officer to receive the application and decide it on merit.

Where were the parents living when they died? In France. The judgment describes them as Indian nationals who had been residing in France until their deaths in 2024.

66 MG Road newsdesk

Sources

• High Court of Kerala, Mrs Samantha Legg née Iyer and another v. State of Kerala and another, WP(C) No. 17449 of 2026, 2026:KER:76999, judgment of 6 October 2026, full text: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/115050914/