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Want to protect the interests of your spouse, children and parents after you die? Leave a will specifying the amount of your statutory savings and other assets that should be given to your spouse and parents.

Don’t think that a nomination would get your spouse or parents their share. For, a nomineeis merely a hand that receives the assets which have to be divided under the Hindu Succession Act.,1956.

Mother is in the category of a class I heir, along with wife and children. It must not be misunderstood that spouse and children are the natural guardians. The share of assets going to the mother from the deceasedhusband’s estate is her right and she can appropriate itor distribute among her other children.

Similarly, after the death of a wife, her assets and savings are open for distribution under the Act. Her own mother replaces the mother-in-law. And her children and spouse would have to be content with the division.

But a will could change the scenario altogether.Bank officer Shyamal Sengupta had made his mother a nominee when he was a bachelor. After his death, his widow Shipra got a shared succession certificate with her mother-in-law as they had an equal share in Shyamal’s estate, including general provident fund, PPF and other savings.

Then Shipra’s mother-in-law died and left a will favouring her other son, or Shipra’s brother-in-law. He laid claim on his brother’s other assets and got it too.

Lawyer Manoj Goel says the Hindu Succession Act should be amended to protect women like Shipra. While Shyamal had not intended that his mother and wife should suffer after his death. But after his mother died, Shyamal’s share went to people who weren’t entitled to it while his wife was left with nothing.

“Every working person must leave a will that specify who gets what to clear all the confusion,” says Goel. These properties are liable to be shared by the respective parents and after them, their other children.