Indian-situs assets of an NRI in Saudi Arabia continue to be governed by Indian succession law -- the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 or the Indian Succession Act, 1925, depending on personal law -- regardless of Saudi residence. Saudi Arabia applies its own Sharia-based faraid rules to Saudi-situs assets, and separately drafted, jurisdiction-specific wills are the standard recommendation for NRIs holding assets in both countries.
Indian law still governs Indian-situs assets
Residence in Saudi Arabia does not change which Indian law applies to an NRI's assets located in
India. The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 governs intestate succession for Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and
Buddhists, while the Indian Succession Act, 1925 governs Christians, Parsis and other communities not
covered by a separate personal law; Muslims are separately governed by their own personal law for
succession in India. Immovable property in India is governed by Indian law by virtue of its location
(lex situs), irrespective of the NRI's country of residence at death, and Indian courts retain
jurisdiction to grant probate or letters of administration over that property regardless of where the
deceased was domiciled. Movable Indian assets -- bank deposits, demat holdings, mutual funds, and
insurance payouts -- are likewise administered under Indian succession law even where the claiming heir
applies from Saudi Arabia and needs supporting documents attested through the Indian Embassy in Riyadh
or a Consulate first.
Saudi Arabia's Sharia-based faraid system
Saudi inheritance law is explicitly religion-based: a person generally must share the deceased's
religion to inherit under the faraid framework. For Muslims, roughly two-thirds of the estate is
distributed among prescribed heirs in fixed shares, leaving about one-third freely disposable by will
(wasiyya). Non-Muslim expatriates are generally excluded from Saudi forced-heirship rules for their own
succession, but any Saudi-situs immovable property they hold is still governed by Saudi law by virtue
of its location -- creating real complexity for non-Muslim NRIs with Saudi assets, who should take
dedicated local advice rather than assume Indian will provisions automatically cover Saudi property.
Bank accounts and end-of-service benefits held in Saudi Arabia at death can also be frozen pending a
Saudi succession determination, so heirs should be prepared for a separate local process running
alongside any Indian probate proceeding.
No dedicated non-Muslim wills registry, and the standard planning advice
Unlike Dubai's DIFC Wills Service Centre, Saudi Arabia does not appear to maintain a comparable,
dedicated wills registry for non-Muslim expatriates; notarization is available through the Ministry of
Justice's notary framework, but this is document notarization rather than a succession-specific
registry. The standard, well-supported recommendation for NRIs is to execute separate wills for each
jurisdiction -- one for India-situs assets under Indian law, and separate Saudi-compliant advice for
any Saudi-situs assets -- ensuring the two wills do not inadvertently revoke one another. It is also
worth keeping an accessible, updated record of Saudi bank accounts, end-of-service entitlements, and
any property holdings for family members in India, since practical difficulty in locating and proving
entitlement to Saudi-held assets is often a bigger obstacle for NRI heirs than the underlying law
itself.
