Conditional or contingent Will
A will that takes effect only if a stated condition or contingency occurs — if the condition fails, the will has no legal force, and probate cannot be granted on it.
In plain language
Most wills simply take effect on death. A conditional or contingent will adds a trigger: it is written to take effect only if some stated condition or contingency happens.
If that contingency never happens, or the condition fails, the will is not legally enforceable and cannot go to probate. And if the condition itself is invalid or against the law, the whole will is treated as invalid — a bad condition cannot be quietly ignored while the rest of the will stands.
How it works
The workbook's definition has two working parts:
- Trigger. The will is expressed to take effect only on the happening of a specified contingency or condition — for instance, "this will takes effect only if I die during my upcoming overseas posting."
- Failure. If the contingency does not happen, or the condition is not met, the document has no legal force, and cannot be admitted to probate as a valid will.
There is a third rule buried in the definition that examiners like to test: an invalid or unlawful condition does not simply get struck out while the rest of the will survives — the workbook states that in that case the will is deemed to be invalid. This is a harsher outcome than many candidates expect, and it is exactly the kind of drafting trap the chapter is warning against.
A worked example
Illustrative figures — the workbook describes the concept without rupee values, so these numbers are for illustration.
Mr Bhardwaj, before a six-month posting to an offshore oil rig, writes a will stating it will take effect "only if I die during this offshore posting." The will names his fiancée as the sole beneficiary of his estate — a flat worth Rs 90,00,000 and bank deposits of Rs 20,00,000, a total of Rs 1,10,00,000 — bypassing his parents, who would otherwise inherit under intestate succession. He returns home safely after the posting ends, and dies of natural causes four years later without ever revising the document.
Because the stated contingency — dying during the offshore posting — never occurred, the will has no legal effect at his actual death, and his Rs 1,10,00,000 estate is distributed as though he had left no will at all, under the ordinary intestate succession rules — to his parents, not the fiancée the never-triggered will had named.
Had Mr Bhardwaj instead written a condition that was itself unlawful — say, one that tried to disinherit a legal heir in a way the law does not permit — the workbook's rule is that the entire will, not just that clause, would be treated as invalid.
Why NISM asks about it
Chapter 15 (Tools for Estate Planning), section 15.2.2, defines conditional or contingent will as the first of six named will types. Expect a scenario question where a stated contingency does not occur, testing whether the candidate correctly concludes the will has no effect, and a conceptual question on the consequence of an unlawful condition.
Common exam traps
- If the contingency never happens, the will is void — not merely suspended or reinterpreted.
- An unlawful condition invalidates the whole will, not just the offending clause — a common wrong answer treats it as severable.
- This is different from a will that is simply silent on timing — an ordinary will takes effect on death regardless of circumstance; a conditional will is deliberately drafted to depend on one.
Where this is taught
Free preparation for NISM Series X-BRelated terms
- CodicilA supplementary document that explains, alters or adds to a Will and is read as part of it — executed and attested exactly like the Will itself.
- Concurrent WillTwo separate wills written by the same testator — typically one for property in each of two countries — treated as independent, though both must go to probate together if they are related.
- WasiyatA will under Muslim law — valid in writing, orally or by gesture, made by a person of sound mind aged 15 or above, but limited to one-third of net assets, the rest passing to heirs.
- Duplicate WillA signed, attested second copy of a Will that the testator keeps for themselves while the executor or trustee holds the original — destroying either copy revokes both.
- Mutual WillTwo testators leaving each other reciprocal benefits in their wills, valid only where the same two people are, for each other, both testator and legatee.
- Privileged WillA Will that a soldier engaged in actual warfare, an airman similarly engaged, or a mariner at sea may pronounce orally before 2 witnesses present at the same time, dispensing with the usual writing requirement.
- Holograph WillA will written entirely in the testator's own handwriting — the workbook treats this as good evidence of a genuine will, distinct from a typed will or one drafted by someone else.
- Joint WillA Will made by two or more persons, valid in Indian law, recognised as two Wills and intended to take effect after the death of both testators, with each testator disposing of property as an individual Will.
- Sham WillA document executed with all the formalities of a Will but without any intention of testamentary operation — it is a nullity, because intention is the primary characteristic of a valid Will.