Unclaimed money in India does not usually belong to people who had nothing. It belongs to families who could not prove what they were owed, because a nomination was missing, outdated or spelt differently from the name on the claimant's documents.
Where nominations go stale
- Folios opened before a marriage, where the nominee is a parent who has since passed away
- Policies where the nominee's name is initialised on one document and written in full on another
- Demat accounts opened by a broker who left the field blank and nobody noticed
- Bank accounts and lockers, which are frequently the last to be checked
Nomination is not the same as inheritance
A nominee is a receiver, not necessarily an owner. Where a will or personal law directs otherwise, the nominee may hold the asset in trust for the legal heirs. This surprises families regularly, and it is one of the reasons a will and a nomination should say the same thing.
A practical afternoon's work
List every folio, policy, deposit and account the household holds. Against each, write the current nominee and the percentage. Where a field is blank or wrong, file the update. Keep the list somewhere a spouse or adult child can find it without needing a password nobody remembers.
It takes an afternoon. Families who skip it hand their children a multi-year problem instead of an asset.
