Succession certificate (NADRA): for property and bank accounts

A succession certificate lets the legal heirs of someone who has died claim their bank balances and other assets. In Pakistan you get it from NADRA, not a court, unless the case is disputed. NADRA’s fee is Rs 20,000 when the assets are worth Rs 1 lakh or more and Rs 10,000 below that, as of April 2026. NADRA publishes a notice, waits 14 days for objections, takes every heir’s biometrics, then issues the certificate with each heir’s share.

NADRA has done this since January 2021, under a federal Act for Islamabad and separate provincial Acts. The law says a NADRA certificate has the same effect as one a court issues under the Succession Act 1925.

Succession certificate vs letter of administration: which one do you need?

NADRA issues two documents. The process, documents and fee are the same for both.

The application asks for details of both the movable and the immovable property. The certificate names every legal heir and each heir’s share under their personal law.

Who can apply, and where?

Any legal heir can apply. One heir can apply for all of them if the others sign an authorisation. NADRA’s rules say:

• the deceased and all the heirs must be Pakistani citizens
• the assets must be in Pakistan
• one heir must apply in person; in Sindh and Balochistan the application goes through a lawyer

Since August 2025 you can apply at any of NADRA’s 186 Succession Facilitation Units (SFUs), in Islamabad, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan. Before that, you had to apply in the province where the property was, APP reported on 5 August 2025.

What documents do I need for a NADRA succession certificate?

NADRA’s page (April 2026) lists six:

1. the death certificate of the deceased
2. a CNIC cancellation certificate issued by NADRA for the deceased
3. the Family Registration Certificate (FRC), NADRA’s record of the family
4. a list of the legal heirs, with copies of their CNICs
5. details of the movable and immovable property (bank accounts, plots, houses)
6. a letter of authorisation or affidavit from the heirs, attested by an Oath Commissioner

NADRA checks the list of heirs against the FRC, so the FRC should list the whole family. NADRA warns that fake information or forged papers can lead to prosecution under section 30 of the NADRA Ordinance 2000.

How does the NADRA succession certificate process work?

The steps below follow the Punjab Act. The federal Act for Islamabad has the same 14-day notice and biometric steps.

NADRA gives the processing time as 14 days after publication. Sindh’s Act adds that the certificate must be issued within 14 days after the notice period ends. NADRA also offers an amendment (for an office mistake), a reprint and a “decline certificate”.

How much is the succession certificate fee?

NADRA’s website blocked our fetch on 13 October 2026, so these figures come from the archived copy of its page dated 8 April 2026. NADRA’s page doesn’t say when the extra Rs 2,000 applies.

When does a succession case go to court instead of NADRA?

NADRA declines the application when there is a “factual controversy”. The Acts define it as:

• an objection by a legal heir, or by anyone claiming to be one
• a dispute about an heir’s identity that NADRA can’t resolve
• any matter that needs evidence
• in Islamabad and Punjab, at least one heir who is a minor

You then file afresh in court under the Succession Act 1925. In Punjab, no court can take the case until NADRA has declined it.

Sindh changed its law on 31 December 2025. A minor heir no longer sends the case to court there. Instead, the certificate takes effect for the minor’s share only after a court issues a guardianship certificate under the Guardians and Wards Act 1890.

If someone objects after NADRA has issued a certificate, the Punjab Act lets them use any other legal remedy. Sindh gives them 30 days to go to court.

The court route is slower. When NADRA started in 2021, Dawn reported that court cases had taken three to six months, and sometimes up to five years. We couldn’t find an official court-fee schedule for a court succession certificate.

Do I need a succession certificate for a bank account?

The one written SBP rule we found covers deposits that have gone unclaimed long enough for the bank to hand them over to SBP:

• Rs 1 lakh or less: the bank can claim the money from SBP for the heirs without a succession certificate. All heirs sign an indemnity bond on stamp paper, with two personal guarantees, their CNIC copies and the death certificate.
• Above Rs 1 lakh: the bank still asks for a succession certificate.

This rule dates from SBP’s circular of 7 February 2012; we read it through the Internet Archive because SBP’s site blocks automated fetches. For an account the bank still holds, ask the branch what it needs in writing. A NADRA certificate has the same legal effect as a court one.

How do I transfer inherited land in Punjab?

Land on Punjab’s revenue record moves to the heirs through an inheritance mutation. Under Punjab’s digital land record system, heirs submit their NADRA FRC to confirm how many heirs there are, and every heir comes to the Arazi Service Centre for biometric verification, a LUMS research centre explains.

Punjab Police’s guidance on women’s inheritance rights adds:

• the CNIC and Form B of the deceased and of every heir, including women, must be shown to the revenue officer
• after the mutation is sanctioned, the land must be partitioned; if heirs don’t agree within 30 days, the revenue officer divides it
• the revenue officer must decide the inheritance case within 6 months
• the mutation registration fee is abolished for land inherited by women

For other mutations, PLRA’s service fee is Rs 1,200 for an ordinary mutation and Rs 11,200 for express in FY2026-27, Profit reported on 14 July 2026. That report doesn’t say whether these fees apply to inheritance cases. You can check the fard online first to see whose name the land is in.

We haven’t checked what housing societies and development authorities ask heirs for. Ask the society’s transfer office which NADRA document it accepts, and see property transfer in Punjab for the general steps.

Can overseas Pakistanis get a succession certificate?

Yes. Pakistan’s consulate in Birmingham says the application must be started in Pakistan, so one heir there (or a lawyer in Sindh and Balochistan) applies. Heirs abroad then give their biometric verification on NADRA’s Pak ID app, and the Acts allow verification at any NADRA office in Pakistan or abroad. If you will keep or sell the inherited property from abroad, see our guide to property for overseas Pakistanis.

After the certificate, check what selling the property would cost in tax on property sale. If the deceased owned a car, see vehicle transfer in Punjab.

More guides: property tax in Punjab, life insurance in Pakistan, Property.