Privileged wills

Section 65 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 deals with privileged wills. Any soldier being employed in an expedition or engaged in actual warfare, [or an airman so employed or engaged,] or any mariner being at sea, may, if he has completed the age of eighteen years, dispose of his property by a will made in the manner provided in section 66. The Act came into force on 30 Sep 1925.

Any soldier being employed in an expedition or engaged in actual warfare, ¹[or an airman so employed or engaged,] or any mariner being at sea, may, if he has completed the age of eighteen years, dispose of his property by a will made in the manner provided in section 66. Such wills are called privileged wills.

Illustrations

(i) A, a medical officer attached to a regiment is actually employed in an expedition. He is a soldier actually employed in an expedition, and can make a privileged will.

(ii) A is at sea in a merchant-ship, of which he is the purser. He is a mariner, and, being at sea, can make a privileged will.

(iii) A, a soldier serving in the field against insurgents, is a soldier engaged in actual warfare, and as such can make a privileged will.

(iv) A, a mariner of a ship, in the course of a voyage, is temporarily on shore while she is lying in harbour. He is, for the purposes of this section, a mariner at sea, and can make a privileged will.

(v) A, an admiral who commands a naval force, but who lives on shore, and only occasionally goes on board his ship, is not considered as at sea, and cannot make a privleged will.

(vi) A, a mariner serving on a military expedition, but not being at sea, is considered as a soldier, and can make a privileged will.

Section 65, The Indian Succession Act, 1925 (Act 39 of 1925).