How to access assets when breadwinner is incapacitated

livemint.com:

See graphic for details) If you have multiple movable and non-movable properties, you can consider creating a trust for better estate planning. In this case, the trust will be authorized to act on your behalf if something happens to you within specified conditions. One may wonder about the role of a nominee in case someone gets incapacitated.

In the existing scenario, a nominee has no role to play in it unless she has the PoA in her favour. Without a court guardianship certificate, nobody can access a living person’s assets. However, Sebi on 2 February released a consultation paper on nomination in which it has proposed to give more powers to nominees of incapacitated people, suggesting that they can act on behalf of the latter.

The suggestions are in the context of shares, bonds, units of mutual funds, real estate investment trusts (REITs), alternative investment funds (AIFs) and other securities held in dematerialized form. Sebi has suggested that in case of a single nominee of an incapacitated investor, she will be authorized to conduct transactions. In case of multiple nominees, the investor can specify which nominee will be authorized to conduct transactions.

If the incapacitated investor has the ‘capacity to contract’, then power of attorney or a mandate letter or authorization letter may be used. If the incapacitated person lacks the ‘capacity to contract’, a guardianship certificate from a court would be required. In both cases, a doctor’s certificate, in-person verification by the relevant depository or registrar, the thumb impression of the investor instead of her signature, and online login credentials will be needed.