Originally Posted by
oliver2002
Having a PIO and later OCI card made things super easy when I had to take care of things after my mother died. Having a passport like document with an ashok stambh on it makes life in many places much easier
Agree 100% - this was my experience as well after my father died.
Originally Posted by
desi
Agree with you that it could help. But in theory that does not add any legal value. Your foreign passport should be enough. You dont even need PAN ID from what I have been told.
Technically it may be the case that you can take care of your deceased parents' finances, etc., without any extra documentation. However, there is some actual legal value to the OCI status because OCIs are categorized along with NRIs for the purposes of financial transactions (banking, stocks, etc.) and so it makes things smooth because - in the eyes of the Indian bureaucracy at every level - there is a standard, well-understood path for you through the paperwork as the banks and other institutions have dealt with OCIs (and NRIs) a lot. E.g., the rules around transfer of shares or opening bank accounts or who can be a joint account-holder, etc., all treat NRIs and OCIs on par, and while it may not be on par with residents, at least it does get a mention, whereas it is hard to find the rules on what applies to you if you are in the country on a tourist visa. What is to be done with a complete foreigner covered by neither the "resident" rules nor the "NRI" rules is something that will almost certainly stump your typical bank office-worker, even if technically there are ways out of the maze.
Originally Posted by
desi
A standard advice that has been given from people in the know currently is that empty back acounts to bare minimum balance through joint account holder or using presigned fully made out but undated checks or ATM card before disclosing parent's death to the bank (this is for simple estates, complicated estates can afford to hire local attorney)
Yes, agreed, that certainly avoids suffering any delays inherent in the process of closing out accounts.