Ratan Tata's will: What's the 'no-contest clause' in Rs 3,900 crore estate and who gets what

Ratan Tata, the pioneer industrialist, who passed away in October last year bequeathed a significant portion of his Rs 3,900 estate to Ratan Tata Endowment Trust and Ratan Tata Endowment Foundation, the will documents show.

According to a report by the Economic Times, one-third of the properties in form of assets such as watches, financial instruments such as bank FDs totalling to somewhere around Rs 800 crore have been left for his half-sisters - Deanna Jejeebhoy and Shireen Jejeebhoy.

Mohini M Dutta, a Tata Group loyalist who was close to Ratan Tata has been left with another one-third of the industry czar’s wealth.

A Times of India report says that Dutta’s viewpoint regarding the value of his inheritance are different from the executors of Ratan Tata’s will. The report further says that last week, the will’s executors had submitted a plea in the Bombay High court to probate Ratan Tata’s will.

In simple terms, the probate of a will is a long-drawn legal process, in which the court validates the will in question. The court confirms the authenticity of the will. Only after this, the executor of the will gets the authority to distribute the wealth as per the wishes of the deceased person. The ET report said that this process can take up to six months. Ratan Tata’s will executors include Mehli Mistry, lawyer Darius Kambatta, Shireen Jejeebhoy and Deanna Jejeebhoy.

Another key aspect of Ratan Tata’s will is the ‘no-contest clause.’ According to a Times of India report, the explicit instruction means that any beneficiary who contests the content will end up forfeiting her/his inheritance in Ratan Tata’s estate. The report further adds that there are around 24 beneficiaries of the will.

Ratan Tata Will:  Who gets what 

• A corpus of Rs 12 lakh for beloved pets. They will receive Rs 30,000 every three months.
• Loan waiver for Tata's executive assistant \Shantanu Naidu
• Interest-free education loan to Tata’s neighbour Jake Malite
• Jimmy Tata would inherit half the ownership right of the Juhu property. Rest of it will be shared among Noel Tata and Simone Tata.
• Close friend Mehli Mistry will inherit Tata’s Alibaug bungalow