NADRA Succession Certificate: Fee, Documents and Process (2026 Guide)

NADRA

Last Updated: September 2026

NADRA issues succession certificates and letters of administration to the legal heirs of a deceased Pakistani, without a court case, in Islamabad and all four provinces. The fee is Rs 20,000 where the property is worth more than Rs 100,000, and Rs 10,000 below that. NADRA publishes a notice in the newspapers, and if nobody objects within 14 days, the certificate is issued after every heir’s biometrics are verified.

One change most guides have not caught up with: since 31 July 2025, heirs in Punjab can go to a civil court instead. In Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the law still sends you to NADRA first, and a court takes the case only once NADRA has declined it.

Succession certificate or letter of administration?

Which one you need depends on what the person owned:

Document	Covers	Examples NADRA gives
Succession Certificate	Movable property	Cash, bank accounts, lockers, prize bonds, bearer certificates such as National Savings, DSC and Behbood certificates
Letter of Administration	Immovable property	Houses, shops, land

Many families need both. Either way the document names every legal heir and sets out each one’s share as their personal law provides. NADRA’s Punjab office says that applies even where the deceased left a nomination or an unregistered will: “Shares will be calculated according to personal law.”

Who can apply, and where

NADRA’s eligibility rule is short: “Deceased and legal heirs must be Pakistani citizens. Property/assets must be located within Pakistan.” The heirs choose one of themselves to apply, and every other heir signs a letter of authorization in that person’s favour, on the form in Schedule I of the rules. It does not have to be on stamp paper: plain paper with an Oath Commissioner’s stamp and signature is enough. The form is on NADRA’s Downloads page, listed as the Affidavit/Authorization for Letter of Administration/Succession Certificate, Schedule-I.

You apply at a NADRA office notified for succession in the right province. The province is decided by where the death was registered, where the deceased ordinarily lived (one of the addresses on their CNIC, NICOP or POC), or where any of the property is. One heir has to attend in person, except in Sindh and Balochistan, where NADRA’s page says applications are made “through legal counsel” only. Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are not covered yet; NADRA lists them as still “under process of legislation”.

Documents you need

NADRA’s national page and its Punjab succession office together list:

• The death certificate of the deceased
• The CNIC cancellation certificate issued by NADRA, and a cancellation certificate for any legal heir who has also died
• The Family Registration Certificate, which NADRA uses to validate who the heirs are. The Punjab office asks for both kinds, FRC Alpha (by birth) and FRC Beta (by marriage)
• The applicant’s CNIC, NICOP or POC, and copies of the CNICs of all the other legal heirs
• Details of the movable and immovable property, with the original ownership documents
• The letter of authorization, attested by an Oath Commissioner

The death certificate comes first: the cancellation certificate needs it, and the succession application needs both. If the family record is wrong, for example an heir is missing from it, fix that first through our guide to updating your family tree, because NADRA validates the heirs against it.

Fees

Service	Fee	Time
New certificate, property worth Rs 100,000 or more	Rs 20,000, or Rs 22,000 in Sindh	14 days after publication
New certificate, property worth less than Rs 100,000	Rs 10,000	14 days after publication
Amended certificate	Rs 5,000	14 days after publication
Correcting NADRA’s own mistake	Free on the fee structure; Rs 5,000 on the succession page	14 days after publication
Reprint of a lost or damaged certificate	Rs 5,000	Same day
Decline certificate	Rs 15,000 on the fee structure; the succession page says Rs 5,000 below Rs 100,000	Same day
Online verification of a certificate (Punjab)	Rs 50	Online

Two NADRA pages disagree on the smaller items. Its fee structure lists correcting its own mistake as free and a decline at Rs 15,000 whatever the property is worth; its succession page charges Rs 5,000 for an amendment or office mistake and Rs 5,000 for a decline below Rs 100,000. Ask which applies before you pay. The succession page’s “additional Rs 2,000 where applicable” is Sindh’s higher fee. If an application is declined, Punjab’s rules refund Rs 5,000 of the fee.

How the NADRA process works

1. Collect the authorizations. Every legal heir signs the letter of authorization for the one who will apply.
2. Apply at a notified NADRA office with the documents above. The applicant gives their own ID number, the deceased’s ID number and the death certificate.
3. Give the heirs’ and assets’ details. The documents are scanned into the application.
4. NADRA publishes a notice on its web portal and in one English and one Urdu daily newspaper of wide circulation, inviting objections.
5. Wait 14 days. If nobody objects, NADRA asks the applicant and every legal heir for biometric verification at any of its notified offices.
6. Collect the certificate. It is issued in favour of all the legal heirs, with each one’s share, and handed to the applicant; NADRA’s Punjab office notes that the other heirs are not each given a copy.

One inconsistency to plan around. The federal Act and Punjab’s rules put the heirs’ biometric verification after the 14-day objection period, while NADRA’s own step lists put it before the newspaper notice. Assume every heir will be asked for biometrics, possibly early, and keep them all reachable until the certificate is in your hands. If an heir’s fingerprints fail, the law lets NADRA call that heir in person or use other means to confirm their identity.

NADRA or a court?

This depends on the province, and it changed in Punjab in 2025:

Where	Can you go straight to court?	Why
Punjab	Yes, since 31 July 2025	The 2025 amendment lets “the Authority or a civil court” issue certificates and omitted section 10, which had barred the courts
Islamabad	No, not until NADRA declines	Section 10 of the federal Act of 2020
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	No, not until NADRA declines	Section 10 of the 2021 Act, upheld by the Peshawar High Court in May 2026
Sindh and Balochistan	Not checked by us	NADRA takes applications there only through legal counsel

The federal Act’s section 10 is one sentence: “No court shall exercise jurisdiction till such time the Authority declines to process application”. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when the Peshawar High Court upheld the equivalent provision in May 2026, it also asked the province to consider Punjab’s approach, so check for an amendment there before you file. A court case under the Succession Act 1925 remains the route for anything NADRA cannot handle.

When NADRA declines, and what the decline certificate is

NADRA only handles uncontested cases. Punjab’s rules say that “in case of any factual controversy, the Authority shall decline to process the application”, and an objection from anyone after the newspaper notice has the same effect. The decline is what opens the court route where section 10 still applies, and NADRA also offers it as a separate service, the decline certificate. In Punjab you no longer need one to go to court.

If you or other heirs live abroad

The federal Act says biometric verification “can be undertaken at any notified office within Pakistan or abroad”. When the scheme launched in 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said heirs could give biometrics at Pakistani missions in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bradford, Jeddah, Riyadh, Medina, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, with more cities planned, so ask your nearest mission whether it is now one of them. The eligibility rule still applies: the deceased and the heirs must be Pakistani citizens, so a family where an heir holds a foreign passport and a POC rather than a NICOP should ask NADRA before applying. Our guide to NADRA services from abroad covers getting the FRC and cancellation certificate from overseas.

Checking, correcting and replacing a certificate

• Verification. NADRA’s Punjab succession portal verifies a certificate online for Rs 50, and the Pak ID app added succession certificate verification on 17 August 2026.
• Whether a certificate already exists. Only a legal heir can ask, at a succession office in the relevant province, whether NADRA has already issued a certificate covering an asset.
• A mistake on the certificate. Apply for an amended certificate, Rs 5,000, surrendering the original.
• Lost, stolen or damaged. A duplicate costs Rs 5,000 and is issued the same day. For a lost or stolen one, bring a copy of the police report or FIR; for a damaged one, hand in the original.

Common mistakes

• Applying before the CNIC is cancelled. The cancellation certificate is on NADRA’s list, and it needs the death certificate first.
• Relying on an FRC that is out of date. NADRA validates the heirs against it. A missing or wrong heir means a fix at NADRA before the application.
• Going to NADRA with a family dispute. It declines contested cases, and keeps part of the fee.
• Filing in court in Islamabad or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa first. The law there still requires NADRA to decline before a court can act.
• Assuming Punjab still forces you through NADRA. Since July 2025 you may choose a civil court instead.
• Expecting a copy for every heir. The certificate is issued to the applicant.

Sources: eligibility, requirements, fees and processing times are from NADRA’s Succession Certificate page and fee structure (site version V3.1.3), and the document detail, jurisdiction rules, property types, verification fee and coverage from its Punjab succession portal and its FAQs. The procedure, publication, 14-day objection period, decline and refund are from the Punjab Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Rules 2021, and the court change from the Punjab amendment Act of 2025 (Punjab Gazette, 31 July 2025). Islamabad’s rules, including section 10 and biometrics abroad, are from the Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Act, 2020. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ruling is from Dawn (8 May 2026), the overseas procedure from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the app verification from the Pak Identity release notes. All read on 28 and 29 September 2026.

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