5 Reasons Every Indian Family Needs a Wealth Governance Plan in 2026
Why wealth management alone isn't enough. Indian families need a governance plan that covers asset tracking, succession, document security, and family communication. Here are 5 compelling reasons to start now.
Beyond Portfolio Returns
Most Indian families think “wealth management” means picking the right mutual funds or getting good returns on their FDs. That’s investment management — an important piece, but barely 20% of the picture.
Wealth governance is the bigger game. It answers questions that no portfolio tracker ever will:
- Who in the family knows about all our assets?
- What happens to our wealth if the primary earner is gone tomorrow?
- Are all our nominations, wills, and legal documents current?
- Can the family operate financially if Dad/Mom can’t make decisions?
- Is there a plan for the next generation?
Here are five reasons why every Indian family needs to get serious about this — in 2026, not “someday.”
1. The ₹78,000 Crore Warning
Over ₹78,000 crore of Indian wealth currently sits unclaimed. That’s money in bank accounts, insurance policies, shares, and mutual funds that families simply forgot about or never knew existed.
This happens because:
- One family member manages all finances and doesn’t share information
- Old accounts opened in a different city 20 years ago are forgotten
- Paper statements were the only record, and they’re lost
Action: Create a single, shared family asset register. List every account, policy, and investment. Store it where at least two family members can access it.
2. Indian Succession Law Is Complicated
India doesn’t have one succession law — it has several:
| Community | Governing Law |
|---|---|
| Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh | Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (amended 2005) |
| Muslim | Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) |
| Christian | Indian Succession Act, 1925 |
| Parsi | Indian Succession Act, 1925 |
Each has different rules for:
- Who inherits what
- How much a spouse vs children vs parents get
- Whether you can override with a will
- How ancestral vs self-acquired property is treated
Without a will and a clear succession plan, your family is at the mercy of default legal rules — which may not match your wishes at all.
Action: Draft a will. Get it witnessed. Register it if possible. Review every 2 years.
3. The Nuclear Family Shift
India is rapidly moving from joint families to nuclear families. The 2021 Census (released partially) and NFHS-5 data confirm that nuclear families now outnumber joint families in urban India.
What this means for wealth:
- Less informal knowledge sharing — in joint families, multiple people knew about family assets naturally
- Geographic dispersion — family members live in different cities or countries
- Separate financial lives — each nuclear unit manages its own investments independently
- Weaker family bonds — disputes that were once resolved within the family now go to court
A governance plan bridges this gap. It creates structured, documented processes for what was once informal family knowledge.
Action: Even if you live apart, hold an annual family finance meeting. Share updates on major assets, changes in nominations, will updates, and insurance renewals.
4. Digital Assets Are a New Frontier
In 2026, Indian families have wealth in places that didn’t exist 10 years ago:
- Crypto wallets — private keys, seed phrases, exchange accounts
- Digital gold — PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm gold holdings
- Online bank accounts — banks where you’ve never visited a branch
- Stock broker apps — Zerodha, Groww, Upstox accounts
- UPI-linked wallets — Paytm Wallet, Amazon Pay, MobiKwik
- International investments — Vested, INDmoney, Winvesta for US stocks
None of these send paper statements. If you don’t tell your family about them, they’ll never know. And without the right login credentials or seed phrases, the money is effectively gone forever.
Action: Include all digital accounts in your asset register. Store access credentials (passwords, 2FA recovery codes, seed phrases) in an encrypted vault — not in a notes app.
5. Tax Planning Is a Family Sport
Tax efficiency isn’t about one person’s return — it’s about the family unit.
Strategies that work at the family level:
- HUF (Hindu Undivided Family) — separate PAN, separate tax slab, separate investments
- Section 80C allocation across family members
- Gift tax structuring — gifts to adult children, parents investing in their own name
- Property holding structure — joint ownership, HUF property, trust ownership
- Insurance allocation — term policies and health insurance across family members for max deduction
- Capital gains planning — harvest losses, timing of sales across family members
A CA who understands your entire family’s financial picture can save lakhs annually. But they need to see the complete picture first.
Action: Consolidate all family financial data before tax season. Share access with your CA or tax advisor through a secure channel — not WhatsApp.
Starting Is Easier Than You Think
You don’t need a ₹5 crore net worth to need a governance plan. If your family has:
- ✅ More than one bank account
- ✅ Any insurance policy
- ✅ Any mutual fund or stock investment
- ✅ Property (even one)
- ✅ Any digital accounts with money
- ✅ Children (especially minors)
…you need a governance plan.
Start with three things this week:
- List every financial account your family has (30 minutes)
- Check all nominations (60 minutes — log into each account)
- Have a conversation with your spouse or children about where things are stored
Lineage Money is building the platform to make all of this effortless. Join the waitlist and we’ll guide you through it when we launch in March 2026.
Next in this series: Digital Wills in India: Legal Validity and How to Create One in 2026