What we hired them for, and what we got
In January 2026, following my father's death, I engaged VakilSearch to obtain a Succession / Legal Heirship Certificate covering a jointly-owned flat in Thane and an ancestral property in Kerala — an "end-to-end" service, quoted as fixed and all-inclusive, for ₹65,000 paid upfront. What followed was ten months of stalled communication, a fee that turned out not to be fixed, a payment routed to an unrelated company, a missed window that cost us the use of a family property, and a refund we are still waiting on.
Everything on this site is drawn directly from our payment receipt, VakilSearch's own case brief and invoice, and WhatsApp and email correspondence with their staff. Where we quote them, it is verbatim. Where something is our characterisation rather than a document, we say so.
A formal consumer complaint on these facts is pending. Nothing here has been decided by any court, and we have deliberately kept this page to what we can evidence.
A video account of this case
A spoken account of the same events set out on this site — the engagement, the ten months, and where the refund stands.
Nothing is loaded from YouTube until you press play. You can also watch it on YouTube directly.
How it unfolded
The turning points are below. The full chronology carries every entry, with the exhibit each one rests on.
Quoted a "final", all-inclusive fee — then given one hour to pay it
A VakilSearch representative quoted ₹65,000 as a discounted, final professional fee for an end-to-end succession/legal heirship certificate covering a jointly-owned flat in Thane and an ancestral property in Kerala. We were told the special rate would hold for one hour before reverting to a higher price.
The "all-inclusive" fee turned out not to be all-inclusive
On the same day we paid, VakilSearch's own Case Brief disclosed that court fees — separately estimated at over ₹75,000 — were not included in the ₹65,000 and would be quantified later.
Told our mother could be presented to the court as a "widower"
When we pushed back on the surprise court fee, the advocate who had negotiated our rate told us the cost could be brought down by presenting my mother to the court as a "widower", in order to access a lower, capped fee category.
Three months of silence
We had flagged from day one that the Kerala property was part of a live, time-sensitive sale discussion. Between the end of February and early June we heard nothing from VakilSearch.
The Kerala property was sold without the documents we had paid for
Because no succession documentation was ever prepared, the ancestral Kerala property — a specific, named part of the service we engaged and paid for — was sold by the family without it.
My sister flew in from Canada. Nothing was ready.
My sister, one of three legal heirs, travelled from Canada and stayed two weeks specifically so a Power of Attorney could be executed in person — avoiding the far slower embassy attestation route.
We asked to cancel and be refunded. No one owned the request.
After another unanswered status request, we formally asked to cancel the engagement and receive a full refund, citing the lack of ownership on their side.
Asked to resend documents we had sent six months earlier
In August their team asked us to resend documents that had already been shared with them in February — indicating our file had not been tracked or retained on their side.
Refund still unresolved; complaint filed
As of the last update to this site, VakilSearch has not refunded the ₹65,000 paid, and has not delivered the succession certificate we engaged them for.
What was represented vs. what happened
| Item | Represented to us | What actually happened |
|---|---|---|
| Total cost | ₹65,000, fixed and all-inclusive | Court fees of ₹75,000+ disclosed after payment |
| Payment destination | VakilSearch, routed off-gateway for a "GST waiver" | Third-party LLP, unrelated invoicing entity |
| Timeline | Not specified in writing, treated as urgent | 10 months, no certificate delivered |
| Kerala property | In scope, flagged as time-sensitive | Sold without documentation, May 2026 |
| Power of Attorney | To be executed during a two-week visit from Canada | Draft produced 18 Aug 2026, after she had left |
| Refund requested 27 Jul 2026 | ₹0 refunded to date |
Not one bad day — a shape
Every update came only after we chased it
Not once across ten months did VakilSearch proactively tell us where things stood. Every status update we received was produced by a message, a call, or an escalation from our side.
Personnel changed with no handover
At least three different advocates or coordinators were rotated onto the case, each needing us to re-explain basic facts about our own family's matter.
Money moved outside their own platform
We were asked to pay directly into a separate company's bank account rather than through VakilSearch's own payment gateway — a detail that only mattered once we tried to establish who we had actually contracted with.
The cost story changed depending on who we asked
"All-inclusive", then "court fees are separate", then a suggestion about how our mother could be described to reduce them, then "that concession doesn't apply anyway" — four different answers about one number.
What this account rests on
- EXH. 1Payment confirmationICICI Bank, ₹65,000, 21 Jan 2026
- EXH. 2Case Brief & Suggested SOPIssued on VakilSearch letterhead the same day as payment, disclosing that court fees were extra
- EXH. 3Third-party invoiceIssued by Trishula Consultancy LLP, not VakilSearch, against the same payment
- EXH. 4WhatsApp recordsChat exports with four separate VakilSearch staff members, Jan–Aug 2026
- EXH. 5Email correspondenceSupport thread with @vakilsearch.com addresses, Jan–Aug 2026
See the full evidence register, and what we have chosen not to publish →
Where to go next
The complaint
What was filed, where, what relief we are asking for, and what stage it is at.
Status →Before you pay anyone
Nine questions we wish we had asked in January, written for anyone weighing an upfront legal-services fee.
Checklist →Updates
Every change to this account, dated. If the matter resolves, it will be recorded here first.
Log →