Explain why your will does not cover your CPF savings, and make a CPF nomination.
Log in to cpf.gov.sg with your Singpass and look at the nomination status on your dashboard. It takes a minute, and it tells you whether the people you want to receive your CPF savings are the ones who actually will.
A CPF nomination is a separate instruction to the CPF Board naming who should receive your CPF savings when you die, and in what shares. Many people assume their will takes care of this. A will does not deal with CPF savings. Those savings pass according to the CPF nomination, so a will that says "everything to my wife" has no effect on your CPF.
The nomination covers the savings in your CPF accounts, and it includes any bequest from CPF LIFE. Lesson 7.1, How CPF LIFE pools longevity risk, describes that bequest and where it comes from.
The nomination does not cover a home bought with CPF. Who gets that home depends on how the home is held and on your will. Retirement & Estate: income for life and a plan for what you leave, lesson 7.3, Nominations and joint holdings pass outside the will, explains how each way of holding a home plays out.
If you die without a valid nomination, your CPF savings go to the Public Trustee's Office. The Public Trustee distributes them under the law: the Intestate Succession Act for non-Muslims, and Muslim inheritance law for Muslims. On that route the law decides who receives what, regardless of what you wanted. Your family has to contact the Public Trustee and provide documents, and the process takes longer than a payout to named nominees.
For a married person with no will and no nomination, the law gives a share to the spouse and a share to the children, and in some cases a share to parents. If you want your savings to go wholly to your spouse, or you want to include a parent or sibling the law leaves out, a nomination is the only way to do it.
Kelvin (an invented example) started work at 25. A colleague told him to make a CPF nomination, so he did, and he named his mother for all of his CPF savings. Seven years later he married Mei. A week after the wedding he told Mei his CPF nomination was already sorted.
It was not. For non-Muslim members, marriage revokes a CPF nomination. The CPF Board cancels it because marriage is a change big enough that the old nomination may no longer reflect what the member wants, and a new nomination has to be made after the wedding. Had Kelvin died the week after his wedding, his CPF would have gone the slow Public Trustee route.
That evening he logged in, and his dashboard showed no nomination. He made a new one, naming Mei for most of his savings and his mother for the rest. His mother has fewer savings of her own, and he wanted her looked after. He asked two friends to act as witnesses, and both confirmed online the next day. He then set a reminder to review the nomination when their first child is born.
You can make or change a nomination online on the CPF website. For most people it takes about fifteen minutes, and there is no fee. The steps are:
Log in to the CPF website with Singpass. Choose your nominees. You can name more than one person. Set the share each nominee will receive. Ask your witnesses to confirm through their own Singpass. The CPF website sets out who can be a witness and the steps they follow.
If you prefer, you can make the nomination in person instead. You can change it as often as your life changes, and each new nomination replaces the old one. Muslim members can also make a nomination, and the CPF Board explains how the rules apply to them.
Marriage is the event you cannot skip. If you are not Muslim, your existing nomination is revoked when you marry, and you need to make a new one.
Divorce does not revoke a nomination. A nomination that names your spouse stays in force after a divorce until you change it, so your CPF can end up going to a former spouse.
The birth of a child does not revoke a nomination either, but it is a good moment to review it. A nomination made before you had children may leave them out entirely.
The death of anyone you have named as a nominee is the fourth review point. The Singapore personal finance system, end to end, module 8, Put your will, nominations and LPA in place, puts these review points alongside your will and your insurance nominations so you can check them together.
Log in to cpf.gov.sg and check your nomination status. If you have none, or yours was made before a marriage, divorce or child, write down the date by which you will make or update it.
Check whether you have a CPF nomination, then write down the date you will make or update it.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).