You will be able to explain what a will does, what it cannot touch and what makes it valid.
Jasmine made a will in 2010. A lawyer drew it up when she and her then husband bought insurance, and it left everything to him. They divorced in 2018. She has meant to "sort out the will" ever since, and has a vague belief that the divorce cancelled it. She isn't sure. She is also not sure what the will would cover if it still stood, because a lot of what she owns has its own paperwork.
This module is about the documents that decide what happens to your money when you die, or when you can no longer decide for yourself. It goes further than The Singapore personal finance system, end to end, lesson 8.1, What a will covers, and what it does not, and Money as a couple and a family, lesson 7.1, What happens to your money without a will. This lesson sets out what a will actually controls and what makes one valid. This is education, not legal advice. For your own will, and certainly for anything complex, speak to a lawyer.
A will is a document that says who receives your estate when you die and who carries out your wishes. Your estate is everything in your sole name that doesn't already have its own instruction.
A will does two main jobs. It names beneficiaries and what each receives. You can leave specific gifts, such as a sum of money or a piece of jewellery to a named person, and then leave the residue, meaning whatever is left after debts, costs and specific gifts, in shares to others. Most of an ordinary estate usually passes through the residue, so the residue clause matters more than people expect.
It also names one or more executors. An executor is the person who collects your assets, pays your debts and taxes, and hands out what is left according to the will. Lesson 8.1, Executors, trustees and what they will have to do, looks at choosing one.
A will can also name guardians for young children, set up a trust for a beneficiary, and say what should happen if a beneficiary dies before you, a point that catches many families out. If a gift's beneficiary dies first, the gift may fail and fall back into the residue unless the will says otherwise. A good will names who receives it instead.
Several kinds of asset pass outside your will, however it is worded.
CPF savings pass by your CPF nomination, and insurance policies with a valid nomination are paid to the nominees. Property held as joint tenants passes to the surviving owner by survivorship. Joint bank accounts often pass to the surviving holder too, though that rests on the bank's terms. Lesson 7.3, Nominations and joint holdings pass outside the will, explains each.
So before you think about wording, sort your assets into two groups. Jasmine's list looks like this. Under her will: her flat, which is in her sole name; her savings account; her shares in her CDP account; her US shares held through an overseas broker; a whole life policy that has no nomination; and her SRS account, which has no nomination and so goes to her estate. Outside her will: her CPF, which goes by nomination; a term policy with a nomination naming her mother; and a joint account with Megan, if the bank's terms give it to the survivor.
Sorting the list showed her something worrying. Her CPF nomination dates from 2012 and names her former husband. Divorce doesn't cancel a CPF nomination, so unless she changes it, her CPF would go to him. CPF Mastery, lesson 8.2, Nominations: what happens to your CPF if you die, explains the rule. That one discovery mattered more than anything in her old will.
For non-Muslims, the Wills Act sets the formal requirements. A will must be in writing and signed by the person making it, at the end, in the presence of two witnesses who are present at the same time, and the witnesses then sign as well. The person making it must be at least 21 and must understand what they are doing.
A witness, or the spouse of a witness, should not receive anything under the will, because a gift to a witness can fail, so ask two independent adults to witness it.
You can write your own will, and a valid homemade will is better than none. But mistakes in wording, signing or witnessing can make part or all of it fail, and the people who would have to sort it out are your family. Many people use a lawyer for that reason. The Ministry of Law's website has guidance on making a will, and you can record where your will is kept with the Registry of Wills, so your family can find it.
A will can stop working in several ways. You can revoke it by making a new will that says so, or by destroying it with the intention of revoking it.
Marriage revokes a will made before it, unless the will was made in contemplation of that particular marriage, and plenty of people remarry without knowing it. If Jasmine marries Leong one day, any will she makes before then will be revoked by the marriage unless it says it was made with that marriage in mind.
Divorce is less clear-cut in its effect on a will, and Jasmine should not rely on her assumption. She asked a lawyer, and decided to make a new will either way, so nothing turns on the answer.
For Muslims in Singapore, estates are distributed under the Administration of Muslim Law Act according to faraid, the Islamic rules of inheritance. A Muslim may leave only part of their estate by wasiat, a Muslim will, and there are rules on who can receive under it. The rest goes to heirs in shares fixed by faraid. Lesson 7.2, Without a will: intestacy and Muslim estates, says more. If this applies to you, get advice from someone experienced in Muslim estates and check the Syariah Court's guidance.
Now make your own two lists, one for assets your will decides and one for assets that pass outside it.
List your assets and mark each one as passing under your will or outside it.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).