Explain who receives an estate when there is no will.
Write down every relative who would survive you if you died today: spouse, children, parents, brothers and sisters. Keep the list beside you as you read. If you die without a valid will, the law decides who receives your estate, in fixed shares, without asking what you wanted. Which law applies depends on whether you are Muslim. Like every lesson in this module, this is education, not legal advice.
At a family dinner, Jasmine's brother says he doesn't need a will because it all goes to the family anyway (Jasmine and her family are an invented example). Her partner Leong says nothing at the table. Later he quietly asks her who "the family" would be if something happened to her. She realises she doesn't know, and that the answer probably doesn't include him.
Jasmine is divorced and has two adult children, Megan and Ryan. If she died today without a valid will, half her estate would go to Megan and half to Ryan. Her mother is 82 and partly depends on Jasmine's allowance, but she would get nothing because Jasmine has surviving children. Her brother and Leong would also get nothing.
That split may be close to what Jasmine wants for most of her estate. But she wants her mother's allowance to continue if she dies first, and she wants Leong to receive something. Neither can happen without a will. In Lesson 7.1, "What a will controls and how to make it valid", she also found that her CPF nomination still names her former husband. He would get nothing from her estate, but he would receive her CPF while her mother got nothing, which is the opposite of what she wants.
For non-Muslims in Singapore, an estate without a valid will is distributed under the Intestate Succession Act. The Act sets an order of relatives, and the relatives who survive you decide who inherits and in what shares:
Spouse survives, with no children and no parents: the spouse receives everything. Spouse and children survive: 1/2 goes to the spouse, and the children share the other 1/2 equally. Spouse and parents survive, with no children: 1/2 goes to the spouse, and the parents share the other 1/2. Children survive with no spouse: the children share everything equally. No spouse and no children: the parents inherit. If there are no parents, brothers and sisters inherit, then more distant relatives in the order the Act sets out.
The estate goes to the government only if no relative on the list survives. If a child died before you, that child's own children take their parent's place and share what the parent would have received. A child under 21 can't simply be handed their share. It has to be held and managed for them until they come of age, which adds work for the family. You can read the Act on Singapore Statutes Online, and the Family Justice Courts and the Public Trustee's Office explain how it is applied in practice.
The Act follows its list and doesn't take into account who you love or who depends on you. An unmarried partner gets nothing, however long the relationship has lasted. So does a stepchild who was never legally adopted, and so do friends, carers, godchildren and charities. A former spouse gets nothing, because once you are divorced they are not your spouse under the Act. CPF savings are not part of your estate and are not covered by a will. If you have made a CPF nomination, your CPF goes to your nominees, so intestacy combined with an out-of-date nomination can produce the opposite of what you wanted, as it would for Jasmine. If you have not made a nomination, your CPF goes to the Public Trustee to be distributed under Singapore's intestacy and inheritance laws. The CPF Board's website explains how nominations work.
Before anyone can deal with your assets, someone (usually a close relative) has to apply for letters of administration to be appointed administrator, the person who handles an estate when there is no will. That application may need extra steps that an executor named in a will would not. Accounts in your sole name stay frozen until then. The administrator then deals with the assets and distributes them under the Act, a process covered in Lesson 8.2, "Probate, letters of administration and the Public Trustee". A will lets you choose who deals with your estate. Without one, the person entitled to apply may not be the best person for the job.
Jasmine's colleague Nurul is Muslim and assumed her husband would inherit everything. Under faraid, her husband, her children and her parents would each get a share.
For Muslims in Singapore, estates are distributed under the Administration of Muslim Law Act according to faraid, the Islamic law of inheritance. The rules fix the heirs and their shares, and the shares depend on which relatives survive. Among children, sons generally receive twice the share of daughters. Spouses, parents, and in some cases siblings and others have set shares. The Syariah Court issues an inheritance certificate setting out who inherits and in what shares.
A wasiat, a Muslim will, can direct only part of the estate, and there are limits on who can receive under it. The rest is distributed by faraid whether or not there is a wasiat, so a wasiat works alongside faraid and doesn't replace it. CPF nominations, insurance nominations and jointly held property raise separate considerations for a Muslim estate. Some Muslims provide for someone faraid doesn't cover through other instruments, such as a gift made during their lifetime. If this applies to you, check the Syariah Court's guidance and speak to someone experienced in Muslim estates before acting.
Using your list, check for a spouse, children and parents, and apply the matching rule. With no spouse and no children, go to parents, then brothers and sisters, then more distant relatives in the Act's order. Put the children of any child who died before you in that child's place. Mark any beneficiary under 21, whose share would have to be held for them. Note who you would want to provide for but who gets nothing, such as a partner, stepchild, carer, dependent parent or charity. Then check whether your CPF and other nominations, which sit outside your will, are current. If you are Muslim, work through the list under faraid and note which part a wasiat could direct.
Now write down every relative who would survive you today, then apply the rules above to see who would inherit and in what shares.
Write down who would receive your estate under the intestacy rules today, and whether that is what you want.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).