By MoneyBees
Form specifying who receives your CPF savings on death. Without one, distribution follows intestacy rules and goes through Public Trustee — slower and more rigid.
A CPF Nomination is the form specifying who receives your CPF savings (OA, SA, MA, RA) and dependants' protection scheme proceeds upon your death.
Without a CPF Nomination, your CPF balances are distributed by the Public Trustee under Singapore intestacy rules — a slower, more rigid process that may not match your wishes and that charges administrative fees.
Make it via Singpass on the CPF Board website, in person at a CPF Service Centre, or via a lawyer. Free.
Nominate up to a maximum number of beneficiaries with specified percentages totalling 100%.
Distribution on death: nominated amounts paid out in cash to beneficiaries — fast, direct, without going through the estate.
Update anytime — supersedes any previous nomination.
Speed: nominated payouts typically reach beneficiaries within weeks. Public Trustee processing takes 6 – 12 months.
Fees: Public Trustee charges 0.5% – 6% of CPF amounts (tiered by size). A nomination avoids this entirely.
Control: you specify exactly who gets what proportion. Without nomination, distribution follows fixed legal formulas that may exclude unmarried partners entirely.
Cost: free. No good reason not to do it.
No nomination at all: most Singaporeans have no CPF nomination in place. Public Trustee statistics show this is the largest single source of unclaimed estate value.
Outdated nomination: post-divorce, post-marriage, post-child births — all life events that should trigger a CPF Nomination update.
Wrong allocation: forgetting to set percentages, leaving one beneficiary out, or using percentages that don't sum to 100%.
Marriage automatically revokes a previous CPF Nomination in Singapore. Many newlyweds don't realise this and assume the old nomination is still valid.
Make it, then check it every 5 years. The 15 minutes invested pay off in family ease when it matters most.
A form specifying who receives your CPF savings (OA + SA + MA + RA) and Dependants' Protection Scheme proceeds upon death. Without a nomination, your CPF is distributed by the Public Trustee following intestacy rules — slow, rigid, and subject to admin fees.
Via Singpass on the CPF Board website (free), in person at a CPF Service Centre, or via a lawyer. Specify beneficiaries with percentages totalling 100%. Update anytime — the latest nomination supersedes previous ones.
Three reasons. Speed (nominated payouts in weeks vs Public Trustee taking 6 – 12 months). Cost (Public Trustee charges 0.5% – 6% admin fees; nomination is free). Control (specifies exactly who gets what — without nomination, fixed legal formulas apply, and unmarried partners get nothing).
Yes — marriage automatically revokes a previous CPF Nomination in Singapore. Many newlyweds don't realise this. Update your CPF Nomination after marriage. Also update after divorce, child births, or relationship breakdowns to keep it current.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).