Why the administration process could be longer / costlier if you die without a Will?
To access the assets of someone who has died without a valid Will, the court must appoint an Administrator through a process called a Grant of Letters of Administration. This process is often slower and more expensive because:
- every other eligible beneficiary must formally renounce their right to act,
- the Administrator may struggle to identify and document all assets, and
- the court imposes extra requirements, such as an administration bond or appointing multiple Administrators if there are minor beneficiaries.
Renunciations from other beneficiaries
The steps to apply for the Letters of Administration requires every other “beneficiaries” (who because are receiving something from the Estate and hence are eligible to be an Administrator themselves) to renounce that they do not wish to be the Administrator.
This step can cause significant delays, for example:
i) When a beneficiary with higher priority has already passed away, as the court will require proof of death or confirmation that they have no children;
ii) When beneficiaries are stuck overseas (a common problem we saw during COVID-19);
iii) When beneficiaries are estranged or not in close contact with the family;
iv) When there are disputes over who should be appointed, sometimes leading to litigation.
In contrast, if there’s a Will, the Executor is already chosen by you. There is no need for such renunciations from beneficiaries.
Difficulty gathering asset details
Even in the "best case" scenario, the one who applied as Administrator is the one whom you trust and coincidentally without objections from anyone else, do they actually know all your assets details required for the application?
The process requires filing the Schedule of Assets, which includes the identifying details (e.g. bank account number) and estimated market value. This assumes that the individual even knows the assets exist to in the first place. In Singapore, there are several million dollars in unclaimed assets, don’t let yours be part of those statistics.
Even if they roughly know what and where your assets are, without a properly done Will you may still need to pay that extra hundreds of dollars per asset to get a lawyer to fill up the missing details.
When you prepare a Will, it is equally important to prepare an accompanying Asset List for your Executor as a reference to fill in the Schedule of Assets document.
Additional Requirements for Administrators
(When there is no Will, or all named Executors in the Will are unable to act)
Because the court has no way of knowing who you would have trusted to manage your estate, there are extra requirements placed on the Administrators.
Administration bond with 2 sureties
If there are minor beneficiary (i.e. beneficiary under 21), or the value of the deceased estate without deducting any debt exceeds $5 million, the court will require an administration bond. This must be backed by 2 sureties who who personally guarantee that the Administrator will manage the estate honestly and in accordance with the law, to protect against mismanagement or fraud.
It is possible to file an application to apply for waiver by stating all relevant steps taken but it is still up to the court's approval.
Minimum 2 Administrators if there are minors
If there are any minor beneficiary, the court will require at least two individuals as the Administrators to act together for better oversight and to protect the minors’ interests.
These requirements generally do not apply to the Executors who are named in a valid Will applying for a Grant of Probate.
If you had made a Will, it is therefore equally important that you speak to your Executor that they will be willing to act. Do also update your Will whenever your circumstances changed, such as the passing of any named Executors.
