How do I define the Survivorship Period for the Will?

In the Select Clauses -- Customisable Clauses tab, you can set the number of days under "Anyone who dies during the ___ days immediately following my death is treated for the purposes of this Will as having died before me."

It is recommended to leave this value in our platform as the default 30 days.

While there is no precise science to this figure, it is a common practice to set this period as the typical duration it takes for the executor to obtain the Grant of Probate. Avoid setting this value too high as executors usually wait out this period in order to determined who are indeed the final beneficiaries of the Will.

Please note that the survivorship period clause does not apply to any Testamentary Trust and anything outside of the Will (e.g. CPF nominations, insurance nominations etc).

What is the purpose of survivorship period?

It defines the number of days in which a person must outlive the testator to be considered alive. This in turn affects the distribution of the estate to the beneficiaries, for example if the Will indicates an alternative distribution should a beneficiary die before the testator. It gives control over the eventual destination of assets.

Whether a beneficiary is treated as having died before the testator will be based on whether the beneficiary dies within the survivorship period. A beneficiary who did not survive the survivorship period (i.e. dies during the XX days immediately following the testator's death), is deemed to have die before the testator for the purpose of interpreting the Will.

In Singapore in the case where the order of death cannot be determined between 2 or more persons (e.g. simultaneous death), the Civil Law Act states that the older person is deemed to have died first. Without the survivorship period clause written in the Will, it can have undesirable effect.

Let us use Joe as an example to illustrate the issue:

Joe made a Will to give everything to his wife.
He also indicate in the Will to redistribute everything to his mother should his wife die before him.
No survivorship period clause was written in the Will.
Joe is older than his wife.

If both Joe and his wife die in a plane crash (and the order of death cannot be determined), then Joe's wife will still inherit his estate instead of Joe's mother. Joe's mother does not receive the inheritance because Joe's wife is technically "still alive" at the point of Joe's death and his Will did not have a survivorship period.

What if Beneficiary X did not survive the survivorship period? / What if Beneficiary X dies during the survivorship period?

What happens to the assets allocated to Beneficiary X in the Will shall depend on what is written in the Will, be it whether

to still be given to him/her; or
to redistribute as Residual Assets; or even
to give it to someone else.

If these assets is to "still be given to him/her" and there are no other clause(s) stating otherwise, then the assets shall still be given to Beneficiary X regardless of whether Beneficiary X is alive, has died before the testator, or only outlives the testator for any number of days. If Beneficiary X has already passed away before the testator, then these assets will be given to Beneficiary X's estate to be distributed according to Beneficiary X's Will (or according to the Intestate Succession Act applicable to Beneficiary X if there is no Will).

What if Beneficiary X dies after the survivorship period?

Unless there are clause(s) stating otherwise, the assets given to Beneficiary X will still be distributed to him/her. If Beneficiary X has already passed on by the time the executor is distributing these assets, then these assets will be given to Beneficiary X's estate to be distributed according to Beneficiary X's Will (or according to the Intestate Succession Act applicable to Beneficiary X if there is no Will).