Roll a Die: The Ultimate Gamble of Not Making Your Will

Don't worry, there is no estate tax payable in Singapore for deaths on and after 15 Feb 2008; we are referring to fees related to the probate and administration process.

When a person dies, part of the administrative process involves filing the Schedule of Assets, which includes identifying details (e.g. bank account numbers) and estimated market value. If your loved ones know which institution your assets are kept at (e.g. ABC Bank, EFG Investment Firm, XYZ Crypto Platform, etc.), they will have the luxury of paying extra hundreds of dollars PER INSTITUTION for a lawyer to write in to get the missing details.

And that’s provided they even know it’s there to begin with! So, if you are a beneficiary, would you spend another $200 from the deceased estate for a chance where the deceased has an account with the bank?

Read more: Why the administration process could be longer / costlier if you die without a Will?

What is family? Is it just people who share the same blood as you, or something more? Along the course of your life, you would have close friends, benefactors, other members or even a soul mate that you would consider family too. They, who have cared and sacrificed for you might be completely excluded from your estate.

While you are “eternally grateful” to them, your assets are distributed otherwise. Now go pen a Will that specifically excludes them, because that is what you are doing essentially when you deliberately chose not to write your Will.

Read more: Are stepchildren covered under the Intestate Succession Act?

It’s painful to outlive your parents, but even more so for your parents if they outlive you. Presuming you have children and your parents outlive you, then by default, your parents are entirely EXCLUDED from your estate. If they happen to be dependent on you, they might want to put their grief aside and consider seeking employment again.

The alternative, if you die childless, isn’t rosy either. Even if your elderly parents inherited your estate, they could be vulnerable to scams and lose that money, and that’s considering if they are good at managing finances to begin with. What happens then? Wouldn’t you have preferred for your estate to be distributed periodically instead to prevent this?

In Singapore, when the order of death between two or more persons cannot be determined (such as in a simultaneous death in plane crash), the Civil Law Act states that the older person is deemed to have died first. Or it could be that your spouse dies shortly after you (such as in an ICU after a car crash).  In such cases, you may end up still giving half of your assets to the deceased spouse, only for it to be redistributed out based on the ISA or based on his/her Will instead.

Assuming you and your spouse have equal amount of wealth and die without a Will, leaving behind surviving parents, then the parents of whoever dies later will be receiving THREE TIMES more than the other spouse’s parents.

Read more:  How are the Estates distributed if both husband and wife die together (e.g. in a car crash) at the same time?

No one enters into a marriage expecting it to fail. Unfortunately, not all marriages work out as planned.

If you are currently going through a divorce (i.e. the divorce has not been finalised), estate-wise you are at your most vulnerable. Without a Will, your spouse will get 100% of your estate, or 50% if you have children. 

If you are already divorced, then it depends on whether you have a child with your ex-spouse or not. While your ex-spouse does not automatically inherit your estate, he/she will, by default, be the sole legal guardian of the child, while your child inherits 100% of your estate. Who do you think will be managing that 100% given to your child?

Additionally, if you have previously written a Will providing for your then not-yet-ex-spouse, you may want to make a new Will. Under Singapore law, every single marriage revokes your previous Will, but any divorce does not. This means that if you do not update your Will, you are still giving your ex-spouse your estate.

Read more:  How does marriage / divorce affect a previously written Will?

Who will take care of your children if something does happen to you? You would most likely want it to be your spouse. However, if your spouse did not survive you, there is no predetermined “Guardianship Succession Act” to decide who the new guardian of your now orphaned child will be. Your child could be at the mercy of any applicants who will be subjected to court approval, and this is provided there is someone willing to step up.

Additionally, if you are divorced but you have children with your ex-spouse, by default, the guardianship goes to the surviving parent of your child (i.e. your ex-spouse). It does not go to your current spouse if you have remarried. 

Similarly, if you happen to be the step-parent of a child, the child, by default, inherits nothing from you, unless you had legally adopted the child.

Read more: I am a divorcee. How does a Will affect me in terms of guardianship of my children?

Without a Will, “someone” needs to apply for the Letter of Administration to have access to your assets. This special someone, also known as the Administrator, is usually one of the to-be beneficiaries of your Estate, or someone else if every beneficiary agrees for him/her to be so. It could even be a creditor.

As the Administrator, he/she will be responsible for managing and distributing your Estate. This also means that it is entirely possible that someone you distrust ends up in charge of managing and distributing your assets after you pass on. Unlike what you may think, the Courts do not actively monitor the distribution process to ensure it is distributed correctly. Instead, someone has to report any foul play before the Courts step in.

If you don’t choose someone you trust much less leave any instructions on it, how else can you be assured that the person managing your estate knows how to manage it?