What happen to a person's estate after death

Being an adminstrator for my mum's estate after her demise, made me more aware in how a person's estate is distributed.

There are so many things a dependant need to sort out and it can be mentally draining in-addition to the emotional loss of losing a loved ones.

I always advocate as much as possible, during our living years, that we do what is right and responsible for our loved ones whom we will leave behind, especially if one day, we are to be gone prematurely. Do we want to leave a legacy or a debt?

Through my personal experience in handling my mother's estate, as my siblings and myself did not know what assets my mother had, we had a difficult time gathering all the proof of assets under her name.

Thus, if you are open and willing to let your next of kin know which bank you have accounts with, what insurance policies you have, any investment account opened and what other assets or liablities do you have, it will help to ease the administrative issues of having your dependants searching high and low on what you have in your living years.

When handling my mum’s estate matters, as there was no Will written, I received the Grant of Letters of Administration (shown below) from the lawyer's office, which states the schedule of assets and its market value. This letter will allow the distribution of assets according to the intestacy law. Thus it is important to find out what assets and liabilities the deceased had.

What if I do not have a Will?

Below is a simple illustration on the key difference between having a Will and not having a Will.

Getting a Grant of Letters of Administration can be very time consuming and distribution of assets will be according to the intestacy law. Hence, in my course of work, I strongly advise my family, friends and my clients to complete their Nomination of Beneficiary so that the insurance proceeds can be distributed accordingly to the deceased's wishes. It is also important for Singaporeans and SPR to complete their CPF Nomination. Doing up these nominations will enable the beneficiaries to receive the pay-out without much hassle, with or without Will. It is not easy handing a deceased's estate, but with all these done right, it can help ease the emotional burden of the living ones. Don't wait till it is too late.

Please stay tune on my blog on the Importance of Nomination coming up soon.

Opinion(s) expressed are solely in my personal capacity and do not express the views or opinions of Prudential and does not represent any professional advice in the capacity as a PACS representative.

Sources: CPF, Seedly Blog, Singapore Legal Advice

184/19May21

#finanicaltips #nomination #willwriting #financialplanning