THE Borneo Post with the expert help of Rockwills Trustee Bhd, the leading specialist in estate planning having pioneered wills and trust 27 years ago, is publishing a regular Q&A column on estate planning. It will feature questions which readers have in mind but don’t know who to ask.
Question 1: My mother recently showed signs of being forgetful and doctor says that she is currently at an early stage of Alzheimer’s disease. She wrote a will many years ago, but two years ago, she did mention to me she wanted to change her current will.
I have written down what she wants to change, but I was too busy then and have forgotten about it until now. Is it too late to rewrite her will now?
Answer: We are sorry to hear that your mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. We understand that your mother would like to revise her will but that depends on your mother’s current state of mind.
It is still not too late for your mother to rewrite her will herself if she is still of sound mind and able to understand that she is writing as well as she understands the contents of her will.
To be able to establish that she does have sound mind and understands that consequences of writing her will, it is important for her medical doctor to sign as one of the witnesses to the will or provide a report that she does have sound mind at the date of signing her will.
In the event the doctor is unable to be a witness or provide written confirmation of her sound mind, your mother will not be able to rewrite her will. This would mean her existing Will would be her last will and testament.
Besides that, it is important to appoint a professional estate planner in helping her to rewrite her will and to help to assess if she is still competent to write her will, while ensuring that there is no undue influence throughout the will signing.
Throughout our years of experience in estate planning, we have come across family members requesting us to prepare a will for their elderly or sickly parents on an urgent basis.
While some of them still managed to get their wills done in time, there are quite a number who could not make it in time for their will signing. In such cases, unfortunately, they could not fulfil their wishes on who should get their belongings and assets.
Always remember, it is never too early to have a will done as long as you are 18 years old or older (for Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia) or 21 years old or older for Sabah.
Plan and write your will properly when you are still healthy, both physically and mentally. That is the best preparation and protection for your loved ones. You will not know when the will is needed, until it is too late.
Question 2: I used to work in Singapore many years ago and I still maintain a savings account there. I understand that I can write a will in Singapore for that bank account and at the same time, a will in Malaysia for my assets here. But I don’t have a lot of money there, so should I have two wills still or include my Singapore account in my Malaysian will?
Answer: We are glad to know that you understand the importance of having a Will to cover all your assets around the world. Of course, you can include your Singapore bank account in your Malaysian will.
However, the procedure to claim your assets in Singapore may not be as direct as what you may think due to the differences in law and regulations in the two jurisdictions.
In order for your executor to access your bank account in Singapore, your executor will first need to apply for a grant of probate in Malaysia for your Malaysian will, then only to re-seal the Malaysian Probate in the High Court of Singapore.
Re-sealing is essentially an endorsement of the Malaysian probate to within Commonwealth countries like Singapore to recognise and validate both the Malaysia Will and Probate.
In addition, the legal fees would be more as resealing of the Malaysian probate will be dealt with at the High Court in Singapore and the estate would be represented by a senior lawyer.
If a separate Singapore Will was prepared, the matter will be dealt with at the Subordinate Court and a junior lawyer may attend to the matter. This means lower legal fees.
Hence, it could be better for you to have a separate will written in Singapore to cover your assets in Singapore. If you have a will written in both Malaysia and Singapore, then probate can be applied concurrently without the need of having to wait for one another.
Even though a fee will be incurred for the preparation of the separate Singaporean will, but it can still help you in saving more legal costs in the long run if compared to that of resealing.
Furthermore, having a foreign will prepared by local experts would ensure compliance of the local laws to carry out your will instructions in the future.
If the Malaysian probate is not recognised in a foreign country, a fresh probate would need to be applied. The foreign court may not recognise the Malaysian will if the law of that country recognises only the will written in compliance with the laws of that country.
We understand you may be concerned that the current amount in your Singapore bank account may not be much, but the amount may increase, or you may even have more assets in the future.
In conclusion, we would still advise you to engage a professional estate planner from company such as Rockwills that can to help you in doing proper planning for your assets in both Malaysia and overseas.
This Q&A Column in published as a joint public service and educational initiative with Rockwills Trustee Bhd. Please email your questions related to estate planning to bizhive@theborneopost.com or Rockwills’ training and business development assistant general manager Sam Chan (samchan@rockwills.com).
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3SKXay0
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