When do I need a probate?
Where do you see this?
In court documents and newspaper articles.
What does it mean?
When there is a will, the deceased's estate or assets can be accessed by the family and descendants and distributed among them only after a grant of probate has been obtained from the courts.
The estate or assets are frozen under estate administration laws in the meantime.
The objective is to make sure that an estate is distributed according to the wishes of the deceased.
If there is no will, letters of administration will substitute the term probate.
Why is it important?
The process of obtaining a grant of probate in Singapore can last from a few months to two years or more.
Meanwhile, there is expenditure such as funeral expenses and other bills to be taken care of, so the deceased's family may be facing difficult cash-flow problems.
Worse still, if the assets of the deceased are not properly managed or if the estate has to pay fees while it is being managed, the overall value of the estate could fall.
Factors that may cause delays include legal complications in administering the assets, difficulty in gathering evidence and determining the full extent of the deceased's estate or assets.
These delaying factors may in turn create problems in accounting for the exact amount that each of the beneficiaries ought to receive.
So you want to use the term. Just say...
'The property that is in the sole name of my father would not be formally transferred until probate is granted on his estate.'
Lorna Tan
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Contact Stuart Chng: (65) 9691 9907
Email: stuart.chng@eastliving.com.sg
EastLiving - Singapore Property and Real Estate DB
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1 comment:
Is there any way that this process can be speeded up in Singapore – for example is it possible to pay a fee for a quicker response?
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