Last Will and Testament

There's a common saying that death and taxes, are the only guaranteed things in life. Fortunately in Singapore, death taxes were eliminated a few years back, so that makes death/estate planning a bit easier.

Writing a Will is one of the most important aspects in financial planning because it forces us to think who are the real important persons in our lives, that we truly trust and love. Moving forward, we should strive to spend a greater portion of our time with our loved ones  :-)

In general, the executor is the most important in the will, as he is the middleman between your will and your beneficiaries.

Usually the first executor is the spouse, second executors are close siblings or close friends etc.

The executor would usually be the one who holds the death certificate, and going to the various financial institutions (banks, insurance companies etc) to claims the estate assets. The executor will also have to pay off all your existing debts (eg. hospital bills, funeral expanses etc) before distributing the remaining to the beneficiaries.

If the children are minors, he will have to hold the assets until they are adults. Hence It is better for the executor to also be the guardian of your children, as he/she is holding on to all your estate cash and assets

The executor can also be the beneficiary of your will, but the witnesses should be independent and non-beneficiaries

To prevent loss of your will, u can say sign 3 copies of the same will, 1 keep yourself, the other 2 kept by your first and second executor

Notes:
1.  HDB (joint-tenancy) homes are not under will assets, unless they are under co-ownership.
2. CPF monies are distributed under CPF nominations first. Only if there is no CPF nomination, would it be under will estate
3.  If u have purchased some NTUC insurance plans many yrs back when NTUC is a full cooperative, you might want to confirm with your agent. Apart from NTUC, all insurance claims are now under Will