Latest news with #IntestateSuccessionAct
IOL News
2 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
How to prevent delays in winding up your estate
Discover essential tips for preventing delays in winding up your estate, ensuring your loved ones are supported during a challenging time. Learn about the importance of a valid Will, proper documentation, and selecting the right executor. Image: Freepik Delays in winding up an estate can create unnecessary hardship for grieving families, and while the Master's Office is often blamed for backlogs, the root cause frequently lies in poor or incomplete estate planning. Ensuring your estate is structured and documented properly can go a long way in easing the burden on your loved ones during an emotionally taxing time. Original Will cannot be located: One of the first requirements when reporting a deceased estate is providing the Master's Office with the original Will and any codicils. If your loved ones are unaware of the location of your original Will or unsure whether you even have one, this can lead to significant delays. Locating the Will may require contacting your bank, financial planner, attorney, or insurance company, which can take weeks or even months to resolve. Top tip: Tell your loved ones where your original Will is kept and ensure it's easily accessible after your death. Dying intestate: If you die without a valid Will, your estate must be wound up in terms of the Intestate Succession Act. The Master's Office will need to appoint an executor, which can be a time-consuming process. Furthermore, the lack of a Will may result in estranged or unintended beneficiaries inheriting from your estate, while your spouse may not be adequately provided for, particularly in second marriages or where adult children inherit a portion of the estate. Top tip: Drafting a valid Will is the single most important step in avoiding unnecessary estate complications. Wills that are complex or poorly worded: A Will that is unclear, contradictory, or overly complex, particularly in the context of blended families or past marriages, can give rise to disputes and even legal action. Legal challenges around the interpretation or validity of a Will can take years to resolve, significantly delaying the finalisation of the estate and depleting its value in the process. Top tip: Work with an experienced estate planner to ensure your Will is clear, unambiguous, and legally sound. Incomplete Wills: A Will that does not account for all your assets, or fails to include a residue clause to deal with what remains after debts and bequests, can result in partial intestacy. This means that the undistributed assets will need to be allocated according to intestate succession, leading to delays, confusion, and possible conflict among heirs. Top tip: Make sure your Will includes a residue clause and accounts for all significant assets. Appointing a layperson as executor: While it may seem like a gesture of trust to appoint a friend or family member as executor, the Master's Office is unlikely to confirm the appointment unless the individual has appropriate qualifications or appoints a professional agent. Estate administration is complex and governed by a strict legal process, and inexperienced executors can inadvertently delay the estate, misinterpret their duties, or expose themselves to personal liability. Top tip: Appoint a qualified fiduciary expert or professional executor with the necessary experience to manage your estate. Missing key documentation: The estate reporting process requires several original documents, including the death certificate, identity documents, marriage certificate, Will, details of next-of-kin, and an asset inventory. If your loved ones cannot locate these, the Master's Office may withhold the appointment of the executor until everything is provided. The result is a delay in starting the estate administration process, which has a knock-on effect on every subsequent step. Top tip: Compile an estate planning file with all important documents and let your executor or family know where to find it. Lack of liquidity in the estate: A common reason for delays in finalising an estate is insufficient liquidity to settle debts or pay bequests. For example, if your Will bequeaths R500,000 to each of your children but only R800,000 is available after settling liabilities, the executor will face a shortfall. They may need to sell assets or approach the Master's Office for approval—both of which can create conflict or lead to legal disputes. Top tip: Ask your financial advisor to perform regular estate liquidity checks to ensure your bequests are realistic and executable. Your estate plan is your final act of care for your loved ones. Avoiding unnecessary delays starts with having a valid, well-drafted Will, ensuring access to important documents, maintaining sufficient liquidity, and choosing the right executor. With a little preparation now, you can spare your family additional hardship during what will already be a very difficult time. * Tapfuma is a Certified Financial Planner professional at Crue Invest. PERSONAL FINANCE
TimesLIVE
26-05-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Man fails to prove his right to inherit late partner's estate
Mogase claimed he was entitled to inherit from Modiga's estate in terms of the act and that Modiga's children (the first and second respondents) treated him unfairly after their mother died. He was therefore seeking an interdict restraining them from denying him access to his primary residence pending the finalisation of Modiga's estate. Further, he sought an order restraining Modiga's children from disposing of any of their mother's assets, from changing the locks on the house and for the return of Modiga's identification card and any documents in their possession that belonged to her. Mogase alleged that on December 16 2009, he and Modiga entered into a customary marriage. Her children, however, denied the customary union but acknowledged that Mogase and their mother were in a long-standing romantic relationship. The siblings opposed Mogase's application on the basis that their mother left a valid will in March 2020. In the will, she did not nominate Mogase as a beneficiary but left her entire estate to her three children — the first and second respondents, and a third child who was not cited as a respondent in the application. The master of the Pretoria high court issued a letter of executorship to the first respondent, who, in his capacity as executor of the estate, proceeded with its administration by opening an estate account at First National Bank. In addition, the first respondent lawfully took control of the assets of the estate in terms of the amended Administration of Deceased Estates Act. The court highlighted that, based on Modiga's valid will, which was accepted and acted on by the master of the high court, Mogase's allegation that he was entitled to inherit from Modiga's estate in terms of the Intestate Succession Act could not stand. The court added that even if it was accepted that Mogase entered into a customary union with Modiga and that he was married to her in community of property (which was not the basis upon which he approached the court), he would at best have a claim against the deceased estate, but not against the two respondents. The court, accordingly, dismissed his application.
CNA
27-04-2025
- Business
- CNA
Commentary: Can you be ‘too young' to make a will?
SINGAPORE: I was 29 when I first sat down to write my will. There's no denying that thinking about death is uncomfortable, especially if you're going through big life changes such as getting married or raising your first child. In a time of joy and new beginnings, no one likes to think about the possibility of everything suddenly being taken away by events out of our control. Perhaps this is why, in a 2022 survey by wealth manager St James's Place Singapore, 48 per cent of Singaporeans said they don't have a will. To me, this is a curiously high number for a country famed for its long-term planning skills. Facing your mortality doesn't mean you're being morbid or pessimistic. It means you're being practical about what life could be like for your loved ones if you're no longer around for them. PROVIDING YOUR LOVED ONES WITH CLARITY Unlike the television dramas we watched while growing up, you do not need to be old, sick or rich to need a will. In Singapore, anyone aged 21 and above can make a legally binding will. But rather than asking yourself 'Am I at the age to make a will?', a better question would be: 'Do I have something to leave behind for my loved ones?' In my case, it wasn't long after my first child was born that I started thinking about drafting a will. As long as you have assets (no matter how substantial) and people you care about, it is a good time to think about making a plan for both. Without a will, your estate will be distributed according to the law rather than your wishes. This could be your bank savings, your property (or properties), your Central Provident Fund monies or even your investments in cryptocurrencies or stocks. In Singapore, only legal family members are recognised under the Intestate Succession Act. Your fiance, godchildren or the charity you've spent years donating to or volunteering for will not get a single cent. A will prevents disputes among family members, which can help preserve family harmony even when you're not around to play mediator. For instance, my children are closer to my parents-in-law, so I've stipulated in my will that in the event my spouse and I are both deceased or incapacitated, they will live with his parents instead of mine. But let's say you're married with no children. Following your death, your spouse gets half your assets while the other half is distributed to your parents. Want to leave your money to only your mother who single-handedly raised you instead of splitting it between her and your estranged father? No will, no way. CARING FOR THOSE YOU LEAVE BEHIND Not only does having a will ensure your money and possessions go where you want them to, it also spares your loved ones from a prolonged and stressful process waiting for the courts to distribute your assets. When a person passes away, their personal assets are frozen. No one can withdraw from their bank accounts, take over their properties or sell their stock investments. If they had been the sole or main breadwinner, this can result in great inconvenience and hardship for their living family members. The next-of-kin will have to apply to the court for Letters of Administration to obtain access to these assets – in the meantime, they may struggle to cover daily living expenses, or even funeral arrangements for their lost loved one. With a will, your nominated executor can simply apply for a Grant of Probate to access your assets. This will be much faster than waiting on the courts. Your executor can be anyone – typically a family member or good friend whom you trust to carry out your wishes. However, if your loved ones lack the knowledge or skills to best manage your assets, consider appointing someone who can also help guide them as needed. While drafting my own will, I was cognisant that I'm the only one in my family who knows how to manage our stocks and cryptocurrency holdings – so I made sure to name someone who could provide them with trustworthy financial advice in my stead. You can also update your will as and when you like – if you've changed your mind about who your executor should be, for instance, or if you've recently acquired new assets. DON'T WAIT FOR THE 'RIGHT TIME' In the short term, it's a lot easier to put off writing a will. Singaporeans are a notoriously busy people – many of us likely assume we'll 'get to it eventually'. I'm in my mid-30s and among my own friends, very few have even thought about making a will. But one of the most overlooked truths about wills is that we don't get to decide when we need one. Sudden accidents, unexpected health conditions or unforeseen tragedies have left countless families mired in financial and legal confusion on top of grappling with their grief. Consider a 2017 case where a Singaporean man died with no will, leaving behind a Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat. His 74-year-old mother (who had been living in the flat with him) was blocked from handling his assets when it came to light that, in exchange for money, her son had legally married a Vietnamese woman without the family's knowledge. It was another eight years before the courts finally ruled that the marriage was a sham and the deceased's aged mother was able to access his assets. In a 2022 case, the lack of a will left a grandson battling his grandmother in court over the deceased's HDB flat and bank monies. In another 2020 case, another Singaporean man died intestate (without a will), leading his brother and nephew into a drawn-out court fight over who should be the administrator of his estate. True, these are dramatic examples. But the difficulties underpinning them are universal and, more importantly, can be easily avoided with a will. Writing a will is not for when you expect to die. It is something we should do while we still can. It's admittedly a discomfort – but a temporary discomfort that can give us and our loved ones some vital peace of mind in the long term. So how young is too young to make a will? In a world where unpredictability is the only constant, maybe the better question is: Why wait till it's too late?
