Will planner
A calm list for the people you love: what you own, who looks after it, and who it goes to.
Curated by the MAS-licensed financial planners on the Sum team.
List what you own
Your flat, bank accounts, investments, insurance, CPF and things of value, including anything owned jointly, with a rough value for each. Debts go on the list too: a mortgage, loans, cards.
Choose your executors
Executors collect what you own, pay what you owe and share out the rest, which can take years. Two is common, with a spare in case one can't act, and it helps to ask them first. A lawyer or trust company can act too.
Decide who gets what
A will can leave specific gifts, such as the flat, a watch or a sum of money, and the residue: whatever is left once debts and gifts are paid. Naming someone for the residue covers what you can't foresee.
Guardians for young children
21 the age a child usually receives money held in trust
A will can name who would raise your children if both parents passed away. Money left to children is usually held in trust until they turn 21.
If there's no will
The Intestate Succession Act shares the estate by fixed rules, which may not match your wishes. With a spouse and children, half goes to each; with no children, half to your spouse and half to your parents. Muslims' estates follow Faraid.
What a will doesn't cover
CPF savings and insurance with a nomination go to the people nominated, not by the will. A home held in joint tenancy passes to the other owner.
Keep it current
Getting married cancels an earlier will; a divorce doesn't. Planners suggest a look every five years or so, and after a birth, a death or a big purchase. Registering it with the Wills Registry helps your family find it.
Ministry of Law, Wills Registry.