Succession in Singapore

No estate duty, and exactly since when

Estate duty was a tax on the total market value of a person's assets at death. IRAS states that it has been removed for deaths on and after 15 February 2008. Before that date it applied to Singapore assets, and to movable assets abroad for a person domiciled in Singapore; immovable property outside Singapore was never within it.

The date that matters is the date of death. An estate still being wound up today, of a person who died before the cut-off, remains subject to the former rules.

Which law divides the estate

Without a will, the estate of a non-Muslim devolves under the Intestate Succession Act, and that of a Muslim under the Administration of Muslim Law Act and Muslim law of inheritance. With a valid will, the testator decides, subject to those rules for a Muslim.

For a foreign family, the practical point is coordination. A Singapore will covering Singapore assets, drafted so as not to revoke a will made elsewhere for assets elsewhere, avoids the most common and most expensive mistake: one will quietly cancelling the other.

What passes outside the will

Some assets do not pass under the will at all. Savings in the Central Provident Fund follow the nomination made by the member, and jointly held property usually passes to the surviving joint owner. A will that assumes it disposes of everything can leave the real distribution quite different from the intended one.

The grant, and the time it takes

Banks and registries act on a grant of probate, where there is a will, or letters of administration, where there is not. Both are issued through the Family Justice Courts. Until a grant is obtained, assets held in the deceased's sole name generally cannot be dealt with, which is why liquidity for the family in the first months deserves planning of its own.