How are assets distributed without a will?
Q My Mother-In=Law is very ill and she has not made a will. She has a house and a bank account under her name.
If she dies, how does the law distribute her assets?
She has three sons. One is single, one is married with two sons. Both are working.
The third son, who died this year, divorced in 1992 and is survived by his former wife and two daughters. One is married, the other is single and both are working.
A I AM assuming your mother-in-law is a widow and that she is a Singapore citizen or a Singapore domicile.
Since she has not made any will, the provisions of the Intestate Succession Act will apply if she dies without leaving a will. In legal terms, she is said to have died intestate.
Under the Intestate Succession Act, if she dies and her spouse has died earlier, all assets held in her sole name will be distributed equally amongst all her children.
The Act states that if one of those children is dead, his share will be distributed to his children in equal shares.
It means the sale proceeds from the house and the bank account will be pooled and divided into three equal portions: one to the unmarried son; another to the married son (who has two sons); and the third portion to the two daughters of the deceased son in equal shares.
The divorced wife will not get any share.
Ang Kim Lan DirectorGoodwins Law Corporation
Advice provided in this column is not meant as a substitute for comprehensive professional advice.
Source : Sunday Times - 29 Jul 2007
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