Don’t let death get in the way

MANY people are guilty of procrastination when it comes to writing wills, thinking that they are too young to have a will. Let’s face it though – tomorrow is promised to no one, so it is best to be prepared while there is still a chance. Here is some in

Why do I need a will?

Under the Distribution Act 1958, the property of an intestate – someone who has died without having made a will – will be divided among the person’s next of kin. Depending on your marital status, your next of kin could be your spouse and children, your parents, or both.

As Malaysia does not recognise the relationship between unmarried couples, only legitimate heirs would receive the assets of an intestate, leaving out children born out of wedlock, friends, partners, caregivers and charities.

In simple words, if you do not leave a will, everyone and everything else close to your heart would have no claim on your property.

If you do not make a will of all your belongings, the government can take anywhere between two and five years to distribute your property among your beneficiaries.

The process is a tedious one where your next of kin must appoint an administrator – with the consent of all legal beneficiaries – and apply for a Letter of Administration, thus kickstarting the lengthy process of asset distribution.

The value of your assets might depreciate significantly, especially if you have funds invested in stocks and other volatile financial instruments, by the time the entire process of property distribution without a will is completed.

Would you want your beneficiaries to lose out on the money you saved after putting in so much hard work? Make a will then.

Would you want to leave your child/children without a legal guardian? To ensure that your children are in safe hands after your death, appoint someone as their guardian in your will.

You can also set up a trust fund for their future education. As a parent, it is your duty to secure their future even if you are not around to be a part of it.

Property is one of the biggest reasons for dispute among family members.

By not naming beneficiaries in your will, you would only fuel the dispute of who inherits what.

Some useful information about wills

Wills of Muslims, known as wasiat, are similar in essence to nonMuslim wills. The main difference is that they are governed by syariah laws.

The individuals you are naming as beneficiaries cannot be witnesses to your will.

During the signing of the will, witnesses must be present and sign along with the testator – the person making the will – as proof that the testator is in a sound mind when writing the will.

You would also need to name an executor, known as wasi for Muslim wasiat, who would be responsible for distributing the assets to your beneficiaries after your death.

Since this is a huge responsibility, make sure you have the permission of the person before naming him or her as an executor in your will.

The executor should be a party you can trust, which could be a person, a bank, a will management company or even an attorney.

It is advisable to name more than one executor (maximum four). This way, if one of them dies right after you, there will be others to take over the duty. The workload can be shared among the executors as well.

Did you know?

There is a common misconception that just any lawyer can help you write a will.

While all lawyers should have an idea of how a will works, expecting a criminal or corporate lawyer to help write a will is like asking a brain surgeon to do dental surgery.

You can either find a lawyer who specialises in wills or employ the services of professional will-writing service providers, fund management companies or even banks.

Many Malaysians are unaware that some major banks provide professional will-writing service.

In fact, some fund management companies and banks provide the will-writing service for free if you invest a significant amount of your money with them or have a substantial amount of money stashed away in an account with the bank.

You would need to rewrite your will after you marry since marriage annuls any previously made wills. The reasoning behind this is that it is assumed your priorities would have changed after marriage.

If you die right after marriage, your property would be distributed as intestate.

The same is, however, not true for divorce. Hence, if you do not change your will after your divorce and your former spouse was named as a beneficiary to your assets in your will, he or she would still receive them.

Savings from your Employees Provident Fund account, fixed deposit funds and private retirement schemes would be passed on to the respective nominees if you do not specifically mention otherwise in your will.

These funds are guided by a different set of laws. Therefore, regardless of you having a will or not, the funds would be transferred to the nominees following your death.

Now that you know more about wills, don’t you think you should get one done right away?