In movies or gossip magazines, we usually see how family members fight over their inheritance. In fact, we have to agree that the Hong Kong dramas are the best at emphasizing the family crisis. The movie cleverly displays on how the family members manipulate and deceiving each other, forcing out the weaker or innocent party out of the estate. To make things more exciting, an outsider is introduced and acted as the mastermind to incite hatred to the family, ultimately created a Will and rob the family off their fortune.

In reality, contest and family squabble happens all the time and it is not limited to the rich only, but also among the poor. In addition, there will always be a happy ending in the movies but in reality, it might be not the case. Therefore, it is important to educate the public about the vulnerability of a Will and the crime in interfering with another’s Will. There are basically four elements that is harmful and if found guilty, can be a crime. The elements are as follows: the destruction of a Will, forgery, duress and lastly undue influence.

The destruction of a Will can be catastrophic, it revokes the Will and the court only recognises the original Will. However, if it is destroyed accidentally, a copy of Will can be induced as evidence and it is up to the court to justify the evidence and the witness to prove the validity of the Will. On the other hand, deliberately destroying a Will belonging to another is a crime and it will not necessarily revoke the Will. As mentioned earlier, with sufficient evidence and witness, the court can intervene.

Forgery, the crime of falsely making or altering a writing by which the legal rights or obligations of another person are apparently affected; simulated signing of another person’s name to any such writing whether or not it is also the forger’s name. If it is done intelligently, a forge Will can be undetectable.  One well forged signature and a couple of well prepared rogue witnesses, a forged Will can be executed fairly easily. Moreover, only the deceased testator can justify the Will.

If threat is applied to a person, it is an assault. On the other hand, if threat is used to comply another to draft a legal document, it is duress. Duress can take many form, it ranged from threat, be it physical, psychological or mentally; and any kind of deprivation such as deprivation to essential needs or movement. If sufficient evidence were obtained to prove the Will was done under duress, the court shall render the Will voided. As for the person who applies the duress, good luck to them.

Lastly, the concept of undue influence. In probate law, it is much narrower because it only involves actual undue influence. Undue influence cannot therefore be presumed when contesting a will. it is generally defined as a testator‘s loss of free agency regarding property disposition through contemporaneous psychological domination by an advisor which results in an excessive benefit to the advisor. It is important to note that undue influence is only an issue when the advisor is benefiting, not when advisor is getting a benefit for someone else; in that case it would be considered fraud. In litigation most jurisdictions place the burden of proving undue influence on the party challenging the will.

In conclusion, writing a Will is not to absolute answer. It is important to have a good estate planning plan, Prevention is better than cure. Do not allow such elements to stop you from writing a will. Court and technology will prevent tragedy from happening.

First and foremost, Will is a legal document drafted for the sole purpose of estate distribution after the death of the testator. People regularly misunderstood the meaning of Will writing, and associated it to death after writing Will. Here is the very main reason why people associate Will to death. People usually make decision when they are in desperate situation and only think of distributing their property before their death. Often enough, Will is drafted days before their death and that is why people associate Will as a bad omen. Anyway, no matter when you write your Will, it will never affect your ownership nor it can cause your death. Therefore, it is better for you to plan your Will when you are still prudent and clear. It is never too early to plan.

When we watched movie, lawyers are the legal guy who writes the Will and read out the Will to the beneficiary after the death of the testator or testatrix. However, it is not quite the case in reality. Lawyers are not the only one who can write Will. In fact, in today’s modern society, we actually have professional Will-writers or Estate Planner to help us prepare our Will and further on prepare a better service. Estate Planner does not only able to advise you on the legality of a will, thus they are able to provide you with better idea of distributing your assets. If lawyers are regarded as the expert in law, then an Estate Planner shall be equivalent to an expert in Will writing and estate planning. In contrast, one does not necessarily engaged a lawyer or obtain any special qualification to write a Will. However, there are a few simple legal requirements to be fulfilled. Firstly, the testator or testatrix should attain the age of majority and of sound mind. Secondly, the Will must be made in writing; however, the format of a Will is not specified. Last but not least, two witnesses are required to witness but it is not necessary for them to read the Will. Witnesses are only required to witness the testator or testatrix signing on the Will.

For some reason, people tend to hide their Will or lock it up in a very private place. Personally, I don’t see the reason why people do it. Imagine what will happen if the testator or testatrix passed away suddenly and there is no one realizing the existence of the Will or the location of the Will. Wouldn’t it be redundant to have a Will? Do not worry about your Will, even if someone knows your Will, nothing much can be done to it. First of all, a Will can only be activated upon the testator’s or testatrix’s death and secondly, only those whom are nominated in the Will can benefit from the testator’s or testatrix’s estate. By the way, people do not need to look at your Will to forge it; the fraud can simply draft out a Will to suits their preferences and forge your signature. Therefore, you do not have to hide or lock up your Will. Moreover, it is better to disclose the existence of your Will and make everyone aware of your Will. There will be more watchful eyes to look after your Will. As for those who think that Will is a very private and confidential document, then they are wrong. Upon the execution of Will, an extract of Will can be obtained from the court and it is a public document. Therefore, there are no reasons to hide your value of accumulated wealth.

Spouse always thinks that if their other half passed away, they will automatically entitle to the inheritance. Unfortunately, that is the most common and most critical mistake made by people. First of all, you will not receive the inheritance automatically. The deceased estates are required to apply for Grant of Letter of Administration from the high court. If you are lucky enough, you might be able to obtain the grant of Letter of Administration within a year. Unfortunately, it is not always the case. The procedures can even take up years and without proper estate planning, it can really hurt the deceased’s family. Upon the death of the spouse, everything under his name, be it a joint or sole owned, shall be frozen. Therefore, if the spouses have a joint account, the bank will automatically freeze the joint account. The other spouse is not authorized to withdraw any money from the account even though the money belongs to the surviving spouse.

Second common mistake made by married couple are, the surviving spouse often assumed their rights to the inheritance. In fact, when a person passed away without writing a Will, his assets will be distributed according to the Distribution Act 1958. As a result, the surviving spouse is only entitled to 1/3 of the inheritance and the other 2/3 to the children. If there are still surviving parents, then 1/4 shall be awarded to the decease’s parents, the other 1/4 to the surviving spouse and the remaining is distributed to the children. On the other hand, for the muslim, the surviving husband is entitles to claim 1/4 of the inheritance whereas the surviving wife or wifes is/are entitle/s to claim 1/8. Under the Islamic law, it allows the spouse to claim for “harta sepencarian” which means, the spouse are entitle to claim up to half of the deceased assets. As a result, the surviving muslim spouse is entitle to claim half of the deceased assets plus another 1/4 or 1/8 of the residuary estate. A part from that, if minor child is involved, it does not necessarily mean that the child are not entitle to anything. The parent of the child automatically be appointed as the trustee of the child and hold the inheritance on his/her behalf. Upon the child reaching the age of majority, the parent shall then transfer the ownership to the child.

House, share and money is not the only thing that you can distribute through Will. In fact, anything can be distributed through a Will provided that full descriptions are given. In addition, it is important to provide full descriptions to the property. Any ambiguity can potentially create problems in the process of distribution. For example, I have encountered a case where the deceased has a property and surprisingly, the flat has one address but it is sitting on 2 different plots of land. Therefore, the flat has two land title and unfortunately, the testator or testatrix only managed to provide the will-writer with a title. As a result, the executor has to reapply to the high court in order to transmit and transfer of titles effectively. Imagine if the Will was to be contested, what will happen to the property? Therefore, testator or testatrix must always check their property, ensure that the property name in the Will do really exist and it is consistent to the registration number.

A part from naming the property correctly, one should always remember to make sure that there is liquidity in the Will. Testator or testatrix should mobilize their assets to pay for all the debts and expenses of the family. Failure in doing so might result in loss of property such as selling off of landed property to pay of funeral expenses or inability to repay mortgages by the beneficiary. In the other words, testator or testatrix should remember not to leave debts to their family members and make sure that there is enough liquidated assets to support dependant beneficiaries or to pay off liabilities.

Lastly, many people do not understand Will-writing and thus complaints about the fee chargeable. Conversely, Will-writing does not actually cost you a lot if you really study the distribution process. The reasons are simple. First of all, the Grant of Letter of Administration is often longer and more complicated than a Grant of Probate. Consequently, it will automatically incur a higher cost than writing a will and applying a Grant of Probate. Secondly, writing a will can be very complex and technical. Wouldn’t it be better if money spend today for a qualified Will Writer and Estate Planner than to have a bigger problem in the future? More money will be spend by beneficiaries in the event of family squabble, mistake in the Will, Will destroyed or lost or could not be retrieve! Family dependant who needs immediate financial support will have to wait! Time frame unknown!

These are the very main reason why people do not see Will writing and estate planning as a core plan in our life. People are too skeptical when comes to writing a Will. Read and understand the role of a Will, do not fear to write a Will. Anyway, you can always rewrite your will and to update it from time to time.

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