CNPLaw LLP would like to thank you for attending the above webinar on Wednesday, 17 March 2021, hosted by Mr Edwin Chia.
Edwin gave an introductory talk on Wills, with a specific focus on the distribution of equities and bonds. This talk provided an overview of the functions and benefits of the document, and matters to consider in its preparation.
Attendees of this webinar who will like to view a copy of the slides, please fill-up the form below. An email with the link to access the slides will be sent to you shortly after the webinar.
Partner
Edwin is in the firm’s Dispute Resolution team and Family Law practice team. His practice areas encompass a broad range of matters, including civil and commercial litigation, disciplinary proceedings, shareholders disputes, employment matters, and defamation. He also regularly advises clients on wills and probate, lasting power of attorney, application under the Mental Capacity Act and contentious probate.
He has been involved in matters at all levels of the Singapore Courts (including the Court of Appeal) and has acted as lead counsel in matters before the High Court of Singapore and disciplinary tribunals (as prosecuting counsel).
Estate and succession planning can be described as the art of planning and organising personal affairs to achieve maximum wealth protection, for one’s family.
An estate plan may be prepared at any time of one’s life but we usually recommend our clients to start early as this is more effective. Effective estate planning may include appropriately drafted wills and the use of trusts, among other things.
With proper estate planning, our clients are able to minimise the exposure of their accumulated wealth to unnecessary expenses and taxes. This helps them safeguard their wealth during their lifetime and ensures that their loved ones will be properly provided for when their time comes.
Having a will enables one to go further than just providing for one’s family at present. It ensures that upon one’s demise, the selected people will get the amount dictated, and the appointed person will be put in charge of the assets to distribute them according to one’s wishes.
Making a will need not be difficult nor time-consuming. Our fast track wills system eases the will-making process, making it focused on addressing the requirements of our clients in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
Nonetheless, we are mindful that each will is unique and has to be tailored to the specific needs of the client. Clients are therefore invited to discuss their plans with us so that we can ensure their will covers the different classes of assets and beneficiaries in accordance with their wishes.
We also regularly advise and assist clients with the setting up of trusts for various purposes, ranging from protection of assets from creditors to ring-fencing the assets from probate proceedings.
Losing a loved one is never easy and as the legal process of obtaining the Court’s grant to administer the estate of your loved one differs depending whether the person left a will or not. Our team will assist you in obtaining a Grant of Probate (where there is a will) or Letters of Administration (where there is no will). We help to ensure that the entire process is as fuss-free and smooth sailing as possible.
A Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration is required in order for the estate to be administered and distributed by the executor or administrator. The distribution will either be in accordance with the terms of the will or if there is no will, in compliance with Singapore law. If necessary, after the Grant is obtained, we can assist clients with calling in the assets. Such assets include real property, bank accounts and shares in private and public companies.
We also regularly assist foreign clients in resealing a foreign Grant which has been obtained in a commonwealth country (e.g. Malaysia and Hong Kong) in the Singapore courts. This authorises and enables foreign clients to deal with the deceased’s assets in Singapore.
In cases where a client domiciled in Singapore has assets elsewhere in the world, we can tap on our network of international partner firms to assist in dealing with such assets.
With globalisation providing not only a myriad of opportunities but also increased challenges in dealing with the various stakeholders, disputes are bound to arise in the normal course of businesses and transactions.
At CNPLaw, our dispute resolution lawyers seek to provide support to our clients through the lifecycle of transactions. At the very beginning, we seek to mitigate risk and avoid disputes. However, should it transpire to the latter, our lawyers work closely with our clients to either resolve the matter through alternative dispute resolution matters like arbitration and mediation, or through litigating the matter, either in the civil or criminal courts. We have extensive legal experience at every level of the Singapore courts of justice, and our lawyers have appeared in a number of cases reported in the Singapore Law Reports.
