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Probate
introduction
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.
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Partner
See Tow Soo Ling
Soo Ling’s main areas of practice are intellectual property and dispute resolution. She has experience in a diverse range of matters such as building construction, company law, commercial law, disciplinary proceedings, employment law, family law, intellectual property, property law, probate & administration and shareholder disputes.
As head of the intellectual property team, she manages a team that ensures that the intellectual property rights of our clients are protected around the world. She is also deputy head of the Dispute Resolution team.
Partner
Quek Li Fei
In addition to Li Fei’s experience in acting for banks on varied transactions and in general corporate law, he also provided estate planning and succession planning advice to individuals, including the legal aspects of wealth management, setting up trusts and off-shore structures. He also advises on charities and other structures in philanthropy, including setting up charities and companies limited by guarantee.
His cross-border work on various transactions, loans, infrastructure, debt and equity issues have involved lenders, borrowers and corporates in many jurisdictions including Indochina, the PRC, Korea, ASEAN, the Bahamas, Panama and the United Kingdom. He enjoys providing clients with clear thinking on matters that are often highly complex.
He is also actively involved in advising on legal aspects of distributed ledger technology/blockchain, cryptocurrency; ICOs (initial coin offerings), including legal and regulatory compliance.
Li Fei heads the firm’s Banking and Finance as well as Private Clients teams.
Partner
Ravindran Ramasamy
Ravi has 37 years of legal experience. He is in the firm’s Dispute Resolution team and handles both civil and criminal work. He specialises in corporate advisory and corporate and criminal litigation work. He provides legal advice to directors and CEOs on laws and rules relating to directors’ duties and corporate governance. He has a wealth of experience in advising local and regional companies on investment agreements, joint ventures, and corporate structures. He also advises many companies on fraud and due diligence measure to adopt in investments and overseas business development.
Ravi has a vast experience advising companies on legal pitfalls and challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. He has also served on the board of both listed and private companies for many years and brings a commercial and practical dimension to many legal issues faced by clients.
Ravi was a former Member of Parliament and has held appointments such as the Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Foreign Affairs and Deputy Chairman of GPC for Home Affairs and Law. He believes in serving the community in many areas and has worked with the wider community in various capacities over the years. He continues to serve as advisor to community organisations.
Partner
Chia Shengyou, Edwin
Edwin’s experience is in litigation and arbitration proceedings, and estate planning.
He has experience in a diverse range of matters (including disputes between shareholders / joint venture partners), and has acted as lead counsel in disputes concerning equity and trust (involving resulting trust and common intention constructive trust), contentious probate, employment matters and in disciplinary proceedings (as prosecuting counsel). In the area of estate planning, he has extensive expertise advising on issues concerning Wills, application for Grant of Probate / Letters of Administration (including foreign domiciled deceased), and Lasting Power of Attorney.
Edwin was listed in the 2020 edition of Singapore’s 21 most influential lawyers aged 40 and under by the Singapore Business Review. Additionally, he was named as one of the SAF NSmen of the Year in 2022.
His notable experience includes acting as lead counsel where his clients successfully argued that the surviving joint owner of a commercial property was holding the said property on resulting trust on their behalf, before the General Division and the Appellate Division of the High Court, and the Court of Appeal. This matter received widespread media coverage.
Effectively bilingual, he has delivered seminars and webinars (in English and Mandarin) to and/or through various organisations, financial institutions, and news media on topics ranging from debt recovery to estate planning.
Partner
Chan Wai Mun
Wai Mun heads the firm’s real estate practice and believes in strategic big-picture thinking when providing specific legal insight to any issue or advice required.
Since his early years in practice, he has adopted a broad-based approach in developing his technical skills and legal experience in servicing the best interests of his clients.
After more than 15 years of varied experience in civil and family litigation, corporate commercial and corporate real estate work and private clients practice, his focus is now centered primarily on real estate work with related commercial and private clients advisory work.
Partner
Joel Wee
Joel graduated from the University of Western Australia in 2013 and was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 2015. Joel joined CNPLaw in 2017 and is in the firm’s Dispute Resolution team. He has experience in a diverse range of litigation and estate planning work including the drafting of wills and probate work. Joel also previously served as a volunteer on the Law Society’s Probate Practice and Succession Planning Committee.
Partner
Hu Huimin
Huimin is a Partner with the firm’s Dispute Resolution team and Family Law team. She graduated from the National University of Singapore in 2011 from the prestigious Double Degree Programme in Law and Business Administration. She was conferred an LLB (Hons) and a BBA (Hons). Huimin was called to the Singapore bar in 2012.
Huimin is an experienced litigator and a keen advocate . She has been involved in various civil trials and hearings before the State Courts, the High Court and the Court of Appeal of Singapore in a wide range of matters. As a believer in alternative dispute resolution, Huimin is an SMC Accredited Mediator and a SMC Certified Family Mediator
Huimin also has a specialised focus in private client and family-related matters. This includes advising on pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements, high net-worth financial settlements arising out of divorce and relationship breakdown, interim financial applications, complex discovery applications and disputes involving children. She has considerable experience in high value divorces involving non-disclosure of assets, cross-jurisdiction assets and multi-million dollars assets. She has also acted for clients before the Family Justice Courts and the Supreme Court in both contentious and non-contentious probate matters, deputyship applications, divorce proceedings, ancillary matters, custody and maintenance issues. While she has considerable experience in complex litigation, she has also facilitated the resolution of many cases through private settlement and mediation.
Huimin’s cross-disciplinary knowledge and skills in business and law have provided her with a competitive edge. She has the capability to provide a unique mix of complementary services and she regularly advises clients on employment matters and other business-related disputes. She is effective in representing clients in commercial disputes and particularly, in handling shareholder disputes. She is very adept at handling issues relating to the division of business assets in matrimonial proceedings.
Huimin believes strongly that access to justice should be made available to all segments of society. As an assigned solicitor of the Legal Aid Bureau, Huimin has acted for legally aided clients in court proceedings.