When There Is a Will

Applying for a Grant of Probate

When someone leaves a valid Will, the executor applies to the Family Justice Courts for a Grant of Probate before any asset can be released. Here is what that involves, how long it takes, and what we handle for you.

Singapore's Parliament House with the Central Business District behind it.

A Grant of Probate is the court order that confirms a Will is valid and that the executor named in it has authority to deal with the estate. Until it is issued, banks, insurers and the CPF Board will not release anything, and the property cannot be transferred or sold.

It is an administrative step, not a dispute. Most applications are unopposed, and most families never see the inside of a courtroom.

What the executor is responsible for

The executor’s job is not simply to divide things up. In broad terms they must:

Locate the original Will and confirm it is the last one made.
Identify and value everything the deceased owned and owed at the date of death.
Apply to the Family Justice Courts for the Grant.
Settle debts, taxes and funeral expenses out of the estate before distributing anything.
Distribute what remains to the beneficiaries named in the Will, and keep proper accounts.

Distributing before debts are settled is the mistake we see most often, and it can leave the executor personally exposed. It is worth getting the order right.

How long it takes

For a straightforward estate, families should plan for several months rather than weeks. The court application itself is only part of it — gathering asset information from banks, insurers and the CPF Board is usually what sets the pace, and every institution has its own forms and timelines.

Estates take longer when the Will cannot be found, when assets sit overseas, when a beneficiary cannot be located, or when someone contests the Will.

What we do, and what we do not

We handle the administration. Gathering and organising the paperwork, writing to banks, insurers, the CPF Board and HDB, chasing the institutions that go quiet, tracking the timeline, and keeping you told what is happening and what is needed next.

Not a law firm — and two ways to keep the cost down

WeCare Advisory provides administrative and coordination support. We do not give legal advice, and we do not conduct the court application on your behalf — in Singapore only an advocate and solicitor may do that for another person.

Administrator-led. We do the administrative heavy lifting and prepare the paperwork; the executor or administrator files the application directly. This keeps the cost as low as it goes, and you are supported the whole way.

Lawyer-assisted. Our lawyer partners handle the end-to-end legal work, including the formal court application. Because we have already done the administrative groundwork, this comes in below what a traditional full-service law firm would charge.

Either way, you get one person who answers the phone, knows where your file is up to, and does the chasing — without paying legal rates for administrative work.

If you are the executor and feel out of your depth

That is the normal reaction, not a failing. Most executors are a spouse or an adult child doing this once in their life, while grieving, often while also managing a household and a job. The process assumes a level of familiarity that almost nobody has.

You do not need to have anything in order before you call. A rough sense of what the person owned, and whether there was a Will, is enough to start.