Here's an insurance policy that most Singaporean adults and permanent residents didn't know they have - Dependants' Protection Insurance. In this short article, we run through the basics of how this CPF-related scheme works and how to benefit from it. What is Dependants’ Protection Scheme? Dependants' Protection Scheme (DPS) is a term life insurance scheme that provides basic financial protection for you and your family in the event of death, terminal illness or total permanent disability. DPS is administered by Great Eastern Life and can be paid using your CPF savings. A DPS claim can be made by your next of kin upon your demise or if you’re certified to be suffering from terminal illness or total permanent disability Before 60 years old, you are insured a sum of up to S$70,000. After that and up to 65 years old, you are insured a maximum sum of S$55,000. The policy ends when you turn 65 years old. Who is eligible for DPS? You are automatically included upon your first CPF working contribution if you're a Singapore Citizen (SC) or Permanent Resident (PR) between age 21 and 65. Note: DPS is not compulsory. You can choose to terminate. How much you pay for your DPS depends on your age. The premium can range from $18-$298 per year. Check here for how much you are paying for your DPS and here for the benefits you are getting. What happens to my DPS when I die? CPF will inform the insurer and if a DPS nomination has been made, the insurer will send the claim application details to the assigned nominee(s). In the absence of a DPS nomination, the details will be sent to your correspondence address. Your family can also make a claim directly by submitting an application to the insurer. The pay out will be given to the deceased's estate and be distributed either based on your will or intestacy law . Note: DPS is previously administered by NTUC Income. If your previous DPS nomination was done with NTUC Income, you will be required to make a new one. Need help consolidating or sorting out your insurance affairs, find and compare financial consultants via our Immortalize Marketplace . Inheritance-related articles: How are my assets distributed after I die? (Singapore Edition) How Does Muslim Inheritance Work in Singapore? Others in the CPF-related Series Part 1: CPF Inheritance: How It Works, Tips & More! Part 2: CPF LIFE - The Best Gift From The Government? Part 3: CPF LIFE, Retirement Sum Scheme or Private Annuity? Which is Better? Part 4: How Can I Maximize the Payout From CPF LIFE Part 5: CPF Investment Scheme: How It Works, Inheritance & More! Part 6: Supplementary Retirement Scheme: How It Works, Inheritance & More! Subscribe to our mailing list to get the articles delivered straight to your inbox. Back to CPF, CPF, SRS X Inheritance Series > Back to Resource > Immortalize is Singapore's most comprehensive elderhood marketplace and information provider. Find out all you need to know about ageing better , retiring more meaningfully and leaving a legacy that is uniquely yours here and let us help you get these sorted easily. Outsource the work and start planning for you and your family's legacy with Immortalize Prime, your personal elderhood planning assistant ! Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice, financial advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a p rofessional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Say you own a property under joint tenancy with another person. If you pass away, generally speaking, the right of survivorship will apply, it supersedes your will and your share in the house will be passed on to the surviving joint tenant. However, after a recent Singapore Court ruling , this may not always be the case, The Straits Times reports . Court case involves a man who owns a 3-room HDB flat with one of his daughter as a joint tenant. Man, a "traditional patriarch", said in his will that the flat will go to his only son. Man has 7 daughters and 1 son. The High Court ruled that the daughter, who was a joint owner, would inherit the flat But the Court of Appeal overturned the decision as there was sufficient evidence to show that the man didn’t intend for the flat to go to this daughter. The court noted that a surviving joint owner of a property does not have an automatic right to inherit the property if this is clearly not the intention of the other owner. This is especially so if the surviving joint owner did not pay anything for the share in the property. The Court ordered the daughter to sell the flat and be accountable to her father's estate for all income and losses relating to the property. She also had to pay the legal costs of $40,000 incurred by the family. Need help on Property X Inheritance? Speak to us now. We can answer some general questions and help you find the right lawyer/provider that suits your needs and budget to assist you with your estate planning. Immortalize  is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Want to outsource your legacy planning work? Check out Immortalize Prime , your elderhood personal assistant. Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional  for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Hospital emergency rooms are infamous for being overcrowded. Instead of waiting for hours in the hospitals where ambulances constantly bring in sicker patients, people who need care urgently can consider treatment at urgent care clinics, according to Cheah Si Oon, an Emergency Specialist at Urgent Care Clinic International. We discussed with Cheah on what is urgent care, when patients should choose urgent care clinics over hospital emergency rooms and why making an Advance Care Plan is important. Name: Cheah Si Oon Company: Urgent Care Clinic International Medical Specialization: Emergency Care Base Country: Singapore Service Style: Efficient, personalized, compassionate Anything Interesting: Avid scuba diver who finds joy in reading children’s books Clinic Location: Parkroyal on Kitchener Road, 181 Kitchener Road, #01-01, Singapore 208533 (Central Singapore CDC) Q: Can you tell us more about yourself? Why did you decide to be a doctor? Cheah: My story is very typical. I wanted to be a doctor because I wanted to help people. I ended up specializing in emergency care and working in the hospital’s Accident & Emergency (A&E) department for more than 10 years because I like to multi-task and handle different kinds of challenges. Q: Is A&E in real-life similar to what you see in the movies? Cheah: Yes! You might remember the US television drama, ER, which came out around the same time as when I started in A&E. We get different kinds of cases every day and just deal with whatever life throws at us. It’s never boring there. We are constantly in motion and everything looks messy to the eye but it’s our kind of “organized” mess. All the doctors and nurses know where everything is, and we know exactly what our roles are. Q: What is the most significant incident that you still remember till this day? Cheah: We get to see many different cases, but the ones that we find it difficult to forget are the traumatic incidents with tragic outcomes, sometimes involving multiple casualties. The recent most memorable incident for me happened in 2017. A pregnant woman was knocked down by a truck when she was crossing the road. She collapsed on arrival at the A&E and we had to perform a perimortem cesarean section (the delivery of a fetus during or near the time of death of the mother) to save the baby. We tried to save both the mother and the baby, but in the end, we only managed to save the premature baby, who is miraculously doing very well today. Even though we couldn’t save the mother, it still feels very rewarding to be able to do what we did. Q: Do you get immune to death after dealing with so many cases? Cheah: No, I think it’s very hard to be immune, or even get immune at all. You just learn how to deal with your emotions through time. It’s always going to be difficult when it comes to death. As a senior doctor, we are like the captain of a boat. We have to quickly make sure all our junior doctors and nurses are okay emotionally, because most of the time before anyone can fully recover from one case, new cases will appear. We see patients with sudden cardiac arrests from accidents or heart attacks on a regular basis. It is devastating to break the news to the family. Typically, we don’t break the news over the phone, because we don’t know how the family will take the news. We don’t know what ages the family members are or whether they will faint when they hear the news, so we wait for them to come to the hospital and then slowly break the news to them. That’s the least we can do. Q: You are now running your own clinic focusing on “urgent care”. What exactly is urgent care and what made you start your own clinic? Cheah: Urgent care is for people whose conditions are urgent enough to need to see a doctor urgently, but not for emergency life-threatening cases. Instead of waiting for hours in hospitals, where ambulances constantly bring in sicker patients, people who need care urgently can be treated in a non-hospital setting like my clinic. If you are sick, there are generally two places that you would go to - your neighborhood clinic that does general practice or if it’s urgent, you would go to the hospital’s A&E. But something is missing in between. Not everyone who needs to be treated urgently will require hospital admission. Only about 30% of the urgent cases end up with an admission. My co-founders and I realized that there’s this gap where a lot of urgent patients can actually be treated quickly and discharged home. Me and my other two co-founders are all Emergency Specialists. We understand the frustration of waiting at the A&E for 5-6 hours to be seen by a doctor. We started to think of ways on how we can decongest A&E and reduce patient waiting time in Singapore, and that’s how our clinic came about. Urgent Care Concept Urgent care is not a new concept. Some countries, like the United States (US), already have urgent care to help decongest A&E. Urgent care is a sub-specialization in the US, and I’ve been observing its development. I believe that if 10% of the A&E patients can be brought to clinics that provide urgent care, this will help significantly decongest A&Es in Singapore. Another reason why I decided to leave A&E and start my own clinic is because I want to know my patients better and have closer relationships with them and their family. At A&E, we have very little time to interact with patients and family. Over time, I felt like there wasn’t really a close doctor-patient relationship where I could follow-up with their recovery. Q: How is your clinic different compared to public and private hospitals and other clinics? Cheah: Even though we are a clinic, we’re slightly different from other clinics as our doctors are all emergency specialists. Some people described us as “super” GPs or jack of all trades, who know a little bit of everything and have the skills to perform most of the simple procedures. Compared to public and private hospitals, our clinic can provide patients with faster care for certain emergencies, and patients can be treated by an Emergency Specialist from the start. For example, if you have a very bad ankle sprain or a minor fracture, but not to the extent that you need surgery, we can put you on a walking boot instead of a plaster cast. You will be able to avoid multiple visits to the hospital for change of plaster cast and cast removal. You will still be able to maintain your mobility and save time and money as well. House Visits For Elderly Patients We do house visits as well, where we would go to patient's homes to see them instead of them visiting a hospital’s A&E. For example, if you have stomach pain, but you’re not sure whether it is food poisoning, a problem with your gallbladder or something else, we can go to your home much like a mobile A&E doctor. We can perform blood tests by the bedside and we can also use a portable ultrasound machine to look for gallstones and gallbladder infection. We can provide intravenous (IV - a medical technique that administers medication or fluids directly into a person’s vein) antibiotics for infection as well as IV fluids for rehydration at your home. This may be a good option for elderly patients with dementia who are more comfortable in their own home as they often get disoriented by unfamiliar places like hospitals. Another difference between us and the hospitals is our charges. We charge slightly higher than public hospitals’ A&Es but are more affordable than private hospitals. Public hospitals are heavily subsidized by the government and thus the cheaper charges. Q: What is a typical patient for you? Cheah: We treat patients with any minor accidents which do not need immediate surgeries such as falls, fractures, cuts, bruises, and dislocations. We also treat patients with mild infections, for example, skin infections such as cellulitis, boils and bacterial infections such as urinary tract infection, food poisoning and dengue infection, who may need some IV hydration. We are not able to follow through life-threatening emergencies, such as heart attacks and strokes which require big scanners for diagnosis, or surgeries, such as perforated appendixes. Q: How does someone know when to call your clinic or an ambulance for emergencies? Cheah: If you have life-threatening symptoms such as severe or crushing chest pain, where you suspect it’s a heart attack, you should call an ambulance. The ambulance would know which hospital has a 24/7 cardiologist that can perform urgent medical procedures on you. If you were in an accident which resulted in massive bleeding and fractures with bone jutting out of your skin, you would definitely need surgery, so you should call an ambulance as well. If you are able to make your way to the A&E on your own with minor symptoms, you may be a suitable patient for urgent care. If you are not sure whether you should come to us or whether someone like an elderly patient is suitable for a house visit, you can give us a call or send in a photo of your injury and we will evaluate and advise what’s the best course of action for you. We have this concierge-like service because we think the public is unsure about the medical system, so we want to provide a bit of guidance on what they should do for different emergencies. Q: What services do you provide in the elderhood space? Cheah: We help people do Advance Medical Directive (AMD) , Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) , Advance Care Planning (ACP) , and death certification. A lot of people, especially elderlies who are nearing their end of life, either from cancer, old age or other reasons, actually want to die at the comfort of their home. Many patients, who are on palliative care (specialized medical care that helps people relieve pain and other symptoms because of serious or life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer or heart failure), still have mental capacity and want to be taken care of in a certain way. One way to achieve what these patients want is through ACP. [Advance Care Planning (ACP) is the process of planning for your future healthcare options. It is a non-legally binding document that allows you to have a say in your healthcare when you no longer have mental capacity.] Read more: Demystifying Advance Care Planning (Singapore Edition) Demystifying Lasting Power of Attorney (Singapore Edition) Demystifying Advance Medical Directive (Singapore Edition) Q: What is your ACP procedure? Cheah: If you already know what you want to do, that’s great, you can just get us to sign off your ACP document. But if you don’t know what you want to do, then you will have to consult us first. During the consultation, we will determine if you are still mentally capable of making your own decisions. Once we have established that you are still mentally capable, we can assess your medical history and details and the medications you have taken through the National Electronic Health Records (NEHR) database. Next, we will have an open discussion with you because the details that go into ACP are very in depth. Let’s say you are a patient diagnosed with end-stage colon cancer, we will ask what care would you want and to what extent. Detailing Your Healthcare Preferences If there are symptoms relating to your cancer but are not immediately fatal, such as slow bleeding in your body, what do you want medical professionals to do? Do you want us to still provide you with intermittent blood transfusion (medical procedure that transfers one person’s blood to you to replace lost blood)? If you developed medical issues that are unrelated to your cancer and are reversible such as fever and pneumonia, would you want to be treated and be put on antibiotics? What if it’s a sudden medical catastrophe that is so great that your heart stops? Do you want medical professionals to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR - a lifesaving emergency procedure to restore blood circulation and breathing when your breathing or heart stops), put a tube down your throat and then put you on an artificial ventilation machine (equipment that helps you breathe when you can’t breathe on your own)? What if your cancer is causing you to feel so sick that the cancer cells have spread to your brain and you can no longer eat, do you want to be put on an artificial feeding tube? Consider Doing Your Advance Care Plan If your answer is no to certain things, you would rather not suffer than to get those procedures performed on you, we’ll put that wish on your document. After you have decided that you want to do your ACP and made sure that your wishes are documented, we will sign off the document for you. We highly advise that your children or family members are made aware of your decision when you are doing your ACP. If you have many children or family members, pre-select a primary healthcare spokesperson that will speak on your behalf for when you lose mental capacity, because that would make things easier for medical professionals when they only need to talk to one person to make certain decisions. (Want to get started on your ACP but find it too difficult? Reach out to providers who can help you with your ACP here ) Q: How does an ACP get activated? Cheah: For instance, a cancer patient could have signed his ACP to allow pain medications to be given for his cancer to alleviate his pain but not further surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy to remove or shrink his tumor. So when this patient is suffering from pain, medical professionals like us can follow his ACP instructions and make him more comfortable. He may not need hospitalization for further scans and surgical procedures, because we understand what his wishes are. There was a case where one of our patients had signed her ACP. And in her ACP, she stated that she doesn’t want surgery, transfusion, artificial tubes or any life support procedures for her illness and only wants to treat issues that are reversible. One day, she developed symptoms of confusion and is not eating well. At first we thought it’s her illness causing these symptoms, and since her ACP says she doesn’t want to be fed by artificial tubes, we followed her ACP instructions and didn’t proceed to force her to go to the hospital. We later found out it was actually her chronic medications (medications that are taken on a regular basis for long-lasting illnesses) that caused her sodium level to be lower than average. This is a treatable issue so we immediately took action and corrected her sodium level. After a short period of IV fluid treatment, she recovered from her confusion. Q: What are some of the common issues that people face when they do or have done their ACP? Cheah: When it comes to ACP, one of the common issues that people face is when they have never had prior discussion about end-of-life planning before they come in to sign their ACP. ACP is something that you can discuss with your family before you decide to sign the document. There are available brochures to assist you to start the difficult conversation with your family. Another thing that most people don’t know is that ACP is reversible. A lot of patients and family members are not comfortable signing the document because they think it is permanent. They are also afraid that they will not receive care when they need it nearing their end of life. For details about the extent of care, which can sometimes be too technical, we can provide you with more information and examples to help you with your decision. You can have a discussion with your family first and then come back when you are ready. It’s good to have your family around when you do your ACP so they are aware of your wishes. Difficult For Caregivers To Be Bystanders The other issue is that it’s often very hard for caregivers to be bystanders in situations where they have to witness the patients’ pains and sufferings. In many cases, they will inevitably bring patients to the hospital and patients have to die in the hospital. But this is exactly the sort of thing that the elderlies are trying to avoid. At the end of the day, everyone wants to have a comfortable last day in life. Everyone wants to leave this world peacefully with no suffering. A lot of what we do is advise dying patients of what to expect and prepare, and make them as comfortable as possible. In turn, caregivers can also be mentally prepared and won’t be too traumatized when the day comes. Q: What are your interests or hobbies? Cheah: My ‘real’ full time job is taking care of my three kids who are all under 12 ( laughs )! Currently I’m discovering my second childhood and being introduced to books that 11-year-olds enjoy reading. Remember the time when Harry Potter was hugely popular? Now there are many more books and series about dragons and magic. When the kids are old enough, I want to go back to scuba diving. I used to dive with my husband. It's something that we both find very therapeutic. This interview has been edited for length. Back to profile interviews > All articles and resources > Immortalize offers Prime Concierge, a personal assistant service, to help you plan for your spectacular ageing and retirement life that includes Will, Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), Advance Medical Directive(AMD), Advance Care Planning (ACP), and more! FAQs What is urgent care? Urgent care is a medical service that provides care for people whose conditions require treatment by a doctor urgently, but are not life-threatening. Should you call an ambulance or a clinic that provides urgent care when there is an emergency? If you can make your way to the A&E on your own with minor symptoms, a clinic with urgent care services may be able to treat you. For more severe emergencies, you should call an ambulance. Should I discuss my Advance Care Planning (ACP) decisions with my family members? You can and should discuss your ACP with your family members before signing the document so that your family members are made aware of your decision/wishes. You can also pre-select a primary healthcare spokesperson that will speak on your behalf for when you lose mental capacity, which would make things easier for medical professionals when they only need to talk to one person to make certain decisions. If I have done my Advance Care Planning (ACP), when will it get activated? Medical professionals can carry out your healthcare preferences that is indicated in your signed ACP in the event that you lose mental capacity. Immortalize is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your elderhood planning For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.ioDisclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

In today's digital world, assets left behind by loved ones are increasingly difficult to uncover and access. Most people don’t know what assets their loved ones had or where to start looking, according to Iwan Hartono, director from the company behind vaultbox, a digital vault provider. We discussed with Iwan on how to easily manage your asset information as well as the novel concept of digital sealed envelopes. Name: Iwan Hartono Company: Sircured Pte. Ltd. Product: vaultbox Base Country: Singapore Anything interesting: Can build computers and likes organizing Immortalize exclusive promos available! Q: What is vaultbox and how did you get involved with vaultbox? Hartono: vaultbox is a digital safety deposit box. You can store, organize and monitor information on all your assets , including local and international assets, wills , insurance policies, and other important documents, electronically in one place. vaultbox keeps all your data secure and no one, including us, can have access to the data you've stored unless it’s someone you want to give access to. The trigger to create vaultbox came about after our founder, Matt Richards, realized that he had no place to store information on his assets in different countries and it made it very difficult to do his own legacy planning . I know Matt from my previous role and decided to join him about a year back. Q: How does vaultbox work as a digital vault? Hartono: There are three parts to vaultbox. Net worth Tracking First, you can track your net worth. Just like how you would read a financial statement, all your assets and liabilities are under the balance sheet and that makes up your net worth. You input the information and vaultbox will generate a graph to give you an overview of your net worth, breaking down into different asset classes and currencies. It also allows you to update your assets and liabilities over time to keep your net worth up-to-date. Store Documents Digitally The second part is digital storage. People often categorize us with other ‘boxes’ such as Dropbox and Box.com because of the “box” in our name. But we are not just a box that you merely throw documents in. When you have supporting documents of your assets and liabilities, vaultbox allows you to link these documents to your relevant assets and liabilities, contacts, passwords and calendar events, helping you or your deputies (people who you gave access to) find and retrieve relevant information easily. Assume for example that you own an apartment and you have the mortgage agreement for your apartment. If you want to contact your banker, you would have to go to your storage room, search inside your cabinet for the document, and look for your banker’s number in your phone. All of these items and information are related but they are scattered in various places. vaultbox can help by linking all these related things together so they are more organized and meaningful. Give Access to 'Deputies' The third part is related to legacy. After you have stored and created linkages to all your information, you can give access to others (referred to as ‘deputies’). There are two types of deputy depending on the purpose of the access. Personal vs Professional Deputy The first one is what we call a personal deputy. These are people such as your spouse or children. If you lose your password or cannot access your vaultbox, they can help unlock your account for you. The second one is a professional deputy. Professional deputy is someone who is not a family member such as a trustee , a financial planner or a lawyer. You prepare a set of instructions, and when you pass away or become incapacitated (ie. physically impaired or don't have mental capacity ), your professional deputy will carry out your saved instructions using our smart legacy management feature. Additionally, vaultbox has a function that if you are inactive for a period of time, your deputy will be notified. Q: Why do people need a digital vault? Hartono: vaultbox is very legacy planning-focused and the reason why you need a digital vault for legacy planning is clear and obvious, but most people don’t do it until there is an urgent need. When someone close to you passes away, you would need to start looking at what this person has. You may wonder if he/she has a deposit box. If yes, what number is it and where is the key? If all the information were not stored in one place, where do you start looking? This is why when something happens, people will frantically scramble through things. Related Article: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) Firsthand Experience Three years ago, a relative came up to me and asked for my help because her husband had just passed away. Other than knowing that her husband has a bank account in Singapore, she and her family have no information about his assets. ‘What is the account number?’, ‘Are there any passbooks and passwords?’ are some of the questions that I asked. Turns out, they are very clueless. They don’t even know how much is inside the account! The Digital Age So how do you even start your search for these kinds of scenarios? In the olden days, when someone passed away, you could straight up rummage through their stuff. But as we move into the digital world, you don’t have stuff to look through. Going back to my relative's case, the first thing she can do is bring a copy of her husband’s passport and ask every bank whether there is an account. Even if she can find it, the bank can’t do anything. She must first go to court to get a grant of probate or grant of letters of administration , which are legal documents issued by the court, so that she can have the legal power to access his bank account. But given that she doesn’t know how much is in the account, she needs to consider if it’s worth the effort. What if the account only has $5,000? The fees for getting a court order to have access to his assets could cost just as much if not more. Read more: All About Probate and Administration (Singapore Edition) Q: Who is vaultbox’s target audience? Hartono: Our target audience are basically people who are at a certain age and have experienced certain life events. Broadly speaking, it would be working adults, people who are married, have a family and maybe have kids, or have gone through the death of a loved one. When you are young, you may not have that many experiences and therefore, you may be less able to understand the need of a digital vault. In terms of geography, we primarily focus on countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia as well as Singapore. Q: How do you compare vaultbox to the Singapore government’s My Legacy digital vault? Hartono: My Legacy is by the Singapore government and so, it is very Singapore-centric. If you have assets outside of Singapore, you need something more than that. This is where vaultbox becomes more handy. No Access To Your Data The other thing is privacy. One differentiating factor about our platform is that we do not have access to the data that you put inside. This is also the key difference between us and other platforms like OneDrive and Google Drive. They can actually look into your data but we can’t. Q: Are there any exciting features that our audience can look forward to? Hartono: One interesting feature is a digital sealed envelope. In traditional legacy planning, what people do is that they write some instructions, put it in a sealed envelope and give it to the trustee. The trustee will just hold onto the envelope and pass on the sealed envelope to the appropriate person when certain events happen. The trustee won’t know the contents inside the envelope. For vaultbox, right now, once you give access to your professional deputy, he/she can see everything. But we are working on this digital sealed envelope feature and hopefully it will be available in the first quarter of 2022. Q: What do you think are the potential triggers that will cause more people to use digital vaults? Hartono: We haven’t quite fully captured the people who need it yet. A lot more education needs to be done so that people realize the importance of organizing their asset information and having someone have access to it. We’ve made it really simple and easy-to-use for people to do just that. It’s just like Netflix and Spotify. We didn’t have those before, but once some people have tried and used it, they realized how convenient and easy it is to use and they tell others about it. Not enough people know about digitals vaults now. But they will and once they do, they will know the importance of it, the convenience of using it, and it will be the tipping point for mass adoption. Q: Anything interesting about you? Hartono: My background is in electrical engineering. I was quite geeky back in my university days. I used to help people fix and build their computers. These days, I spend my weekends with my family. I also have a thing about organizing things and keeping things in the right order. This interview has been edited for length. Back to more profile interviews > Back to more articles and resources > FAQs What is a digital vault? Digital vault is like a safety deposit box but for digital assets and information. It allows you to store, organize and monitor information on your assets and important documents electronically in one place. What is the use of a digital vault? A digital vault stores all your important information electronically in one place. One use of digital vaults can be for legacy planning. Some digital vaults allow selected people to have access to your asset information in case you pass away. What is a digital sealed envelope? A digital sealed envelope is a digital version of a sealed envelope. In traditional legacy planning, people write important instructions, put it in a sealed envelope and give it to the trustee. The trustee will hold onto the envelope and pass on the sealed envelope to the appropriate person when certain events happen. The trustee won’t know the contents inside the envelope. Immortalize  is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who   series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your elderhood planning! Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Institutional investors like GIC (Singapore's sovereign wealth fund) and Morgan Stanley get better returns because their costs are low, according to Samuel Rhee , Chairman and Chief Investment Officer at Endowus , a digital financial advisory platform. In Part 1 of this interview (Part 2 here ), Immortalize spoke to Rhee on how Endowus is bringing institutional investing to the common person. Highlights: 1% saving in fees means 245% additional return to your investment over a 30 year period Institutional investors get better returns because their cost is low Advice, access, and cost are the three pillars of successful investing Q: Can you tell me about yourself? What were you doing before Endowus and how did Endowus came about? Rhee: I’ve been in finance for 27 years and was at Morgan Stanley for 17 years, holding various roles in Hong Kong and Singapore. The last roles that I held was CIO (Chief Investment Officer) and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) for the Asian investment management unit and my job included asset allocation across the efficient frontier for sovereign wealth funds, global pension funds, and other institutional funds. Struggle With Personal Investment A friend of mine introduced me to my two co-founders, Gregory Van and You Ning Sun, and we met to chat over coffee. During the chat, we quickly realized that there is a common problem for everyone – we all struggled to invest our own money efficiently. For me, when I was investing professionally for others, I run it properly. But when it comes to my own private money, I used to do what every retail investor does, which is going after the latest fad or punt some stocks. I quickly realized that this is not the right way to invest long term, and I completely revamped my portfolio. Difficulty in Investing CPF Greg and You Ning had been talking about the CPF system and how onerous, difficult, and expensive it is to invest it into financial markets with CPF monies. It’s so important because it’s tied to important issues like retirement. We decided that these were problems that we needed to solve. (CPF, or Central Provident Fund, is Singapore's mandatory social security savings scheme) Q: What is the problem that you are trying to solve? Rhee: We want to make saving and investing easier today so that we can secure our future tomorrow. Solving for retirement is the biggest generational challenge we’ll likely face and where my passion lies. We need to solve this and not enough is being done. Living Longer But Poorer? Take an ageing society like Singapore where average life expectancy is now well into the mid-80s and that is average. This means that 50% of the population are living longer than 85, to 90 or 100 years old. If people retire at 65, which is the traditional number that everybody has in mind, are you going to have enough saved up without sacrificing the quality of life that you need or even avoid poverty? The Banking Fortress It's not a Singapore issue, but an Asian societal challenge. People don't invest very well. The banks have an inordinate amount of power and hold on the distribution of wealth and financial products, and they charge way too much for it. As a result, lack of advice, lack of access to great products, and high costs led to poor outcomes, meaning people will not be able to have enough saved up for their retirement. Holy Grail of Investing People need to take matters into their own hands. Rather than punting all their savings in stocks or crypto, they need to save and invest earlier the right way. There is a right way to do it. Advice, access, and cost are the three pillars of successful investing. At the moment, it’s just not in existence, especially for individual investors. Sovereign Fund Advantage Institutional investors like Morgan Stanley or sovereign wealth funds like GIC have all those things. If you have a lot of money, say $10, $20, or $100 million, then you get private bank’s good advice. But people that fall through the cracks are the people who need good advice the most. Even for high net worth individuals, they do not get the advice that they need or deserve and are still paying very high cost. They do better than retail investors in the sense that they have better access, but the advice is not that great. They get pushed products. The Power of Leverage The kind of private banking service that people normally receive is usually a product. Either you get sold, “Hey, this is an ESG fund that’s doing well,” or “This is a pre-IPO, you should get it,” or buy whatever is the latest. Banks push leverage. Leverage is the biggest weapon that private banks have. Take all the investments, add leverage and you get a higher percentage yield. That’s not advice, that’s pushing a product at high cost – and we do not even ask whether it is a suitable investment for their long-term financial plans. Secret To Institutional Investing The whole idea of Endowus is to bring institutional investing to the common person. Institutions only win out because their cost is so low. When Morgan Stanley or GIC invest, they do not pay 2% sales charge and ongoing fees and the fund managers give it to them at 20 or 10 basis points (1 basis points equals 0.01%). They get extra special pricing because they're bigger, and that's what we're doing by accessing institutional share classes and institutional funds. We are group buying for all our customers. Differential Treatment Take PIMCO Income Fund, one of the more popular fixed income products, for example. It has an institutional version and a retail version, and we offer the institutional version of the fund on our platform. The fund management fee for the retail version is about 1.5%. We get it at 0.5%. GIC and other sovereigns would obviously get lower price than us, but maybe one day, we can get to a scale where we can compete with them, and we can offer our clients even lower pricing. Compounding Impact of Fees Return is just the flip side of fees. If you save 1% in fees, that is 1% better return for you. If you compared an 8% return, which is what global market returned long term and then shave off 1% to compare that to a 7% return, then that small difference of just 1% over 30 years compounds to 245% difference. Q: Who is Endowus’ target audience? Rhee: It’s every Singaporean individual investor, which includes both retail investor and high net worth investor. It could go from $1,000 at DBS to $10 million at UBS and those with CPF & SRS preparing for a better retirement. [SRS, or Supplementary Retirement Scheme, is a voluntary scheme to encourage individuals to save over and above their CPF savings ] Insufficient Retirement Plan We tried to get CPF from the get-go because it was the most important piece of the pie for most people. CPF is a great social security system, but it's not a pure retirement pension program. Only the CPF Life component is pension-like but it’s not made to be a complete retirement plan. [CPF Life, or CPF Lifelong Income For The Elderly Scheme, is a national longevity insurance annuity scheme that provides individual monthly payouts regardless of how long the individual lives.] Q: If there's one advice you would give anyone looking at CPF investing, what would that be? Rhee: Get started. You have to invest your CPF and be prepared for retirement. That's the biggest problem. One mistake people make is to compare CPF returns with fixed deposit and say fixed deposits give them nothing, and so this is better than fixed deposits. But your funds are being locked up for, say 30 years, so you should aim to do better than risk-free returns. Best Post-Retirement Risk Free Rate Post retirement, you may want to keep the money in CPF, because then the 2.5% that CPF gives does become meaningful. Then, whenever you need the money, you take it out from the investment, put it in the 2.5%, and then keep it as a liquid cash account that you can take out anytime you want. It's the only place that's going to give you 2.5% risk free, in your retirement, when you need cash. This interview has been edited for length. Immortalize X Endowus Collab Sign up for an Endowus account here  and get $20 off your access fees! Continue to Part 2 of the interview > Back to more profile interviews > Back to more articles and resources > Immortalize  is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who   series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Speak to our team now and let us give you a quick summary of what you need to know to help kick start your elderhood planning journey! Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Mental health and wellness issues, such as loneliness and depression, are a major concern for elderlies. Fishkeeping, a “quiet” hobby, can help with that, according to Shi Qing Poh, founder of FishyHub Pte. Ltd., a digital marketplace for aquarium-related products and services. We spoke to Poh to discuss positive impacts of fishkeeping for elderlies as well as fishkeeping tips for beginners. Name: Shi Qing Poh Company: FishyHub Pte. Ltd. Specialization: Aquarium expert and enthusiast Base Country: Singapore Use this exclusive Immortalize X FishyHub promo code: IMMORTALIZE7 And get 7% off all purchases (min. spend SG$50)! Q: Can you tell me about yourself? What is your background and how did you start your company, FishyHub? Poh: My academic background is in engineering and economics. After graduation, I worked in technology-related companies. That said, I’ve always wanted to do my own things. In college, I built my first app for people to exchange second-hand products. Later, I had many other ventures, including starting a bubble tea business with some friends and pioneering the “bubble tea face masks”. The mask has a hole on it where you can put the bubble tea straw through. Keeping fishes as pets has always been a hobby of mine. When I was a student, I would drop by my neighborhood’s local fish store almost every day to look at the fishes that I wanted but couldn't afford to buy. Turning Problems into Opportunities After having my own home, I started building my own fish tanks. I tried multiple times but most of them ended up in failure. I lack the knowledge to make things work, and I couldn’t get help, not even from the local merchants. After speaking to more people, I realized that this issue wasn’t unique to me. Many people jump into this hobby without proper knowledge, and this resulted not only in the fishes dying, but also the eventual quitting of the hobby. I decided to turn this widespread lack of education into a business opportunity. In my last job, I spent six months testing and experimenting the prototype for FishyHub. After gaining customers and fundraising from my family, friends, and clients, I decided to quit my job and run this business full-time. Q: What is FishyHub? How is it different from a local, traditional fish store? Poh: FishyHub is a digital marketplace that aggregates local fish stores, farms, and suppliers in the aquarium industry and connects them with consumers and aquarium hobbyists. Besides allowing customers to purchase all the things they need online, we bridge the knowledge gap by educating and recommending appropriate fishes and products best suited for the clients’ personalities and aquariums. By providing education and convenience to fish keepers, we hope to create a win-win-win situation that will benefit the consumers, local merchants as well as the aquatic animals. Q: What is your typical customer and what problems do these customers face? Poh: We serve the full range of fish keepers, from the very experienced to those that are totally new to the hobby. Each of these segments have their own problems that FishyHub tries to solve for them. Experienced Fish Keepers For the very experienced fish keepers, they have very specific demands. They don’t generally need to go down to the fish stores to look at the fish because they know what they want to buy. They know the type of fish and the kind of equipment, and they are very particular about brands. It is much easier for them to buy online. As a digital marketplace and one-stop shop, we carry a wide variety of fishes and products and that works well for them. For the more expensive fishes like arowana or certain species of cichlids, FishyHub has a “What you see is what you get” feature where through images and videos, fish keepers can see the exact fish that they are buying. We also hold live auctions regularly, where merchants can sell their fish online and fish keepers can bid their favorite fishes real-time. "Beginners" - The Less Experienced For the less experienced fish keepers or what we call “beginners”, they are usually the ones who go to fish stores to compare because it’s like a discovery process for them. They are more likely to find new species and then buy on impulse. For beginners, they usually experiment with different aquariums and very often fail in their first few tries. For this group of clients, that’s where the education comes in. FishyHub has customer support that is almost 24/7 to help beginners make the right decisions. It starts from a customer quiz that allows us to know what the customers’ personalities are, what tank sizes they want and what fishkeeping level they are at before we proceed to get more detailed information on their needs and preferences. The most important thing we need to know is their desired tank size because that is the determining factor of how many fishes and what types of fishes can be put in the tank to avoid killing the fishes. Common Beginner Issues A lot of beginners are unaware that overstocking tanks can kill fishes. We had a customer who bought a goldfish and complained that the goldfish died two hours after being released into the tank. After some investigation, we found out that he had overstock the tank with too many fishes and the condition of his tank was what caused the goldfish to die. It’s less important to know what kind of fish the beginners want. Most of them know very few species even though there are thousands of species out there. Once we have better knowledge of their requirements and restrictions, we can recommend suitable fishes, including those that the beginners didn’t know about, to help them in the discovery process. People With Zero Experience Lastly are the customers who have zero experience in fishkeeping. They often don’t have the basics of fishkeeping, go to a fish store and suddenly realize that they need to buy a whole lot of different items. Most people think that fishkeeping comprises just three things - fish, tank and water. It doesn’t work that way. An aquarium also needs the right filter, light, air pump, substrate (eg. pebbles, materials to cover the bottom of tanks), rocks, sand, soil, bacteria (responsible for maintaining water quality and creating a safe environment for fishes), plants, fishes, medication and so on. There are roughly about 20 components in an aquarium. Even if you try asking a fish store for help, you may not always get all the answers you need. For this group of customers, FishyHub provides hassle-free aquarium packages called “adventure packs” that allow brand new beginners to easily set everything up right right from the start. If some customers prefer to buy things separately, we can send them a list of the recommended items based on their needs and wants. In this way, we help educate customers to do things correctly. Check out FishyHub Adventure Packs here . Get 7% off all purchases by using the FishyHub promo code IMMORTALIZE7 ! (min. spend SG$50) Learn more here Q: Are there any segment of the market that you are looking to target? Poh: There are two segments that we are targeting – existing pet owners and people looking for stress relief, mental wellness and to beautify their homes. For existing pet owners, such as people with cats or dogs, they are already qualified animal lovers, and they are used to keeping high maintenance pets. Many of them don’t mind having another type of pet that is relatively low maintenance. For keeping fishes for stress relief, mental wellness and to beautify their homes, an example of such people will be retirees or elderlies. Surprisingly, there are many elderlies on FishyHub. Many of them prefer to buy online because they don't have to go all the way to the fish stores to get the fish and equipment that they want. A Hobby That Attracts Elderlies Many elderlies started fishkeeping as a hobby because it’s something that they can take care of at home. It’s not only good for stress relief and mental wellness, it also gives them something to do continuously, such as sprucing up their tanks by decorating them or just looking at fishes swimming around. It’s less physically demanding compared to other pets such as dogs, where you have to walk them outside on a regular basis, and cats, where they are always hiding somewhere, and you can't find them. A customer, who’s a retiree, once told me that he enjoys being a fish keeper because it’s a “quiet” hobby. Having an aquarium where he can sit down and gaze at the fishes is very relaxing. There are no barking or other noises. Fishkeeping requires less commitment compared to keeping dogs or cats, and he could still find companionship with fish, just like any other pets. Check out more things to do for elderlies/retirees in our Immortalize Marketplace ! Q: What services do you offer that can help elderlies in this hobby? Poh: Aquascaping and maintenance are services that we provide that would be suitable for elderlies. Aquascaping There is a change in trend among the elder generation. In the past, people used to keep large tanks with basically just one big fish, like the flower horn or the arowana. These days, the trend is aquascaping. Many elderlies use our aquascaping packages to spruce up their tanks with aquatic plants and create mini jungles or gardens in it. Maintenance For elderlies and people who don’t have the time or don’t want to spend the effort to maintain their tanks, they will choose our maintenance package. It includes services such as cleaning the filters, lights and inside of the tank, as well as replacing dead aquatic plants. This maintenance service is helpful for elderlies in terms of labor work, especially if they have large monster tanks. The maintenance service costs vary based on the size of the tank and whether the tank is a bare tank, heavily or lightly planted tank. We are looking to standardize the costs so people can get this service directly online just by selecting the option that suits them without the hassle of having to call us. Q: What are the key things beginners should know for fishkeeping? Poh: Before anyone dive into this hobby, there are a couple of important things they should be aware of. One, an aquarium is going to be a huge and visible part of your home. If you live with your family, make sure you should get their consent first so that you don’t get into arguments. Next, once you buy your new tank and equipment, you need to let the tank “cycle” for at least two weeks before you introduce any livestock into it. Cycling is the process of allowing beneficial bacteria to grow so that they can breakdown the harmful substances that fishes and plants produce. The water parameters in new aquariums are generally not ideal. By allowing the tank to cycle, it stabilizes the new environment and make it a safer place for your fishes. Three, don’t overfeed your fish. You only need to feed your fish once a day. Most people kill their fishes by overfeeding them. Overfeeding also causes the water in your tank to become dirty faster, which means you have to do more cleaning. If not, the fishes can die from the dirty water. Lastly, fishkeeping is a very addictive hobby. Do not underestimate the cost, time and effort that you may spend on it. Aquarium hobbyists are collectors. You may start off with a small tank and only a few fishes, but through time, you will buy more fishes. Once you start buying more fish, it’s natural that you start buying more tanks to accommodate more fishes because some fishes can’t stay together in the same tank. For example, you can’t put goldfish with small community fish, such as the tetra fish, because the goldfish might eat them. All these costs add up. When you have more fish tanks, you also have to spend more time maintaining them. Q: There is a community that thinks capturing or enclosing fishes are unethical. What are your thoughts on this? Poh: I believe that everything starts from awareness and education. There are many things that people are unaware of and uneducated about when it comes to the aquarium industry. Once people are more educated about how to care for fishes correctly, it can minimize the killing of fishes and provide a safe and happy environment for them, which is no different from owning any other pets. We want people to know that having an aquarium not only helps to relieve stress and mental wellness, but it can also help them appreciate nature more, and subsequently, want to take better care of mother nature. Undeniably, there are currently many problems within the industry. But FishyHub is tackling these issues one by one, working hand in hand with farms and local suppliers to create a healthier aquarium ecosystem for customers and aquatic animals. Q: What are FishyHub’s future goals? Poh: Our goal is to bring the aquarium community together and build a more automated system. What we have now is an automated FAQ to walk people through our website step by step, instead of relying entirely on manual messaging. In future, we will be able to ask you a series of questions, such as “What tank size do you have?”, “Why do you want an aquarium?”, “Is it for stress relief, Feng Shui or a new hobby for retirement?”. At the end of it, you will be able to build your customized virtual aquarium before you finalize your purchase. This interview has been edited for length. Use this exclusive Immortalize X FishyHub promo code: IMMORTALIZE7 and get 7% off all purchases (min. spend SG$50)! Back to profile interviews > All articles and resources > Looking for more activities or ideas to liven up your, your parents' or grandparents' retirement? At Immortalize Retirement Marketplace, we help people make their retirement more meaningful and spectacular! Start exploring and enhance your retirement experience now! FAQs What are the benefits of fishkeeping for elderlies? Fishkeeping is good for stress relief and mental wellness. It is less physically demanding and requires less commitment compared to keeping other pets such as dogs or cats. Elderlies often find companionship with fish, just like any other pets. How can I get started on fishkeeping? FishyHub provides "adventure packs" that are hassle-free aquarium packages to help brand new beginners to get started with this new hobby. Use the Immortalize X FishyHub coupon code "Immortalize7" to get 7% off all purchases (SG$50 min. spend) What should I beware of before I start fishkeeping as a hobby? Make sure you and your family have reached a consensus about this new hobby of yours. For new tanks, you must "cycle" it for at least 2 weeks first before you introduce livestock into it. Don't overfeed your fishes. Don't underestimate the cost, time and effort that you may spend on keeping fishes. Is it ethical to keep fishes as pets? Once people are more educated about how to care for fishes correctly, it can minimize the killing of fishes and provide a safe and happy environment for them, which is no different from owning any other pets. Fishkeeping can help people appreciate nature more, and subsequently, want to take better care of mother nature. ​ Immortalize is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your elderhood planning Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a p rofessional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io

Appointing a tech-savvy executor is critical to ensuring that your crypto legacy lives on after your passing, according to Christopher Bridges, Director of Singapore-based Christopher Bridges Law Corporation. We spoke to Bridges to discuss how best to include cryptocurrency in your will and other common issues people face when it comes to estate planning. Name: Christopher Bridges Company: Christopher Bridges Law Corporation Estate Planning Specialization: Will-writing and contentious probates Base Country: Singapore Service Style: Compassionate, honorable, service-oriented Anything Interesting: Lawyer and probation officer by day, university lecturer by night Q: Can you tell me more about yourself, why did you choose law? Bridges: My dad was a senior police officer and I grew up living in a police quarter (accommodation provided at police stations for staff and their families). Because I was immersed in law enforcement, I wanted to join the police force and get a degree in political science. But my dad persuaded me to get a law degree instead. Q: How many years have you done estate planning for? Bridges: Coming to 32. Q: What has changed in the 32 years? What are some of the common issues people face when it comes to estate planning? Bridges: Singaporeans are becoming more aware of the requirements to do a will . Also, the government has been focusing on things like the Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) in recent years. So when people talk about LPA, they will also consider doing a will. Read more: Demystifying Lasting Power of Attorney (Singapore Edition) There are several common issues. Issues with Overseas Assets and CPF Nominations One, many Singaporeans don’t realize that they may not be able to effectively distribute their overseas assets under their Singapore will according to Singapore law. For example, if you own land in countries such as Australia and Germany, those countries may not allow you to distribute them the way you want using your Singapore will. I always advise my clients to seek a second opinion from a local lawyer in that jurisdiction to see whether their intentions under their Singapore will is permitted in that area. Secondly, a lot of people don’t realize that CPF nomination overrides a will. Joint Tenancy vs Tenancy in Common Lastly, another common issue that people face is property. Historically, most people buy their house as joint tenants. This is because in terms of financing, banks are more comfortable extending loans to joint tenants as they are all equally responsible for the mortgage repayment. A lot of people don’t realize that they can’t give the property away in their will if they hold the property as joint tenants. If they want to bequeath their property shares, they have to change the manner of holding from joint tenancy to tenancy-in-common . Bank Financing Consideration However, things can get complicated if the property is still mortgaged, because the bank may not consent to refinancing if you make the change. If you are still paying back the mortgage as a joint tenant and want to change into tenants-in-common, you have to consider whether you have the income source. The bank may not allow mortgage facilities if there is no income source. But if the property is fully paid up, it’s only a matter of filing papers, paying conveyancing fees and/or stamp duties to change the manner of ownership and the titles. Willing Property Shares as Tenants in Common When you try to change the manner of holding to tenancy-in-common, there is an issue to consider. Normally, not many people would purchase a percentage of a property, such as 20% or 30%, so how will you structure your will when you have fixed shares now? Assume that you and your spouse each own 50% shares of the property, and in your will, your child and your spouse will each get half of your 50% shares. This means your child will own 25% shares of the property and the rest by your spouse. But your child might run into issues such as not being able to keep the inherited shares if he or she is an existing HDB owner, and your partner might have to consider refinancing and buying out your child's shares. Additionally, if the beneficiary can’t hold the HDB flat, HDB requires the flat to be disposed of within six months after the owner passed away. Who Dies First In An Accident Another interesting point that people generally don’t know is that under the law, there is a presumption of death. If a husband and wife were both in a plane crash, the older person is presumed to have died first, even though they may have both died at the same time. Assuming that the husband is the older person, the law would presume he had died before her, so the husband's assets will be distributed first. Read more: Property and Inheritance (Singapore) , What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) , All About Probate & Administration (Singapore Edition) Q: Circling back to the comments on executor, have you encountered cases where the testator gave the executor the power to decide how the assets will be distributed? Bridges: At the end of the day, you don’t want to have people fighting after you are gone. If you give the executor the power to decide, he or she may favor one beneficiary over the other, may not act reasonably and in good faith and may breach his or her fiduciary duties as an executor. This is when everyone would start fighting. Your family may fight each other in court and waste a lot of money. If so, what’s the point of letting the executor make all the decisions? You might as well just let intestacy law decide for you. Q: Can you share some interesting cases where the will is challenged in court? Bridges: I have done four wills for someone prior to his death. In all four wills, it is stated that his wife was to get 100% of the property. One day, one of his children saw the father’s will and realized the wife will be getting the whole house, so he took the father out while the wife was overseas. The father then changed his will three days later, and that very last will he didn’t do with me. In this last will, it stated that the house was to be sold and shares were divided equally between the son and the wife, as opposed to the wife getting 100%. And now, the validity of the will is being challenged. When Can A Will Be Challenged? A will’s validity can be challenged on several grounds, such as whether the person is mentally sound, under undue influence, or had been fraud when the will was written and signed. If my clients bring older people in to sign wills, I will normally advise them to get it executed before a doctor, to certify whether the person signing the will is mentally sound. For this particular case, we initially considered the possibility that the man was not mentally sound when he signed his last will. However, a doctor was there during the signing to certify he was mentally sound and now the will is being challenged on the basis of undue influence, where he was influenced by the beneficiary to create such a will. Read more: Guide To Making a Will - Singapore Edition Q: At what age will you recommend for someone to sign a will before a doctor? Bridges: You have to look for any symptoms that the testator may not be mentally sound. As a lawyer who is preparing your will, it is quite apparent if you are brought in by a wheelchair because of infirmity (ill because of old age) to see me. I will converse with you and see whether you can clearly communicate with me. At the end of the day, it is the lawyer’s level of confidence of witnessing a will, because if the lawyer thinks or has reasonable grounds to suspect that the testator may not be mentally sound and witnesses the signing, the lawyer might face professional negligence claims. Part of a lawyer’s duty when witnessing a will is to explain and ensure the testator understands the nature and contents of the will. If there are any alarm bells, I would ask you to get your will witnessed before a doctor. General Rule of Thumb For example, if I know all the members in a family, and only one of the three brothers brings in his mother to see me, especially if he is going to get the mother’s entire estate, I would be placed on notice that something is wrong. In such a case, I would ask the mother to have the will witnessed by a doctor, to ensure that she knows what she is doing. If I realize the person who I’m interpreting the will for is losing track or is not fully mentally capable then I will refer that person to a doctor. But as a general rule of thumb, I wouldn’t normally witness wills where the testator is above 70 years old. But these days, older people remain mentally sound, so even if someone is 73 or 74 years old and can still hold a good conversation with me, I have no qualms about witnessing this person’s will. Q: Let’s talk about some hot topics. Firstly, do you own digital assets such as cryptocurrencies? Bridges: I have invested in about six to seven cryptocurrencies and was a shareholder and director of a crypto platform in Singapore that provided trading and exchange. So I have some experience with cryptocurrencies. Q: What is your advice on how to do estate planning for cryptocurrencies? Bridges: Most crypto accounts can easily be hacked into, and the issue is the e-wallets. You are supposed to keep your e-wallet details only to yourself, but what if you want to include crypto in your list of assets? Who do you allow access to your crypto after you pass away? If you let the cat out of the bag before you sign your will, people who have seen your will may access your e-wallet online and take out all your crypto. In Singapore, crypto is still not considered fiat currency but a commodity, a type of chattel (a personal property). If you want to dispose of your crypto, you can create a schedule of assets and list it in, same with how you would dispose of your car. The only issue is the mechanism. An Executor Capable of Handling Crypto You have to speak to your executor and make sure he or she is tech savvy enough to know how to transfer from an e-wallet and the beneficiaries have their e-wallets to receive the crypto. Alternatively, you can have a general disposition in the will saying that your crypto will be directed to the executor at your time of death, and have all your crypto converted into fiat currency and distribute the fiat currency out in cash, which is much easier. Related Articles: How to Choose Beneficiary, Executor in My Will? Q: Will digital assets be a rising issue among estate dispute cases? Bridges: If the executor is not tech savvy and was somehow negligent by allowing the digital assets to be hacked and stolen, he or she may be held personally responsible for the stolen assets, because executors are unde r fiduciary duty . For example, the executor may be liable for accidentally leaving the key or password for others to access or clicking on phishing or scamming sites and losing the assets. Alternatively, the executor could also make mistakes such as typing in the wrong e-wallet number and the cryptocurrency was sent to somewhere else. These are some of the reasons that may cause estate dispute cases numbers to rise. I would advise the testator to assess the competence of the executor to carry out the wishes where cryptocurrency is involved and ensure the beneficiaries have an e-wallet that is safe, not locked on or connected, and kept in a cold wallet like a thumb drive. Q: Are there any tax implications when one buys cryptocurrency from a US-based exchange? Bridges: A lot of people don’t realize that the laws of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States (US) extends beyond US jurisdiction. If a testator has existing crypto stored in an e-wallet that is in a thumb drive, I will say there is no issue. But if the testator is planning to trade and buy certain things in the US in the future, then I would suggest considering having a US lawyer to give advice on tax implications for US-acquired assets stated under a Singapore will. Ever Changing Rules on Crypto Exchanges in the US are still quite fluid now, but the SEC is trying to clamp down a lot of crypto and may come in with certain laws. So far, they have not classified any of them as taxable, but once the law says it is taxable, then they may be able to disclose traders’ identities that would allow crypto to be traceable and do things related to anti-money laundering, etc. Frankly speaking, crypto is still very fluid, make sure you follow the guidelines of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in Singapore. Q: What are your interests or hobbies? Bridges: I teach at night for Murdoch University and Birmingham City University. I am quite keen on teaching and I appreciate the interaction with my students. I’m also a volunteer probation officer with the Ministry of Family and Social Affairs where I counsel wayward youths. In fact, one of my probationers, who was a convicted drug trafficker, had recently become a practicing lawyer in Tasmania and I’m really proud of that. Most of my hobbies are related to trying to give back to society. This interview has been edited for length. Back to more profile interviews > Back to more articles and resources > FAQs Can I will my HDB flat as a joint tenant? No, you can’t will your property if you hold the property as joint tenants. Right of Survivorship will supersede a will. Can I will my HDB flat as a tenant-in-common? Yes. You can will your property shares as they are defined as fixed shares. How can a will be challenged? A will can be challenged when a person is not mentally sound, under undue influence, or had been fraud when the will was written and signed. What do executors have to be beware of when they handle digital assets such as cryptocurrencies? An executor may be liable for accidentally losing the assets, such as clicking on scamming sites or making computational mistakes. Immortalize  is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who   series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your estate planning Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Estate planning is “tedious” because not only do you have to figure out the many things that you need to do, you have to go to different providers to get those different parts done, according to Linus Wong, director at Bequest Private Limited, an estate planning company. We spoke to Linus about the one-stop shop concept that his company is championing to help make it less cumbersome for people to get their estate affairs sorted. Name: Linus Wong Company: Bequest Private Limited Estate Planning Specialization: Will writing Base Country: Singapore Service Style: Empowering, relationship-oriented Anything Interesting: Collector of ~40 guitars Q: Can you tell us more about Bequest? Linus: Bequest is fundamentally an estate planning firm. But we don’t just provide the main milestone services, such as will writing, estate and business succession planning, we also provide all the bits and pieces in between. These can be the administrative and nitty gritty work that law firms and the financial industry don’t really do but are essential. Read more: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) For example, after someone passes away, how does the accounting work for the executor (person who administers the estate of the deceased)? How do you account for and keep track of the various decisions that you’ve made with regards to the assets ? Do you know how to correspond with all the various institutions, such as writing certain letters to close off bank accounts? Here’s the problem why estate planning and execution is tedious. Estate Planning Involves Not Just One Industry Estate planning and execution involves multiple industries. There are a lot of providers from various sectors providing different solutions. For instance, banks provide solutions when you are alive, but they don’t provide any services after you pass away. After you pass away, probate law firms only go to court to apply for grant of probate , but they don’t do anything before and after that. And then there’s insurance where it’s somewhere in between. You buy life insurance when you are alive, but the value is mainly realized after you pass away. [Probate is the legal process where the executor (person appointed in a will) applies for a Grant of Probate (a legal document) to manage and distribute the deceased's estate.] Read More: All About Probate & Administration (Singapore Edition) Because each industry has their own protocols and their own licensing and regulatory framework, it creates boundaries between the industries and no one provider can provide a holistic solution. This is why estate planning for an individual feels disjointed and incoherent. Eventually, we hope people can come to us and be educated about what legal instruments are necessary for their particular situation, discuss any financial solutions related to their intentions, etc. Even when circumstances change, such as a change in family relationships or change in personal finance, we would be able to help them solve problems along the way and help them achieve what they want to achieve. Q: Can you tell me a bit more about your history? What did you do before and how did Bequest come about? Linus: My academic background is law but I worked as a financial advisor throughout law school and another seven years after graduation. This has contributed to me realizing that there are significant gaps between the advice that I was providing to my clients and the solutions that I was able to construct. Q: Can you explain the gaps that you saw? Linus: People have this notion that once they have done their financial planning, everything will just magically be in place, such as money automatically appearing in bank accounts or a person will appear with a cheque and hand it over to the grieving widow at a funeral. But it doesn’t work like that in the real world. There are a lot of legal, administrative, industry-specific hurdles to get through before the grieving widow can get the money. Through my working experience, I started to understand where the discrepancies are and how incomplete the whole estate planning space is. Let me give you an example. Obstacles Faced By People After A Loved One Passed Away Let’s say I have some assets, such as insurance policies, properties, and shares of a business. One day, I kicked the bucket. The first thing that one needs to realize is that just because my spouse is legally married to me in Singapore doesn’t mean that she has autonomy over my assets. While it seems like she just needs to find a lawyer to assist her to go to court to get things such as a court order, she still needs to know what to do after getting the court order. For instance, for the property, is it going to be a title transfer or should she sell the property and distribute the proceeds? What if there are three beneficiaries involved and one of them wants to sell but the other two disagree? Read more: Property and Inheritance (Singapore) Business interests can also be very complicated, especially if other key business partners or shareholders are involved. She has to decide with my existing business partners what happens to the business. Are the shares going to my spouse or are my business partners going to buy over her shares? If so, what is the price? Maybe she just wants to own the shares, sit around, and do nothing. A lot of businesses break down due to the death of a partner, and a lot of conflicts arise between new and existing key shareholders because they don’t agree on how things should be done. Q: Who is Bequest’s target audience? Linus: Service providers often choose to serve the ultra high net worth market because it has the highest profit margin and requires the least investment for them. But there is a huge proportion of the population who are also facing estate planning issues at a very different scale and this is the market that we target. As a one-stop shop, we target the mass affluent market, where a significant percentage of people are generally dual income families who have paper assets and are basically millionaires. Dual Income Families Are Underserved This is the fastest growing segment in Singapore and also the most underserved. Their assets are slightly less complex than the ultra-rich, but that does not mean that they are not concerned about wealth distribution and management after their death. For instance, a family with $500 million in assets versus a family with $5 million in assets. Does the $5 million family care less about estate planning? The $500 million family was also a $5 million family some generations ago. Everybody wants to build a legacy for their family, so families are looking to grow their assets through estate planning. A majority of people are not only underserved, but they are not even aware that this is something they need to think about. Q: Do you work with everything related to estate planning? Linus: Yes. We are an estate planning platform and our partners include a law firm and a financial institution. When a client wants legal advice, we will direct them to our partner law firm, and if they want financial advice, our clients can have access to a licensed financial representative. The financial advisors are trained by us specifically to dispense advice from an estate planning perspective, so we can assure the quality of the services provided. Since the whole estate planning space is very segmented, we have proceeded to do everything on the platform. Even though we are separate entities, we are all working together. Q: What are the benefits of a one-stop shop versus going to different firms? Linus: Cost optimization. Usually, people have to go to different providers and pay different fees, where each provider has their own profit margin to care for. If there are five things and I can do all five and charge the same price as those five providers, my profit margin is probably going to be higher because I have more economies of scale. Instead of charging a client more, we will charge a lower overall price while still being able to have the margin for our business to run sustainably. In this way, clients pay less overall and get more unified advice while we build long term relationships with these clients. For example, clients may come to us initially to talk about their wills, but we could proceed to talk about more things, such as their business, property, and mental capacity . Rather than having to talk to many different people, clients only need to talk to one person. They don’t need to spend time explaining their situation to each and every provider all over again. Most people prefer to operate this way. Q: How much would a will, financial instruments, and legal advice cost on average and how much does Bequest charge? Linus: The highest component of estate planning is the financial tools. For example, an insurance with a $2 million coverage and lump sum payout would be around $500,000, a complex will costs around $2,000 and a trust is around $6000. If we were to do all these for the client, we can waive about 50% of legal fees, or even 100%, depending on how we balance the books. We are basically charging significantly less than providers out there. Q: Are there any trends or interesting things in the estate planning space? Linus: I am seeing a surge of low-cost, low-expertise wills in the market, such as will templates and DIY kind of wills. It creates a bad impression that these services are disposable, where people can just go for the cheapest one. Why these low-cost solutions thrive is because people are generally afraid of long term commitments. For instance, people are willing to pay a large amount for a surgery to save their lives, rather than spending the same amount and spread over the years to have a healthier diet. But the good thing is that because the low cost solutions are more of a throwaway, more people are willing to be exposed to the idea of estate planning. Secondly, big organizations are also providing these low cost options, which help start a lot of conversations that lead to deeper thought processes and eventually lead to larger conversations. Once people see that these low cost disposable options are insufficient, they will seek something deeper. Read more: Online will vs Lawyer vs Will Writing Company - Which to Choose? Q: Are there any memorable cases you have encountered? Linus: We had a case about a very sick, old lady. She was quite well-off and had a lot of assets in her home country and in Singapore. At that time, her husband, along with some of her other kin, were all up against her and were fighting for her money. At one point, she let go of her estate and gave them what they wanted, but they abandoned her eventually. We did her will and lasting power of attorney (LPA) when she was on her deathbed. She was mentally sound but by the third time we went to visit her, she passed away. This wasn’t the first (and won’t be the last) case that we encountered but we were really heart broken. Normally, I'm not a very family person. But this incident made me appreciate my family more. I became warmer and more sensitive. Relationships always break down, and from my understanding, because families didn’t remedy a misunderstanding when it first started, the wounds eventually become infected and irreversible. This job constantly reminds me not to take relationships for granted. Read more: Demystifying Lasting Power of Attorney (Singapore Edition) Q: Do you have any secret talents? Anything interesting about you? Linus: I play a number of instruments and am particularly interested in playing the guitar. I have a room with a collection of about 40 guitars. That’s my secret spot. Music is a very big part of my life, it symbols my youth and is a form of escape. I had a troubled childhood, often being bullied, but I found solace in music. It helped me find my voice and myself. I think guitar is a good way of expressing certain ideas and emotions to the other party. I even used the guitar to court my wife. This interview has been edited for length. Back to more profile interviews > Back to more articles and resources > FAQs Is estate planning and estate execution complicated? Estate planning and execution can be complicated as it involves different industries. Different industries provide different solutions and they each have their own protocols and licensing and regulatory framework, which creates boundaries between the industries. No one provider can provide a holistic solution. What are the benefits of an estate planning one-stop shop? Clients can pay less overall and get unified advice compared to having to go to different providers and pay separate fees. Are high net worth individuals the only people who need estate planning? No. The mass affluent should also be concerned about wealth distribution and management after their death. The mass affluent are generally dual income families, who have paper assets and are millionaires. While their assets are less complexed, they also face estate planning issues at a different scale. Immortalize is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your estate planning Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Shops for mothercare and eldercare sell functionally similar products but one gives off a "cute" vibe while the other is downright depressing. To age gracefully, we need to redefine the design for products made for elderly, according to Tan Lee Tuan, the founder of Agegracefully, a specialized eldercare shop focusing on smart walking sticks. We spoke to Tan about how he is making products for elderly less "old folks zone" and more "lifestyle". Name: Tan Lee Tuan Company Name: Bekind Solutions ( Agegracefully ) Specialization: Eldercare Lifestyle Products Base Country: Singapore Anything Interesting: Avid cyclist and photographer Save 10% on all Agegracefully products with this discount code: 10AGEGRACEFULLY Q: Can you tell me about yourself? What is your background? Lee Tuan: I studied Marine Engineering in Singapore and was in the engineering field for over a decade. I started off as an engineer, modifying submarines that were brought back to Singapore before moving on to Rolls-Royce to work on their marine propulsion system. Later on, I got an opportunity to work in China for a furniture company. I was designing furniture, such as coffee tables. I left after three years and came back to Singapore without a plan on what to do next. All these experiences helped me in the creation of products for Agegracefully. Q: How did you start Agegracefully? Lee Tuan: I came across a book called “The Purpose Driven Life” by Pastor Rick Warren. Through prayers, while I was reading this book, I received a message to help the elderlies. At first, I had no knowledge about this industry, and I knew no one. I volunteered at the eldercare center to find out more about the elderly and the industry in general. As my consciousness grew for the elderlies, I also started to observe them on purpose. When you pay more attention to certain things, you can see more and catch on a lot of things that you never knew were there before. Prior, when I see elderlies, they are just people passing by. Now when an elderly passes me, a lot of questions pop into my head. What are they wearing? What are they using? Who is with them? Where are they heading? These are just some of the questions that I ask now. During these observation periods, I felt that there’s a lot that we can do for the elderly. Products vs Services for Elderly I noticed there are two main areas that I can help the elderly with. The first one being the “product” and the second is the “service”. I chose to focus on developing products because of my previous experience in engineering and design. I initially wanted to design furniture for the elderly, but I don’t have enough savings and storage space to create and keep big furniture. And so I started exploring the possibility of creating smaller and cheaper products so that I can save on rental fee and manpower. There were two turning points for me. The first one was my visit to one of the rehabilitation (“rehab”) shops in a hospital and mothercare shops that sell maternity and infant products. The environment between the two gave off very different vibes. Shopping in rehab shops is very depressing, and it makes me feel that ageing is very upsetting. On the other hand, everything in the mothercare shops looked very cute and nice. Even though they seem to be very different, there are many similarities between the two. Babies wear diapers, have chairs or walkers with wheels and use specially made spoons and water bottles to help them feed themselves. In the elderly space, they have very similar products as well. Both eldercare and mothercare shops sell functional products but the eldercare shops took a medical approach whereas the mothercare shops took a lifestyle approach and made products that are more appealing to the eyes. The second one is my volunteer job at the eldercare centre. My job is to make sure that the elderly don't fall, because when an elderly falls, there would be lots of issues. I would basically bring them to the toilet, bring them food, and talk to them. I could talk not only to the elderly, but also to their caregivers and the staff there. This gave me an opportunity to know more about the elderly. These two turning points have made it clear to me that the product that we create should be about lifestyle. Lifestyle of The Elderly For example, in some places, a pregnant lady will most likely just wear an oversized t-shirt and that is good enough to cover the body. But in some other places, people who are more well off tend to want to enjoy the experience of the whole pregnancy process, so they would spend a lot of money on designer maternity wear and premium, nice-looking baby gadgets to improve this transitional experience of their life that are not so much about functionality. The focus on designs that provide more than just the basic functions of a product allowed me to see a business opportunity in the elderly’s lifestyle segment and who my target clients are. My short-term goal is to help elderly people who have just retired, who do not need a wheelchair, but need some help with walking. After discussing with my wife about me going into the elderly business, she wholeheartedly supported me. So that is how I started my business by designing walking sticks. Q: How are your walking sticks different from other walking sticks? Lee Tuan: We put in a lot of thoughts into designing. We care about the aesthetics besides the product being elder-friendly. The base of our walking stick is designed to be interchangeable. Our most common base for the walking stick is called a quad base, which has four legs and they come in different sizes. No matter what size they are, they are all interchangeable. For example, if your physiotherapist tells you that you need a walking stick with a bigger base to provide steadier support because of your hip injury, you can just simply replace the base with a larger one, without having to get a new walking stick. A few months down the road, when you have recovered from your injury, you can change the base of your walking stick back to a smaller one for better aesthetics and convenience. Want to know how the different types of smart walking sticks look like? Check them out HERE Get 10% off when you use the '10AGEGRACEFULLY' coupon code! Q: Have you incorporated any technology or design from your previous experience into your walking sticks? Lee Tuan: When I was in my submarine job, I did a lot of material testing. This skill came in very handy as materials are a major consideration when designing products for elderly. A walking stick is something that they hold and carry every day, so it has to be light enough. There are a lot of challenges when it comes to deciding which materials to use, for example, it’s easy to say that titanium is the go-to material to use because of its lightweight, but the downside is that it is expensive. Ergonomics is fundamental for elderly products, and weight is one of the most challenging when it comes to designing these products - something that I was never concerned about when I was in engineering and furniture design. It’s very tough to even reduce just 50 grams of weight from a product. Let’s use an umbrella for example. You may think that having an umbrella that also has a chair attached to it is a simple and genius concept, where the elderly can use it during rainy days and transform it into a chair anytime when they feel tired. But imagine them having to carry it around, all the add-ons, extra components are going to make the product bulky and heavy. It’s very challenging to create something that is multi-functional without compromising certain qualities. The Systematic Approach The other thing is that I designed the walking stick in a systematic way. It is the same approach that I have used during my engineering and furniture designing days. For example, for furniture design, we design with a system in mind. We don’t only design a coffee table, but we also design a matching TV console, side table, and many other related products, so all the different pieces of furniture are more in line aesthetically. People will be more comfortable buying a matching collection compared to buying different designed pieces. I applied this same approach when designing the elderly walking stick. We have six different designs in terms of the body itself, such as the chair, the umbrella, and the foldable body, and we have different kinds of accessories such as handles and bases that are all interchangeable. So everything is part of the system. Q: If you were to design elder-friendly furniture later on, how would it be different from regular furniture? Lee Tuan: At the back of my head I want to create elder-friendly furniture, but I don’t want to categorize it that way, I want it to be about lifestyle. People don’t want to be in the ‘old folks’ zone, where they feel like they are getting themselves medical products. So the idea is to age gracefully, which is why we name ourselves that. Right now, the elderly chairs that you see in the market, also called geriatric chairs, look similar to the ones you see in hospitals. The colour is often solid and the existing designs give people the impression that it’s either for the elderly or people with disabilities. I want to be able to remove such impressions for the elderly sector eventually. For example, I want the chairs to look like normal chairs with all the basic features, but also elder-friendly and aesthetically pleasing. I imagine that all the elderly furniture in a house radiates a welcoming and comforting ambience that can also be used in a convenient way for the elderly. Q: What are your next steps? Are we looking forward to any new and exciting products? Lee Tuan: The next possible product would be an upgrade of the walking stick with a seat, with the potential use of carbon fibre to make the product lighter. Another possible upgrade is our foldable walking stick. We want it to be a convertible stick, so that it can be used as a hiking stick as well. Some customers have asked us whether we can install some spikes on it so it can be used to walk on snow, and we are seriously considering that. Q: What are your interests? Anything interesting about you? Lee Tuan: I used to enjoy cycling and photography a lot, but ever since I started my own business, I have been doing less of these activities. My passion for what I do has consumed a lot of my time. This interview has been edited for length. Back to profile interviews > All articles and resources > Save 10% on all Agegracefully products with this discount code before you check out! 10AGEGRACEFULLY Immortalize Who's Who series seeks to profile service providers in the elderhood planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Immortalize is Singapore's most comprehensive elderhood marketplace and information provider. Find out all you need to know about ageing better , retiring more meaningfully and leaving a legacy that is uniquely yours here and let us help you get these sorted easily. Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Doctors play an important role in ageing well. In this interview, we spoke to Dr. Chung Wing Hong, Resident Physician and Director at Chung & Ee Medical Clinic, to understand more about the services that general practitioners provide in the Last Mile of Life space as well as family struggles when it comes to making tough decisions on signing documents like Lasting Power of Attorney and Advance Medical Directive. Name: Chung Wing Hong Company: Chung & Ee Medical Clinic Specialization: General Practitioner (Elder-related services) Base Country: Singapore Service Style: Compassionate, personable, relatable Anything Interesting: Likes cars and watches Clinic Location: 10 Telok Blangah Crescent #01-151 Singapore 090010 (Central Singapore CDC) Q: Can you tell me about yourself? Why did you choose to be a doctor and what made you start your own clinic? Chung: I was born in Hong Kong, but moved to Singapore when I was 4 years old and grew up here. I practiced medicine for about a decade before starting my private practice in 2020. I started my own clinic because there is more accountability and flexibility compared to working in an institution. Q: What services do you provide in the Elderhood space? Chung: Because of the higher elderly population in the vicinity of my clinic, most of the services that we provide are related to seniors and aging. These include chronic and acute conditions management as well as services such as Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) , Advance Medical Directive (AMD) , mental capacity assessment, disability assessment and death certification. Q: What is acute and chronic condition management and how are they related to elders? Chung: Acute illnesses are generally illnesses that happen suddenly and last for a short period of time, whereas chronic illnesses develop slowly but last for a much longer period. Common chronic conditions that can be seen in elderlies include diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, degenerative joint disease, heart, kidney and prostate problems. For patients whose conditions are stable enough to be discharged from the hospital, we can take over, manage, and monitor their chronic illnesses as outpatients in the clinic. As soon as complications arise, they will be referred to the hospital for further evaluation and management. Differences Between Clinics And Hospitals For Chronic Condition Management Benefits of having a doctor from a clinic manage your medical conditions as opposed to seeing a doctor at the hospital are much shorter waiting time and more convenience. If you require a long list of chronic medications, your medical expenses from private clinics may be higher than that of public healthcare institutions. However, there are multiple government schemes and subsidies in place, such as the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) and MediSave, that can help reduce the costs patients need to pay for private clinics. [ CHAS is a healthcare scheme provided by the Singapore government to help Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents receive subsidies for medical or dental care from participating general practitioners (GP) and dental clinics. MediSave is a national medical savings scheme that helps Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents set aside a part of their income to pay for medical expenses, such as certain outpatient expenses and hospitalization, and healthcare needs during old age. ] Q: You mentioned that you can certify Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). Since not all doctors are authorized to certify LPAs, how does a doctor become an LPA certificate issuer? [Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that allows you to appoint someone to make decisions for you when you lose mental capacity.] Read more: Demystifying Lasting Power of Attorney (Singapore Edition) Chung: Medical professionals like doctors have to go through an online course conducted by the Singapore Medical Association. Upon completion of the course, the doctor will be certified as an LPA certificate issuer. Q: What are some of the common issues that your patients face when it comes to getting their LPA certified? Chung: For LPA, the most common issue people face is that often the donee (person appointed) and the donor (person appointing) do not agree on the decisions that are indicated in the document. I would suggest that both the donor and donee(s) be present during the consultation so decisions can be discussed together. Hopefully, the parties are able to reach a consensus to proceed with the LPA application. In the event that an agreement could not be reached, I would suggest the donor and donee(s) to come back another time after they have reached an agreement. Q: What about Advance Medical Directive (AMD)? Are there any issues that people face when they want to get their AMD signed? [ Advance Medical Directive (AMD) is a legal document that allows you to inform medical professionals in advance that you do not want to prolong your life with any extraordinary life-sustaining treatment when you become terminally ill and unconscious.] Read more: Demystifying Advance Medical Directive (Singapore Edition) Chung: The most common issue for AMD is disagreement between the family and patient on whether the patient should do his/her AMD. Patients who are keen to make an AMD need to understand that the aim of an AMD is to avoid prolonged dying process and suffering, and not for the purpose of saving on medical expenses. You deciding in advance will also save the family members from having to make difficult decisions when they are under tremendous emotional pressure. AMD is completely voluntary. Not having done your AMD does not affect your right to receive medical treatment of any sort. Q: We have heard of lawyers suggesting that certain elders should have their mental capacity assessed by a doctor before drafting their wills. How does a doctor assess someone’s mental capacity? Chung: First, you must complete an Assessment of Mental Capacity form by the Singapore Medical Association to state why you need the assessment. Family members or caregivers are encouraged to be in the same room as the patient who is being assessed. However, they are not to interfere with the assessment of the patient. Testing For Cognitive Impairment A basic cognitive test will be performed to ensure that you are oriented to time, place and person. For example, “Do you know whether it’s morning, afternoon, or night? Do you know where you are? Are you able to recognize your caregiver or your attending doctor?” An Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT) will also be performed. This is a 10-question test to screen for cognitive impairment. A score below 7 out of 10 means there is cognitive impairment. If there is no cognitive impairment, the Assessment of Mental Capacity form will be completed. However, If there is an indication of cognitive impairment via the basic cognitive test or AMT, then we cannot proceed with the certification. The patient will then be referred to a psychiatrist for further evaluation and assessment. Q: Considering that you have many elderly patients, what happens if someone passed away at home? Chung: Should there be a death that occurred at home or outside of a hospital, the next-of-kin or the caregiver would need to find a registered medical practitioner to issue a Certificate of Cause of Death (CCOD). [ Certificate of Cause of Death ( CCOD) is a legal document issued by a registered medical doctor that certifies a person’s death if the cause of death is known and is due to natural causes.] Doctors can certify deaths if they can identify the cause of death. That usually means that the deceased family or caregiver needs to have proper documentation from their principal doctor. For example, a family could have proper documentation from an oncologist saying that the deceased was diagnosed with a particular type of cancer and is in the late stage. The memos drafted by the oncologist is one of the ways that can help determine whether the patient has died of natural causes. If the cause of death can’t be clearly identified, then that will be an issue. In this case, we would suggest calling an ambulance and sending the deceased to the hospital. The body will be sent to the mortuary and an autopsy will be done to determine the cause of death. Digitization of Death Certificates Once you obtain a CCOD, you can register the death. The government has started digitizing death certificates, where the death registration process is simpler, and certificates will be issued electronically instead of a physical one. Normally, after we issue a CCOD, the deceased’s next-of-kin will have to register the death either in a hospital or with a police station before a death certificate is issued. With the digitization, after the death is certified by a medical doctor online, the death will automatically be registered, and the next-of-kin will be able to receive a digital death certificate. [The Singapore Government has started digital death certificates on May 29, 2022] Q: What are your interests or hobbies? Chung: I like to spend time with my family, and if I’m not with my family, I’d be at the clinic. I also like cars and watches. This interview has been edited for length. Back to profile interviews > All articles and resources > Immortalize offers Prime Concierge, a personal assistant service, to help  you plan for your spectacular ageing and retirement life that includes Will, Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), Advance Medical Directive(AMD), Advance Care Planning (ACP), and more! FAQs Can all doctors issue Lasting Power of Attorneys (LPA) certificates? No, only accredited doctors who have passed a course conducted by the Singapore Medical Association can issue LPA certificates. Do I have to do an Advance Medical Directive (AMD)? No, AMD is completely voluntary. Whether you have an AMD in place or not does not affect your right to receive medical treatment when needed. How is mental capacity assessed by doctors? An Assessment of Mental Capacity form will first be filled to state why you need the assessment. Then your doctor will perform a basic cognitive test and an Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT) to find out if you have any cognitive impairment. After which, your doctor will either complete your Assessment of Mental Capacity form or refer to a psychiatrist for further assessment. Immortalize is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your elderhood planning Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io

Everyone should do their Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) and get their parents to do theirs as it costs ~SG$100 and just 10 minutes, compared to the significantly more costly and time consuming deputyship application, according to Chen Yiyang, Director of YY Lee & Associates LLC. We spoke to Chen to discuss why families are suing each other over inheritance on a weekly basis, best practices for your estate planning and why divorce cases in Singapore will make great content for Tik Tok. Key points: Don't appoint "lazy" people as executors of your will; family suing executors is a "common occurrence" Even if you are not ready to do your will, do your LPA first Keeping even a simple list of your assets can save others a lot of time, money and effort in future Name: Yiyang Chen Company: YY Lee & Associates LLC Estate Planning Specialization: Will-writing, LPA, and Estate disputes Base Country: Singapore Service Style: Straightforward, fast, personal Anything Interesting: Aspiring Tik Toker on Family Law in Singapore Q: Can you tell me about yourself, how did you get into law? Chen: My mum has been a lawyer for 43 years and owns her own legal business but I have never thought I’ll be a lawyer. My first degree was in Economics, and I worked in retail for a year and a half after graduating. During my time there, I saw how a lot of people who are uneducated were treated and it made me realize that I needed to learn more about basic personal rights. I wanted to better myself to help these people and that’s when I decided to enter law school. I now run a law firm with my mother. From late 2018, I started specializing in family law, conveyancing, Wills , and Lasting Power of Attorneys (LPA) . Q: Who is your target audience? Chen: People who come to me are mainly millennials, younger clients or older clients whose children reached out to me on their behalf. I see a need to service people my age, the millennials, because a lot of us are getting more asset rich and more astute with investments. It is also vital for people with young children to plan one's assets for any unforeseen circumstances. Q: What are some of the issues millennials face in estate planning? Chen: A lot of millennials use online trading platforms and invest in digital assets like cryptocurrencies. For estate planning , it’s less about how to distribute your digital assets to your loved ones but how will the executor of your Will be able to access and manage your digital assets after you pass away. Another thing that I remind my millennial clients, who usually hold more varied types of assets like multiple bank accounts, different insurance policies etc., is that they need to list out all of these accounts and maintain a rolling list of their assets. Keeping A List Of Assets Is Crucial Without this list, when a person passes away, his/her estate lawyers have to write to banks, insurance companies and other institutions to request for more information about the deceased’s assets. Generally, it takes about two to three months for these financial institutions to come back with the records, which is a big waste of time and money for your loved ones. If there are minor beneficiaries of the estate, i.e. children below 21 years old, this means the estate will not be settled for some time and the funds for them will be locked up. I want to highlight to younger people, especially the millennials, that all you need to do is keep a rolling list of your assets. Just state the bank account, Central Depository (CDP) account and insurance policy numbers and other information, such as online trading accounts and digital assets. You don’t need to record the exact value of these assets when you are still alive as the values only matter at the date of your death. Read more: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) Q: Which part of estate planning do you specialize in? Chen: I do a lot of Will and LPA planning with my clients. I started specializing in estate disputes last year, and it has opened my eyes to help me give better advice during the Will and LPA planning stages. Q: What is the most common thing that people usually dispute about? Chen: Many beneficiaries sue their executors or administrators when a deceased person’s assets were not properly distributed and managed. For instance, executors or administrators did not properly pay off the deceased’s debts and failed to give a statement of account to the beneficiaries. Executors generally think that once they give the money to the beneficiaries, their duties are completed. That’s not true. It is actually an ongoing duty for them. If the beneficiary asks for clarity of the estate at any point, the executors must be ready to provide account statements to show proof. Sadly, as executors or administrators are usually the deceased or beneficiaries’ family members, people end up suing their own family. This is a very common occurrence. [Besides appointing family members as executors, there is also the option of outsourcing the work to a third party by appointing professional executors in your will. Check out the list of providers who offer professional executor service here .] Read more: How to Choose Beneficiary, Executor in My Will? Q: How do you feel about handling estate dispute cases? Chen: It’s sad and unnecessary. If people are more knowledgeable about what their rights and their duties as estate administrators or executors are, then we would not have so many disputes. Sometimes I think it’s because they have not been properly advised in the planning stage, such as unclear terms in the Will, and that’s when disputes emerge. Q: What are the things that people should consider when they appoint executors in their Will? Chen: There are two things that people need to consider. First, you must choose someone that you can trust and who is not lazy. There are a lot of lazy people in this world and it really matters. I have seen quite a few estate beneficiaries who did not get what they were supposed to get because of lazy executors. Second, you must make very clear and unambiguous instructions in your Will. If the terms in your Will are complicated, the executor cannot properly administer the estate and will have trouble carrying out your intentions. I have a lot of clients who came to me with their signed 10-page long Wills, and they would ask me to simplify it because they don’t even understand the document themselves. When I understand their intentions and write a new Will for them, they are always surprised at how simple a Will can and should be. Q: If things change later on in life, how can people make adjustments to their Wills? Chen: I would always tell my clients to review their Wills at least once every 10 years. Only in the event that they want to remove someone or add a new person as a beneficiary, then they need to draft a new Will. For example, if you and your spouse made your Wills when your children were underage (below 21 years old), I would tell you to redo your Will as soon as your children reach 21 years old, because you may have appointed someone to be their guardian to take care of your kids’ money. But when they are of age, they don’t need guardians and you don’t want to burden the appointed person anymore. So you should review your Will to see whether you want your kids to be holding the money themselves when they are 21 years old. You should also draft a new Will when there are major changes in your life, such as when you have children, when you have more children, and when they grow up and become adults. Related: What is a Will and how to get it done? (Singapore Edition) Q: Should people do their Wills if they are single? Chen: If you are single, it’s even more so that you should have a Will to give clear instructions on who you are giving your assets to and how your assets are going to be managed subsequently. In addition, prepare a rolling list of your assets. The foremost reason is to make things easier for your parents in case you pass away before them. The thing about intestacy law (a set of distribution rules determined by the law) is that people think it’s very straightforward, but it can also cause issues that people never think about. For example, if you are single and you pass away without a Will, according to intestacy law, your assets will be distributed to your siblings if you don’t have any children and both of your parents have already passed away. Prevent A Foreseeable Issue For one of my clients' cases, the sibling passed away before him, so his sibling’s children are entitled to their parent’s share of his inheritance . But the children were underaged, and this resulted in a lot of issues, such as co-administrator issues. When there is no Will, at least two individuals acting as co-administrators or a trust corporation must be appointed to obtain a Grant of Letters of Administration for underage beneficiaries. This resulted in a longer process to obtain a Grant of Letters of Administration (a legal document that gives the administrator the legal right to manage and distribute the deceased's estate). The estate planning stage is very important, because it can lead to a lot of problems during probate if there’s no considerate planning done. Read more: All About Probate & Administration (Singapore Edition) Q: Are there other things people should be aware of, to prevent disputes, when drafting their Wills? Chen: There was a case that I did, where a client of mine came back to me and said he decided to give the flat to one of his children only. Honestly, when I first heard it, I genuinely felt scared. “What is happening?” and “Why is he cutting off the others?” were some of the questions that immediately came to my mind. His reason was that because when he got into a car accident, this child took care of him very well. So he wanted to reward the child with the flat. It definitely rang some alarm bells, because I can already imagine the other siblings feeling very unhappy when they learn of this arrangement. When a child brings the parents to my office, especially when the child is not the only child and the siblings didn’t come together with the rest of the family, I would always ask the child to leave the room so I can talk to the parents privately to understand whether those are their real intentions or were they under any undue influence of someone else. Q: Let’s talk about LPA. In what circumstances do people need an LPA or a deputyship? Chen: I tell my friends all the time that even if they are not ready to do their Wills, they should definitely get their LPAs done first. (LPA is a legal document that allows you to appoint one or more persons to make decisions on your behalf if you lose mental capacity one day.) Read more: Demystifying Lasting Power of Attorney (Singapore Edition) For example, when someone is injured at work, generally there would be workmen injury compensation to be paid out to the injured person. But if the person is also mentally incapacitated from the accident, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) or the employer will only release the compensation to the injured person’s donee (person appointed by you to decide for you) according to the LPA or to the deputy (person appointed by the Court to decide for you) when there is no LPA. Deputyship vs LPA Recently I handled one deputy case where a client of mine desperately needed a deputyship. Her parents wanted to purchase one of the silver generation Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats a few years ago, and their intention was to get this new flat and sell their old HDB flat. While the parents were waiting for the flat to be built, the father lost mental capacity, and he couldn’t be there to sign the documents and receive the keys for the HDB. Since he didn’t have an LPA, the only way for the wife and daughter to be able to handle his affairs is to obtain a deputyship, which is a lengthy court process. If he had an LPA, they wouldn’t need to go through all these troubles. LPA is the most important for bank accounts and properties. When you don’t have an LPA and become mentally incapacitated, your family needs to go to court to get deputyship to be able to access your bank accounts and manage your properties and affairs. A lot of people think that LPA is a hindrance and a very complicated matter. I once visited a friend at her place not long ago. She has two young kids, and it has dawned on me that both she and her spouse did not have LPAs. I offered to help them get their LPAs done right on the spot. They tried to brush me off at first, thinking it’s something very difficult to do, but they were really surprised that the whole application process was completed in 10 minutes. Even though you may not want to do a Will now, you should do your LPA first. Q: How long does it take to apply for deputyship and get appointed as a deputy, and how much does it cost? Chen: The court application will cost about SG$5,000-6,000, whereas signing an LPA costs about SG$100. [Accredited doctors and lawyers can help you sign your LPA, with prices starting from $45, according to Immortalize database. Check out the list of providers here .] Read more: Demystifying Lasting Power of Attorney (Singapore Edition) The reason why the market rate for application of deputyship is so expensive is because the procedure is very long. It takes at least three to six months to be appointed as a deputy, and that’s the usual time for uncomplicated and uncontested cases. Also, there are so many documents to produce. For example, if your parents lived in a nursing home, you have to prepare the nursing home agreement, list of expenses, etc., and obtain a medical report from the hospital to submit to the Court. A medical report is very expensive. There are two types of medical reports, one that is general and the other one is specific for mental capacity, which costs at least SG$400-500, depending on the hospital. If your parent has an LPA, you only need the general medical report to activate the LPA, which costs less compared to the mental capacity medical report. Q: What would you recommend the younger generation to do to start conversations with their parents and encourage them to do their elderhood planning? Chen: I would recommend the younger generation to start conversations with their parents about last mile of life planning as soon as possible. I always tell people, such as my cousins and friends, to get their parents to draft their Wills and complete their LPAs, because things will be easier for them later on when they need to handle their parents’ affairs. Q: What are your hobbies? Chen: After work, I like to go through Tik Tok and social media every night for at least one and a half hours, where I get to learn a lot of things. I watched a lot of family lawyers who are based in the United Kingdom and United States on Tik Tok. Basically, they would very quickly answer questions on laws such as basic divorce law. My mum and I have been trying to learn their style as we have plans to set up a similar account one day. Divorce cases in Singapore are confusing to a lot of people, and often misunderstood, so we believe creating Tik Tok videos to explain about family law in Singapore will be extremely informative ( laughs ). This interview has been edited for length. Back to profile interviews > More articles and resources > FAQ Why do I need Schedule of Assets? With an updated Schedule of Assets, it makes the probate process cheaper and faster. What do I need to include in Schedule of Assets? General information about your assets should be included in the Schedule of Assets. Include the bank account, securities account, insurance policy numbers and other information such as online trading accounts and digital assets. The exact value of these assets are not needed. The values don't matter when you are alive. They only matter at the date of your death. Should I do my will if I am single? If you are single, you should do a Will to give clear instructions on who you are giving your assets to and how your assets are going to be managed. Make sure you also include a list of assets to make things easier for your parents in case you pass away before them. Although Singapore has a very straightforward intestacy law, it can also cause issues that people never think about. When do I need an LPA or deputyship? You should do your LPA when you have mental capacity. When you don’t have an LPA and become mentally incapacitated, your family will need to go to court to get deputyship, a lengthy and costly legal process, to be able to access your bank accounts and manage your properties and affairs. Why is a deputyship more expensive than doing an LPA? Deputyship is expensive because the procedure is very long. Usually, for uncomplicated and uncontested cases, it takes at least three to six months to be appointed as a deputy. You will also have to provide many more documents, such as a list of expenses, medical reports, etc. Immortalize is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your estate planning Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Being an executor that is responsible for managing and distributing someone’s assets after they pass away isn’t difficult knowledge-wise most of the time, it’s just tedious and there’s always little things you need to take care of and constantly remind yourself to do, according to Mario Tjiong, director at Singapore-based law firm, Court & Mason LLC. We spoke to Tjiong about the challenges of being appointed an executor in someone's will and why most people who have been an executor would pay for others to do it. Name: Mario Tjiong Company: Court & Mason LLC Estate Planning Specialization: Professional Executorship Base Country: Singapore Service Style: Patient, realistic, collaborative Anything Interesting: Gamer Q: Can you tell me more about yourself? Why did you choose law and how did Court & Mason came about? Mario: I wondered if I could get into law, applied and got in. After my parents found out that I got in, they didn’t let me give up and said, “You’re going to take it and you’re going to be happy about it” (laughs) . After I graduated, I went to a small firm. My boss served mainly Indonesian and Chinese high net worth clients. We took care of everything they needed. From cases like a client’s wife’s cousin’s traffic offense to arbitrating a case where a client got sued by an Indonesian government-linked entity. It’s not something we typically do, but we figured it out. It was a very client-centric business. After that I moved to a mid-sized firm that primarily served banks and later left to start Court & Mason. Q: Why did you decide to name the firm Court & Mason? Mario: I didn’t. The court sort of decided for me. When you apply to set up a law practice in Singapore, you are required to submit three names for their consideration. You can pick any name you want but it’s subjected to approval and the final name will be decided between those three names. I always have this impression that most firms have the lawyer’s name in it. So the first name that I chose was Tjiong Law LLC and my second choice was Tjiong and Co. Very boring and typical law firm names and for the third one, I decided on Court & Mason. Court-picked Posh Name It was a name my classmate and I came up with during a drinking session in the past. We said that when we are hugely successful, we will work for a law firm that is very posh and globalized with a westernized name such as Court & Mason. Out of the three, the court selected Court & Mason. Then, I was like “Why?”. But it’s a good story and it sounds nice so I was fine with it. Q: What is your specialization? Mario: I’m a generalist. We tend to be more accommodating of what clients are looking for, rather than holding out for specific things. But we do a lot more commercial contracts and probate . [Probate is the legal process where the executor (person appointed in a will) applies for a Grant of Probate (a legal document) to manage and distribute the deceased's estate.] Read More: All About Probate & Administration (Singapore Edition) Q: How did you end up doing a lot of probate? Mario: It's a natural progression because of the will writing process. We went into will writing about a decade ago because we saw that there is going to be a rise of people who are well-to-do in Singapore. In the past, people passing away may have an HDB flat, a bit of money in the bank and its divided 10 ways because back then, family sizes were huge. The price of HDB back then was around $200,000, so each of them will get around $20,000 and they will go their merry way. When it’s $20,000, it’s easy for people to let those who need the money more take more. Underserved Market As people get richer and family sizes became smaller, there was a double multiplier effect. These days, parents are leaving multiple properties to their children, and in today’s prices, they are worth multiple millions and there’s also money, fixed deposits, investments, CPF and others, so the problems are quite different today. Back then, there was nobody really serving this market and we thought this is a space worth exploring. After writing wills for clients, unfortunately, we started having clients who pass away and probate was the next thing we did for their families. Q: Is probate hard? Mario: Probate may be more difficult nowadays. In the past it was a lot easier because everyone was doing paper statements and all you have to do is wait for end of month, then companies will dutifully send you all their statements. You can easily collect and tabulate them. But now, everyone is going paperless and it becomes more difficult to trace. Q: We did a small survey and realized that for those who have done probate before, 100% said that they would pay someone else to do it. Why do you think that is the case? Is it because it’s very time consuming? Mario: People will definitely pay for someone to do it instead of doing it themselves. It’s not just about the time, but also the annoyance. There are always little things that needs to be taken care of and you have to constantly remind yourself to check the mailbox and make sure no new statements have come in. You have to find all the assets and run around to apply for a Grant of Probate . After getting the grant, you have to visit banks, insurance companies, HDB and etc. A lot of times they are not going to tell you what documents you need, and the worst part is, they are usually not standardized. For example, you can’t just go to any financial institution and take document A, B and C, and expect to be the same everywhere. What you actually need to do may even depend on the bank officer that you encounter on the day. An 'Irritating' Task It is not a very difficult or challenging task, but a very irritating one that is constantly at the back of my head, such as always monitoring and chasing for updates. The other aspect is the beneficiaries themselves. A lot of times we talk about issues and difficulties that executors face because of the entire management of running around and doing all sorts of things. Sometimes beneficiaries can be demanding and difficult, such as asking to get their shares in advance. Opening the Floodgate Usually, these beneficiaries tend to fall into the category where they are in urgent need of money, where they would pressure you to give them their shares, which creates a nightmare, because you are still in the middle of collecting money. First thing is if you opened this floodgate, other beneficiaries will come to you and ask for their shares too. The second thing is by law you are supposed to clear off any outstanding debt that the estate has, such as taxes, debts, credit cards, and all of that before the balance can be distributed. What if I gave the beneficiaries money, but it turns out that there is not enough to clear off debts? Q: And usually you will say no to such requests? Mario: I will just say no because I can’t do it and it can only be done after everything is settled. For example, if there is an emergency like one need money for an operation, normally we will direct them to other beneficiaries instead of borrowing from the estate. As a professional executor, you cannot do it and expose yourself to unneeded risks. But many executors are actually family members, so it’s harder for them to refuse the beneficiaries’ requests. Some beneficiaries don’t want the responsibility of being an executor, but they will constantly ask for updates and wants to control how an executor does things. For example, if you are going to sell a property, they want to know if you have found an agent yet. If yes, what price did this agent quote. If it is not what they want, they will ask you to find another agent. Q: What is the role of an executor? Is it hard to be an executor? If someone appoints a family member as an executor, how much time and work do they have to go through on average? Mario: An executor basically deals with the administrative work and fulfills whatever is written in the will. They go to Court to get the Grant of Probate, deal with bank accounts, claim insurance, sell and transfer the shares and property, and others. Related Articles: How to Choose Beneficiary, Executor in My Will? How much time an executor spends depends on the asset class. The part that takes a fair amount of time is figuring out what assets the person has, and this is usually the irritating part. It depends on how secretive the deceased is about their assets. The other part is the actual application to Court and that takes a bit of time. The bulk of the issue is running around dealing with the assets. Relationship Manager For bank accounts, if you have the proper documentation, the bank will let you close the account and take the money. If you have a property, for example, it is relatively easy to just transfer it to your spouse, but when you want to split it four ways, if one wants to stay in the property and want to take over the shares of the other three, it gets somewhat complicated as the executor needs to go through a lot discussions, realize what each other’s expectations are, and decide what is essential for everyone. So the executor needs to manage not just the assets, they need to weigh the relationship and how to balance the wants and needs of multiple beneficiaries. Q: What happens when you miss something? For example, what happens if a client already received the Grant but realized he/she missed out on an asset? Mario: It is actually quite common, and people do miss out things. We are all just trying to reconstruct what the person had, and we don’t have knowledge of everything. We have seen all sorts of weird things such as people investing in time share or land banking. When you discover these things, you may have to include them into the schedule of assets, and obviously these things are not easy to discover. You might have got your Grant of Probate, but a couple of months later, or even a year, you discover that you didn’t include it and you need to add to the schedule of assets. Amending Schedule of Assets After Approval When that happens, you need to apply for ‘Leave of Court’ to amend the schedule of assets. The ‘Leave of Court’ is a technical term for asking the Court’s permission, and in this case, apply for the Court’s permission to amend the schedule of assets where you have to explain why these assets were not discovered beforehand. After you get the permission, you can apply to amend the schedule of assets. Q: How much does it cost if someone forgets something and has to amend the schedule of assets by engaging a lawyer? Mario: It’s around a couple hundreds of dollars to engage a lawyer to file. You just need to go back to the same person that dealt with your Grant of Probate, since this person is already aware of your situation and doesn’t need to spend time familiarizing with your case. Q: How long does it usually take for an executor to handle from finding assets to finishing the whole distribution process? Mario: Probably around six months to a year. Q: How much does it cost to appoint a professional executor? Mario: This depends on how much time is required. I will give an estimate when I do a client’s will. I listen to what exactly they are looking to get done and what assets they have. It's definitely going to trend higher if they have a lot of instructions. For example, we had a case where one client wants to sell the property, and then buy two properties with the sale proceeds, one for his wife and the other for his mother. The client is the ‘glue’ that has been holding the wife’s and mother’s relationship together. So if he passes away, the wife and mother would not be able to live under the same roof. Q: Can you give me a ballpark figure on how much you charge to appoint you as an executor, i.e. put your name as an executor in the will? And how much is the execution part? Mario: Around $500 to put my name as an executor in the will. If I am activated, I will offset it from the execution cost. The execution part for an average person would cost around $5,000. Q: What happens if you pass away before them? Mario: The $500 is non-refundable. But in the will, it will state who the backup executor will be in the event that I pass away, become mentally incapacitated or can’t fulfil the duty. Q: What if someone has been appointed the executor, but would like to give you the power to assist so that you are essentially the executor, is that possible? Mario: You could delegate some of the duties, but it doesn’t reduce your exposure to liabilities. Beneficiaries can potentially sue executors. Q: I’m assuming kins and beneficiaries will still need to do some work even if there is a professional executor? How much work do they need to do in this case? Mario: Usually they compile whatever statements or letters that they receive, and then hand it off to me. Q: Do you need to figure out any assets that they have missed as well? Mario: What happens is that I go through the list. In the professional scene, we do not only do wills for clients, we tell them to have a very updated schedule of assets that they have to do in their lifetime rather than to wait for people to piece it together for them. When something happens, usually the beneficiaries will take the schedule of assets that the person has drafted and it is usually kept together with the will. It’s a starting point as the bulk of assets are already captured. Q: What if people forgot to update it and in the meantime, they accumulated a lot of different assets and passed away? Mario: Then the schedule of assets become totally useless. For example, if the schedule of assets is five years old, a lot of things would have changed, and you cannot leave it to chance. We must inquire further to know if these assets still exist. There was a case where the family members said their father was a very secretive man who refused to tell anyone what he has and where he keeps his money. So nobody knows. I literally ended up writing to every bank and financial institution I can think of. Q: So without the schedule of assets, the executor charge would be significantly more expensive?: Mario: Yes, because there is more work. In that kind of scenario, the cost could be around $8,000-$10,000. Q: Anything else that is annoying to people and that they should get a professional executor to do it? Mario: One, the process is annoying. Two, sometimes people don’t want to deal with the relationship issues, because naturally if you are an executor, you have certain powers and other people don’t, so you may be accused of favoritism. Q: What powers do executors have, what kind of bias can they have and what kind of accusations could they face? Tjiong: Firstly, it is the perceived bias, where someone could say, “My mother appointed her, but not me, that means she doesn’t trust me or hates me.” The second one is the distribution itself, where you can get difficult and demanding beneficiaries, such as saying things like, “They are denying my request, obviously power playing.” They may feel that executors are being arrogant when they make decisions such as selling a house with a particular agent instead of others, “We are our mother’s children as well, why does he/she gets to decide and not us.” It can create a lot of tension within the family. Bias, Tensions & Disputes Sometimes we get situations where people who are executors are already in a vulnerable position. For example, the father passed away and appointed the son to be the executor to deal with all the issues, but the mother is a beneficiary. Obviously, the mother has certain ability to influence the son to listen to her. They will exert this sort of pressure on children sometimes. If you want to be free of biases, tensions, or disputes, and just want to get things done, then getting a professional executor can simplify a lot of things. Q: Any upcoming trends that might spur people to get a professional executor? Tjiong: What drives a lot of people to professionals is the idea that their spouse or family members are not suitable to handle the assets they have. Take cryptocurrency as an example. One of the family member may be very invested in it, but the rest of the family is not. Cryptocurrency will definitely be an issue in the future because people may lose their wallets and etc. Q: What are the issues you think may arise because of how crypto is structured in terms of probate? Tjiong: The main concern is that people who are not in crypto has no idea what to do. For example, my wife has no interest in crypto at all, so if I appoint her to deal with it obviously she would not know what to do. Q: What’s interesting about you? What do you do on weekends? Tjiong: Very common activities like gaming. Last year I played Train Wreck and Cyberpunk. Currently, there aren’t that many good games so I’m playing all the classics. My favorite is Fallout Two, a very old game. My wife is very unhappy with my gaming (laughs) . Q: How much time do you spend on gaming? Tjiong: Not so much now, because there aren't any interesting titles out there. The problem is that I like single player story driven games. It’s like a good book where you want to finish it in one go. You don’t want to put it down, come back to it at a later time and have to pick it back up again. This interview has been edited for length. Back to more profile interviews > Back to more articles and resources > FAQs on Being an Executor What is the role of an executor? An executor basically deals with the administrative work and fulfills whatever is written in the will. They go to Court to get the Grant of Probate, deal with bank accounts, claim insurance, sell and transfer the shares and property, and others. Can I amend the Schedule of Assets after getting the grant of probate? Yes. You will need to apply for ‘Leave of Court’, or the Court's permission, to amend the schedule of assets and after you get the permission, you can apply to amend the schedule of assets. Immortalize is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your estate planning Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .