At 30, most lawyers either have their heads buried deep in work or are trying to figure out how to get out of work that has consumed their lives. Not Sarah-Mae. She ditched the comfort and safety of a regular pay and took the risky and uncertain path of starting her own law firm. Immortalize spoke to Sarah-Mae Thomas, managing director at Sarah-Mae Thomas LLC, about her entrepreneur journey, experience transitioning from Australia to Singapore and helping expats with their estates and family issues. Name: Sarah-Mae Thomas Company: Sarah-Mae Thomas LLC Estate Planning Specialization: Mental capacity Base Country: Singapore Service Style: Collaborative and international Anything Interesting: Designated dance choreographer at friends’ weddings Q: Can you tell me more about yourself? Why did you decide to go into law? Thomas: I have always been very passionate about justice and helping people in difficult situations. There was once when my mum and brother were having an argument. I mediated between them and my mum said, “Sarah-Mae, I think you’d make an excellent judge!”. I replied, “I’m going to study ‘judgery’!” and my mum said “No, you need to study law, not judgery”. I was five years old and decided then that I wanted to be a lawyer. Q: Did you start your career in Singapore? Thomas: No. I was born in Singapore, did primary school here, and moved to Melbourne at 12 years old. Q: Why did you move there? Thomas: Education. My parents thought the education system here was too much of a pressure cooker and decided that Australia would be best to provide us with a more well-rounded education. And that’s what we did. We packed our bags and migrated to Melbourne, Australia. Q: When did you come back to Singapore and why? Thomas: 6 years ago. My dad had always been in Singapore. He would spend a week every month in Melbourne with us, whereas my mum was stationed there. She had moved back with my brother after 10 years and it was just me alone in Melbourne. That was when I decided that I wanted to move back home because I want to be with my family. Q: What was your career progression like? Thomas: I graduated from Monash University, did my traineeship, and worked as a solicitor in Melbourne. When I moved back to Singapore, I joined a large firm here and while I had a good experience, it was not what I had wanted. I would be churning out cases and had no real client contact. It was all about billables and crunching numbers and what I wanted was to have a more interactive personable experience with clients. After 2 years at the large firm, I moved to a boutique practice. There, I went under tutelage with a very respectable family lawyer before deciding to start my own firm. Q: Why did you decide to set up your own firm? Thomas: I’ve always wanted to run my own business. When I was 15, I had entrepreneurial ideas in this folder called “My Big Dream”, which stored my business plans. Sometimes when I took the train, I dreamt about starting my own company although I never thought it would be a law firm. My desire grew stronger when I moved to Singapore because I felt that Singapore law firms don’t have a focus on thought leadership at an associate level. Associates are often given a file, and you do it. That’s it. You don’t bounce off ideas at lunch meetings and you don’t discuss about business development. I realized that to do what I wanted to do, I had to either be a partner or move up to some management position, and that would have taken at least 10 years. Industrial Revolution Battles One of the motivations for starting my own firm was that I got to create the culture and set the tone. I don’t have to convince leadership. That was a price I paid when I moved back to Singapore. I was fighting battles that I thought would have been fought in the industrial revolution. People worked till 2am and came in on weekends. I remembered during Chinese New Year, if you had two days off as public holidays, it was given that one of the two days you had to come in to work all day. Modern-Day Slavery To me, that translates to modern-day slavery. The boss thinks that they own you, pay you a minimum salary and your life becomes work. When I tried to speak to management about the importance of work-life balance, they would say “All these millennials, they don’t know anything about hard work”, which was not true. The conversation should be “How can we work efficiently between 9 to 6”. In Australia, if you left at 7pm, people would think that you’re weird. Do you not have a social life? Do you not have a family? It was frowned upon. Whereas here, it was a norm. 9pm was normal, and I disagree with that. Q: That didn’t make you want to go back to Australia? Thomas: Many times. I wanted to throw in the blanket and go back to Australia. It’s so much easier. But my family is here, I made the decision, and I’m not a quitter. Everyone who’s forced to change in a certain situation either have a choice to sink or swim. I can be the thought leader, start a revolution and be a pioneer. You’re always that one single voice that sounds crazy until the revolution becomes the norm. I wanted to go back to Australia every day for the first five years, until one day, I realized that I needed to have a different mindset. I needed to make my experience in Singapore the best experience. Australia isn’t perfect too and how do I integrate the best of both worlds? Q: What’s bad about Australia? Thomas: I wouldn’t say bad, but what Singapore does better is that the court system is one of the most effective and fastest system in the world. When you get a divorce claim or any claim through the court system, Singapore is much faster than Australia, India, US, or UK from start to end. They have timelines and they stick to it, and that’s what Singapore does well. If you have a problem that you need help in Australia, you will probably get an answer in three weeks. But in Singapore, it’ll probably be up to three days. I wanted efficiency without the downside of work-life balance. Q: Why did you choose to specialize in family law? Thomas: Initially, I didn't want to touch this area because I didn’t want to be involved in breaking up a family unit. Over time, as I started getting exposed to family law cases, I realized that this is an amazing area of law because I actually get to help people in very volatile situations. Even though I don’t condone divorce, I think it’s the last resort for situations like domestic violence and when the family is severely dysfunctional. I began to realize that I am in a place where I can help and make a difference. Q: What are the difficulties that you are facing right now as a start-up law firm? Compared to the comfort you had when you are in a bigger firm? Thomas: There’s always something challenging. When we’re launching, the challenge is to get business. Once people start hearing about us, they refer others to us so having that traction becomes important but also challenging. Q: Who are your target clients and what’s your specialization in the estate planning side of things? Thomas: Expats are my target clients. Mental capacity, in particular, Lasting Power of Attorney (“LPA”) . Q: What are the issues that expats should take note of when doing their LPA or Will in Singapore? Thomas: They will need to decide if they want to do an international will or a local will. An international will covers assets in multiple countries while a local will covers assets in one country. The LPA that you file in Singapore will only cover Singapore. If you expect to live in other countries, you will have to do an LPA-equivalent in other countries. Also, the wills and LPAs have to be checked to make sure that they don’t contradict each other. Make sure you get proper advice for your properties in various countries. Things to consider include inheritance tax, extracting the grant of probate and in the event of country-specific wills, ensure that your will in one country doesn’t deal with any property in another country. Q: Anything interesting about you besides work? Thomas: In Australia, I used to run Bollywood dance classes and now, I use that skill to come up with dance routines at friends’ weddings. Before Covid-19, I would attend many weddings and be asked to dance in almost all of them. I also run a podcast called “ The Legal Eagle Podcast ” where I invite people to talk about various legal and social issues. I have always enjoyed hosting, emceeing, public speaking, and debating so I thought this was just a natural progression that I could fit in between my law work. This interview has been edited for length. Read more: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) How To Find The Right Lawyer For My Will? Guide To Making a Will - Singapore Edition Want to know if this lawyer is suitable for you? Back to profile interviews >   All 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. 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

We have all heard of how online wills are disrupting the heavily guarded legal industry when it comes to will making and estate planning. The online will creators are usually young lawyers or people outside the industry. This interview feels more like the legal empire striking back, saying “Hey, we will disrupt you and do a better online will.” We spoke to the co-founder of digital will company ezWills, a retired Wills and Estate lawyer who prefers not to be identified, about the common traps of online wills and why he decided to start ezWills. Name: Prefers not to be identified (“A”) Company: ezWills Base Country: Singapore Check out ezWill's ranking on Immortalize's Online Will Ratings Q: How did ezWills start? A: ezWills was started following a conversation between my co-founder and I in February 2016. I am a retired lawyer with over 30 years of experience and spent the last decade doing Wills and Estate matters on a daily basis. My co-founder is a serial entrepreneur who was then running an IT consultancy providing mission critical solutions to major corporations. Only The Essential Together, we worked to simplify the will making process and share with people our experience not just in will making, but also in estate litigation. The more experienced one is, the more you’ll know how easy it is to create problems unintentionally when making a will that’s complex. For this reason, ezWills doesn’t aim to create a will that does anything and everything. We want to help people create a will that does what is needed and is correct. We leave out all that’s not essential or critical. If you need a simple will and cannot afford the fees for a lawyer, we’re here to help. For complicated and complex matters, please go to a law firm. Seriously. Q: Can you tell me more about your history? A: There’s not a lot that I can say. When your batch of NUS Law School graduates produced several High Court and State Court judges, several Senior Counsels and several with doctorates, what can anyone say that won’t pale in comparison? Going to a class reunion is especially hazardous – think about whose car you might knock in the car park! Besides advising and helping clients create their wills, I have acted as executor of clients’ estates a fair bit over the years. As an executor , I have had to defend against claims made on the estate. I have also acted for estates in challenges to wills made by deceased clients . Q: What made you want to do a digital will? A: Over the years of helping clients make their wills, I could see certain “patterns”. For instance, the circumstances that prompted people to make or update their wills, the standard types of wills made by people with young children and etc. I could also see that many young people who have a lot to lose were not taking any steps to make their wills. I even had staff who had young children who still didn’t make their wills until I asked them “If something happened to you and your spouse, who is going to raise your kid/s?”. Given that legal staff get to do their will for free, there’s really no excuse but this situation is more common than people realize. Few & No Excuse Creating ezWills was about pushing out the message and making it so easy and convenient that there really are very few excuses for anyone not to make their will. Rather than a website that asks for a form to be filled and making you wait days before sending the draft will, we set out to develop a platform that would allow a user to get the will immediately. Immediate delivery of a will is especially important if you need it urgently. We’ve already had one ezWills user tell us she needed a will as she was terminally ill. (Read here to find out how Covid-19 restrictions mean some terminally ill patients can't get a lawyer to do their will) Q: What kind of people will be most suitable to use your product? A: Someone needing to make a will urgently will find that there’s no waiting and no ‘office closed’ to worry about with ezWills. ezWills fills that gap for people wishing to make a simple, uncomplicated Will and cannot afford to pay the fees charged by law firms. ezWills is ‘anonymous’. So the LGBT+ community can use it freely and very discretely plus we have attempted to be gender neutral in our wills. We’ve also had expats using ezWills to make a will for their assets in Singapore only and thus, preserving their wills made in other countries. Q: I noticed that too. One of the factors that piqued my interest about ezWills is the International Will component and the unconventional tools tips such as the one on the need for family provision. These are the sort of things that comes up in my conversations with lawyers but I don’t see it in digital wills at all. Is that your differentiating factor? Why did you decide to include those? A: No, we weren’t trying to differentiate from anyone else. Singapore is an international city and not only are there many foreigners living in Singapore, there are also many Singaporeans who own assets overseas. There are people who may want to make a will for all their assets world-wide, but there are also people who may want to make a will for their Singapore assets only. This is so that their overseas will can remain in force and not be revoked when making a new will in Singapore. Making a will in each country where you have significant assets means probate can be obtained quickly. Instead of waiting for probate to be granted in the first country, then applying in the next country to get the probate re-sealed, you can apply for a probate in more than one country at the same time. This is much faster. Legal Obligation to Provide As for family provision, we mentioned the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act because that’s the responsible thing to do. It’s possible for someone who is married to leave everything to a child and nothing for the spouse and have no idea that he/she has overlooked the legal requirement to provide for the spouse. Our questions are designed differently. From what I know, most sites are doing the equivalent of ‘Let’s start with a blank sheet of paper and what would you like to put in it?’ Deviation From Norm We’ve started with the sort of ‘standard’ will most people make and our questions basically find out how different from such a standard will the user wants to be. All the tips we offer are drawn from experience as well as an understanding of the things people get wrong, for example, making a specific gift of a specific bank account and the funds in it. It’s not what I think is right but what I know is right as I’ve seen what happens when these simple tips aren’t followed. Q: What's the downside of using your product directly? Compared to going to a law firm or will writing firms? A: ezWills is not for everyone. ezWills is not competing with law firms. Even though we have the know how to create complicated wills with testamentary trusts, we say you should go to a law firm if you need such wills. The more complex a will is, the more likely you may misunderstand something important so you need to sit down and have everything explained to you thoroughly rather than attempt to do it online just to save money. Ideally, use a law firm for a complex will as experienced lawyers know what and where the ‘traps’ are. Non-lawyer will writing firms may not have the knowledge or experience when you have a complex family situation. Unsuitable Situations ezWills also displays a clear disclaimer that it is not for use by Muslims. Islamic inheritance law is complicated. ezWills has no desire to be irresponsible by claiming our site can be used to make a Wasiat when we have such limited knowledge in that area. One “downside” with ezWills is that we refuse to be distracted by the ‘fancy’ stuff and our wills do not cater for the unimportant and inconsequential. For a will to be valid you don’t need to say where your ashes should be kept or who you want to take care of your pet dog. Having these sorts of matter in a will means you need to continually change your will (eg if your dog dies). Instead of having non-critical stuff in your will, you should put it in a Letter of Wishes. All our wills come with a complimentary Letter of Wishes template at no extra charge. Q: Is there any new or potentially new trend in this space that may be why people will need your product? A: So far the main factor that pushes a person into making a will is a realization that one may pass away unexpectedly. COVID-19 is another reminder. ezWills supports what Immortalize is aiming to do. There is a need for people to have a conversation about death including what may happen if someone dies unexpectedly. The sooner people realize this the better. Hopefully there doesn’t have to be a plane crash or a pandemic for people to understand that the outcome of not planning for an unexpected death can be really bad. Unfortunate Turn of Events If we can start a trend of people asking ‘What would happen if I die suddenly?’ it would result in better planning for most people as opposed to most people having no plan at all other than having bought life insurance. How unexpected can death be? After ezWills went live, I was in discussions with one of my ex-partners about starting a similar site in England where he was practicing. One moment, we were exchanging emails and the next moment, I found out that he had died! I was shocked. He was 59. People who haven’t made their will shouldn’t delay. Q: What are your hobbies? Anything interesting and personal about you to add? Since you are retired now, what do you do on most days besides attending to ezWills matters? A: When I first started work, the other law graduate who shared a room with me made an observation. She mentioned that I was quite incapable of sitting idle and always coming up with some new idea. I guess time hasn’t changed me much. I had another internet start-up from about 4 years ago and also a bricks and mortar business. COVID-19 made both meaningless to continue and they have now been terminated. No doubt it’s a matter of time before I venture into yet another project. For now, COVID-19 developments dictate what activities are possible and what are not. This interview has been edited for length. Read more: The Ultimate Guide to Online Wills (Singapore) Best Digital, Online Wills in Singapore What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) Want to know if this online will is suitable for you? Back to profile interviews >   All 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. 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

In the default estate distribution under Muslim law, the son gets a larger share of the estate compared to the daughter because he is expected to take care of his female sibling, according to Abdul Rahman, managing director at Singapore-based Abdul Rahman Law Corp. Immortalize spoke to Rahman on the rationale of this rule in modern day context and what Muslims can do to fulfil their religious obligation of preparing for death. Name: Abdul Rahman Company: Abdul Rahman Law Corporation Estate Planning Specialization: Muslim Law Base Country: Singapore Service Style: Patient, compassionate, professional Something interesting: Love to build things, love cars Q: Why did you decide to start your own practice as opposed to joining a big law firm? Rahman: I’m the kind of person who can’t work well for others. I started my own business when I was 18 years old. I used to sell car parts for pocket money. Halfway through university, I started selling IT products for pocket money. I guess being my own boss has always been part and parcel of who I am. Q: Have you worked in other law firms? Rahman: As part of getting called to the bar to become a lawyer, I would need to do a training contract. During then, I did work in a law firm and later on, in another law firm as an independent associate. While I was an independent associate, I basically had no fixed salary. Whatever I could hunt and eat was what I would have. It was the best feeling and experience that one could get at running a practice. Q: What was your specialization at those law firms? Rahman: The most immediate, low hanging fruit were community matters with people around me such as friends, family and my community. Things like estate planning and Muslim wills , it’s a need of the community, an underserved segment and naturally, I did those. Q: What is the key specialization of your law firm? Rahman: We are a broad-based litigation firm and that includes family litigation like the dispute of assets in an estate. On the non-contentious aspect of things, we do corporate work and estate planning. There is an overlap among these two. In terms of estate planning, we go from drafting a simple will to more complex stuff like drawing a family charter to protect and insulate assets. Q: What’s a typical client for you? Rahman: The typical client for me will be couples who have children and extended families and in the segment of the market where they have financial security and may have multiple assets. They want to insulate and protect their wealth to make sure it stays within the family. Some of them also want that any payout to their children will be structured and protected so that their wealth is used well. Most of my clients are in the middle to upper middle-class income group and about 20 percent of my clients are ultra-high net worth individuals. Q: There are different school of thoughts for Muslims. Do you cover all of them? What’s the key difference between them? Rahman: Yes, I cover all schools. The different jurisprudence aspect within different schools of thoughts have different understandings as to how the estate should be distributed. We have the Sunnis and the Shias. Within the Sunnis, there are 4 different types of understanding in terms of the regulations of estate planning. Islam is a simple religion but when it comes to the nitty gritty details, there are multiple viewpoints. The multiple viewpoints are often seen as a blessing because it gives people different opportunities to apply the faith in different ways. Q: What are the common Muslim-specific estate planning issues that your clients go to you for? Rahman: If you look at the Muslim faith, it tells you to plan and prepare in advance so that you avoid difficulty after death. This is part of that responsibility of making sure that whatever needs to be done is actually done. For Muslims in Singapore, we have the Administration of Muslim Law Act . Under the act, it is compulsory for Muslims here to adhere to the tenets of Muslim law . The understanding of what Muslim law is has always been in question because the statue is silent on the definition of Muslim law. Within the ambit of Muslim law, there is a default position which we call the Faraid distribution. The next question will be is there any other forms of distribution that we can use apart from that. This is where the target focus area is for my clients because they want to fully explore what flexibility they have under the current regime and truthfully, not many people are acquainted or comfortable with doing it. Q: Is there any trends that you think may cause more Muslims to consider estate planning? Rahman: There were changes on the Islamic position on joint tenancy , CPF (Central Provident Fund or Singapore’s pension fund) and insurance nominations and setting up of trusts, especially for special needs children. Many are still grappling with these changes and people still don’t understand how they can utilize these exemptions or exceptions to their benefit when it comes to estate planning. Read: " The New Fatwa on Joint Tenancy: A Cinderella Story " Q: There are many online wills out there but nothing catered for Muslims until recently. What’s your view on Syariah digital will? Rahman: I’m all for tech. I believe that tech is something that we cannot shy away from, but I’m also a people person. I always prefer meeting people, going through and understanding their problems. You can have the best computer in the world, the best user experience, the best of everything, but at the end of the day, in my experience, clients still wants to see a person whom they can talk to, can hear their voices and then put pen to paper. Related Story: Online Wills Can Help Disadvantaged Muslims: Raymond Gabriel Q: Do you see it as disrupting your business? Rahman: Not really. If anything, it will add to business. These are different market niches. For people who like and want to adopt tech, they will do a digital will . But there will be a whole other market segment that doesn’t want tech and they still like the process of seeing someone. Q: Any comments on why people should see a lawyer instead of doing their own will? Rahman: Many people will be troubled by the fact that there is a default position. They will think that the default position is the automatic position that you need to assume. But in reality, the laws are extremely flexible and they are flexible enough for you to take active steps in doing estate planning. So, if you don't take the time to actually learn and understand it from a lawyer, you are setting yourself up for disputes and failure. Traditional Approach vs Modern Context For example, sometimes we have a lot of problems with the traditional approach towards distribution where if you have sons, the sons get two shares and the daughter gets one share. Many people don’t take the time to understand why that’s the case. In reality, the sons get two shares because one share is for them to spend on themselves but the other share is for them to spend on their female siblings. It’s part of the perspective within the religion that the brothers remain responsible for their sisters. But taken into modern context, given the lack of responsibility over siblings, do you still want to continue with that kind of distributions or do you want to do other kinds of distributions? Do you want to do equal distribution or is it the situation where some of your children support you more than others? This is the kind of reason why you would look for a lawyer. Q: Anything interesting about you? Rahman: I always joke that if I didn’t become a lawyer, I will probably be doing construction work. I like to build things. I am a simple man. I like building things with my hands. I also like very fast car. Q: Do you have a collection of cars? Rahman: No, but I am known to change my car every six months. Q: You like cars and you like to build things. Does that mean you have a lot of clients who are business owners because you can associate more with them? Rahman: Actually no. We market ourselves as for the “common man”. We help the common man more than anyone else. Dealing with people who are in need and underserved has always been where we are. It’s not just about marketing to sell them things but also giving back. We do CSR (corporate social responsibility) work extensively. We engage the community like taking people from old folks home for dinner and spending time with orphans. During festive seasons, we always bring people out to get free grocery, free food, free everything. That is the hallmark of our firm. Q: How much of this CSR work is marketing? What’s in it for you to do such things? Rahman: The agenda, truthfully, is to give back. Whether anything comes out of it is another thing. Q: Is there a particular group of people that you target for CSR? Rahman: Old folks and orphans. Q: Why? Rahman: When I was in university, during fasting month, one of my friends organized a break fast session at an old folks home. I was there taking photos and then suddenly, one of my friend sat beside this old lady and she couldn’t stop hugging him. We were like “Why she is hugging him?” and she said “I’m sorry that I’m hugging you. It’s just that I miss my son so much and he doesn’t visit at all”. That left a lasting impression on me. That incident made me feel that old folks are sometimes forgotten. People don’t really want to visit them. If you talk about orphans, and we support orphans as well, everyone wants to go and support them. Everybody wants to support the orphanage. But less people think about the old folks, what are they doing, whether they have enough money, whether they have pocket money and because of that, they are our key target. Q: Is there any personal circumstances that made old folks resonate more with you? Rahman: I wouldn’t want to be in the situation. It makes me feel crappy to think that you worked your whole life, you save enough money, you feed your kids and at the end of the day, you just end up in the old folks home. Nobody wants to visit you. Nobody wants to see you. Q: Do you do estate planning for them? Rahman: We do extensive free estate planning for people with cancer and people who are dying. The number of times I’ve gone to a hospital, me and my staff always joke that sometimes, we feel like the angels of death. We come, sign a will and then the next day the family says the person is gone. This interview has been edited for length. Read more: How Does Muslim Inheritance Work in Singapore? Want to know if you need a Muslim will? Back to profile interviews >   All 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. 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

A corporate lawyer who was scammed and left penniless by his ex-girlfriend’s father, Raymond Gabriel, Group CEO of digital will company CreateWills, turns his anger into motivation and created the first Syariah digital will in Southeast Asia. The social entrepreneur aims to not just lower will writing cost for the Muslim community, but also help families decipher the complexity of estate distribution under Syariah law. Name: Raymond Gabriel Company: CreateWills Position: Group CEO, Co-founder Base Country: Malaysia Something interesting: Scam victim turned social entrepreneur Check out CreateWills' ranking on Immortalize's Online Will Ratings Q: Are you a Muslim? How did you end up creating a Syariah digital will? Gabriel: No, I am not a Muslim. I have a legal background, and about five years ago, I had a call from two people who are now my business partners. They were working with digital wills in the UK and asked me to join them. I didn’t immediately agree, thought about it a bit more and noticed that there were opportunities in the Syariah will market. Syariah wills are done manually and consists of two parts, the 30% Hibah portion which you can decide who you want to give, and the remaining 70% is governed by Faraid law and determines the distribution to your family and relatives. (The application of Muslim law varies in different jurisdictions. Please check with your lawyer on what’s relevant to you.) Syariah law is interesting because as a beneficiary, your inheritance can change based on, for example, whether there are sons, brothers, grandsons and others. It has a lot of permutations and I found that very interesting. Syariah Online Will Even though I am doing a lot of corporate work in the legal area, I took up about a year to study Syariah law, work with Islamic scholars and well known people who have written textbooks on Islamic law, and I put together a document that tries to have the most comprehensive Islamic view on estate planning . I went back and spoke to my two partners. I told them that there's this underserved market in the region. Everybody is doing Islamic wills only for the Hibah portion and because Faraid is so complex, digitizing it is difficult. One of the partner took my document, went back and ended up coding a Faraid algorithm. I went and got compliance to ensure that it’s fully Syariah compliant in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia and that’s how our Syariah digital will came about. This is the first fully digital will in terms of both Hibah and Faraid. As opposed to manual calculation, you can now do it online, enter information on how many wives, sons and other information, click a button, and immediately you see the whole breakdown of who inherits what. The algorithm even tells you who doesn't inherit. Q: How long has it been in the market? Gabriel: It has been in the market since May 2019. We started developing it about three and a half years ago, did a year of testing before we launched it. Q: Is there any trends out there that will expand the digital will market for you? Gabriel: One thing that has changed in the will industry is the cost of wills. People were doing digital wills the old way, adding charges per clause and per asset that you put in. People have tried to sell complexity to raise the price of goods. They make it complex but if you are an average person, it doesn’t have to be. To be very honest, if you really know the language and how to write it, you can write it on a tissue paper and get it done. What we’re trying to do is to bring down the cost and standardize the market. We let people use a simple, easy-to-use template and we build the legal clauses in the background. We remove the complexity while reducing the cost and having a comprehensive product. I think that's the value that is going to change people's perception and increase the uptake. Other factors like electronic signatures which results in full digitization of wills, and the coronavirus pandemic that’s causing people to be more aware of getting their affairs in order, will also drive digital will use. Q: Who is the target audience for your digital will? Gabriel: There’s a quote in the Quran, which I read and was confirmed by the Islamic scholars that I've worked with, that says it is not permissible for any Muslim to travel more than two nights a week without having his last will and testament done. It’s in the Quran, it's a statement by Prophet Mohammed and it's almost a religious obligation. [The Prophet Muhammad ordered all Muslims to prepare a Last Will & Testament Abdullah Ibn Umar narrated that the messenger of Allah (SAWS) said, "It is not permissible for any Muslim who has something to will to stay for two nights elsewhere without having his last Will and Testament written and kept ready with him" (Bukhari)] When I found it, I asked myself why is it that Muslims don't have a will when it’s a religious obligation? The answer comes down to cost - people can't afford it. They don’t understand Faraid because Faraid is so complex. So I think any Muslim who wants to follow religious obligations and get a will done at a good price would be our target market. Benefiting Muslim Women But our more important target group is Muslim women. For example, Muslim women sometimes pay for the house under the husband’s name, for tax and other reasons. When the husband dies, under Faraid, she's only entitled to one eighth of all the assets even though she's paying 50 percent of the house. However, there are some exceptions in Islam that you can use to protect your family. For example, there's something called a Hibah contract, where you can transfer the property to your wife. A lot of Muslim lawyers can do that. Once the property is transferred, it’s uncontestable. Related Story: Muslim Estate Distribution is Bias for Men. Here’s Why Another example would be to create a trust for family that holds your kids’ education money and other assets. You don't have to distribute it to the uncles and others, especially when there’s dispute within the relatives, who can be greedy and want your money. There are many solutions but you are not going to do them if you don't understand how the distribution works. By doing a will using our system, people can understand how the distribution works, find out if their family are going to be disadvantaged and take actions. That's why there's so much educational elements in our will. I want people to know what they are getting into, what happens when you don't do a will and the difficulties that women face. Widowed and Homeless I've heard enough stories, especially among the Muslim community. There was a high level banking officer that I talked to, at first she was very skeptical about our platform because it’s too cheap. Then I explained that I have a social purpose here. I think the entire industry is overcharging and there’s a lot of greed and people can’t afford it. She turned around and said, “I am a mother and a widow. My husband died and all the brothers forced me out of the house. I was left with my kid and we were all homeless. I admire what you are doing because you're really going to help Muslim women”. She went from being a housewife to getting a PhD in Syariah law focusing on estate planning. Q: Let’s get personal. Can you tell me more about you? Gabriel: I’m really interested in finding ways to do good and benefit groups of people and if I happen to profit from it, it’s an added thing. The more important thing is to solve a problem, to solve a community issue and that’s why I got interested in wills. When my partners first talked to me about conventional wills, I wasn’t very interested. But when I saw the problem in the Islamic legal sector, I got interested. Q: Was there a personal life experience that trigger this whole social entrepreneurship thing? Gabriel: When I was younger, I was just like everybody else. I wanted to make my first million by 30 years old. And then I got very badly cheated in business by my ex-girlfriend's father. At 25, he asked me to co-sign loans as a guarantor for the oil & gas company that I worked for. He said “I’m going to make you a director of the company”, “I think you are going to do well” and things like that. There were big contracts that we were bringing in. After I co-sign the loans and came back the next week, the offices were closed and everybody left. He sold off shares in the company and I have nothing left. That made me very angry for a long while because I am a lawyer, how can I be so stupid to trust him just because I think he’s my girlfriend’s father. The Breaking Point Of course, the relationship ended and my future father-in-law was behind everything. It was a very difficult time and there was a lot of soul searching for me. In that soul searching, I got an epiphany and felt that maybe I am going through this for a purpose. I always thought doing good is something you do when you are rich. I turned around and wanted to do something good because maybe there are other people who are in the same difficult situation as me. I started working off the debt and got myself financially stable. This new will company that I am working on, I think it’s going to solve some major issues for the Muslim communities and for people who don’t have wills. I’m very excited about using technology to bring impact and transformation for the communities and people. It’s not that I am a person who’s just doing good and charity. There is a convergence for me between doing a business and having a purpose and that’s work for me. This interview has been edited for length. Read more: How Does Muslim Inheritance Work in Singapore? Want to know whether this online will is suitable for you? Back to profile interviews >   All 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. 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

This article lists out our ranking of Online Wills applicable for Singapore. Please read " The Ultimate Guide to Online Wills (Singapore) " first to understand the basics of Online Wills and how we judge. Once you are ready, continue reading. Who’s Good? Let’s start with some benchmarks. For us, the user friendliness and comprehensiveness of US-based website FreeWill.com is the holy grail (although not immediately applicable to Singapore). OCBC’s free online will generator is what we set as the “average” standard. Providers that falls below OCBC’s standard are automatically omitted because then it would be better off using OCBC’s free platform. Illustration of Benchmarks FreeWill Co. User Friendliness: 5/5 stars Comprehensiveness: 5/5 stars Cost: Free Able to make changes after initial use?: Yes, free and anytime via the website. Comments: The platform is easy-to-understand and a joy to use, with tool tips at each step of the way that not just explain the terms and legislation, but why certain information is needed and the consequences of certain actions. It doesn’t just help people do their will, it also pinpoints issues and educates. The platform is comprehensive and includes things like digital assets, funerals, pets, charities and secondary/substitute beneficiaries (ie, what happens if the people that you first nominate passes away before you). You can even inform executors about their duties – not just the main executors but also the pet guardian, digital executor and funeral executor. Drawback: Not applicable to Singapore. OCBC Online Will Generator User Friendliness: 3/5 stars Comprehensiveness: 3/5 stars Cost: Free Able to make changes after initial use?: No. Need to re-enter all information. Comments: For something that is free, this platform is surprisingly comprehensive. Fits the basic requirement while going over and above to explain terms. Drawback: Boring to use. Interface feels very administrative (though functional). Can’t save and have to do it all at one go (but good if you don’t want your data stored). Top Three Online Wills In Singapore (Note: We commit to always try to reach out to the top three to get discounts for Immortalize users. If you don't see any now, check back for more information.) EzWills (Check Promotion here !) User Friendliness: 4/5 stars Comprehensiveness: 5/5 stars Cost: SG$49-SG$139 Able to make changes after initial use?: No. Comments: Best for those who wants a “guided tour” and not be burdened by too much decision-making. Created by a retired Wills & Estates lawyer, we were impressed with the extent to which information and explanation on relevant Singapore law (eg. family provision law) were given. Definitely way above and beyond all other providers in this aspect. The platform is “LGBT friendly” and there’s even an option for your will to cover international assets or just those in Singapore, meaning, you can potentially create your own international or concurrent will provided you are clear on the various local laws. (See our interview with a lawyer that talks about concurrent wills here ) Drawback: Can’t save and have to do it all at one go (but good if you don’t want your data stored). NobleWills (Check Promotion here !) User Friendliness: 5/5 stars Comprehensiveness: 5/5 stars Cost: SG$260-SG$1400+. Add on: Editing membership at SG$50 per annum with unlimited updates for all documents. Able to make changes after initial use?: Yes. Unlimited updates on the online platform for 30 days Comments: Best for those who have assets in different countries and wants the convenience of creating their wills online without the hassle of finding different lawyers in different countries to navigate and comply with various rules and regulations on your own. Their advanced and premium wills offer review of your will by a will specialist. The platform even allows you to appoint a temporary guardian to care for your minor children until the permanent guardian specified in your will can take over the responsibility, a feature that can be useful for expats and a point that is often overlooked by people. Drawback: More expensive compared to other online wills on Immortalize Marketplace CreateWills (Check Promotion here !) User Friendliness: 4.5/5 stars Comprehensiveness: 5/5 stars Cost: S$119 Able to make changes after initial use?: Yes, update anytime and pay a smaller fee to print the will. Comments: Best for Muslims and people who wants the ability to customize CreateWills offers both conventional wills for non-Muslims and Islamic wills for Muslims. It’s easy-to-understand, many terms are explained and the ability to customize things probably surpass that of FreeWills. The platform includes multiple languages (English, Malay and Bahasa Indonesia) and free supporting documents like location of important documents, letter to your executor and others. While most digital wills can’t be used by Muslims, CreateWills has an in-build algorithm that helps you calculate the Faraid distribution. Read more on estate planning for Muslims: How Does Muslim Inheritance Work in Singapore ? Drawback: Greater power means greater responsibility. The ability to customize comes with its downside as you need to know what the selections are for and not everything has its consequences explained (although this is probably why you need a lawyer). There’s a higher chance one can make mistake if you are allowed to customize too much. Special Mentions WillCraft User Friendliness: 3/5 stars Comprehensiveness: 3.5/5 stars Cost: SG$49-SG$159 Able to make changes after initial use?: Yes, within 7 days Comment: Can create will in Chinese. Able to allow lawyer to witness and review for additional charges. Drawback: There’s a lot of mandatory information required and it takes a while for the pages to load. Helpful tips were shown while the page loads but the words flashes too quickly, making the tips hard to read. Too many clicks to add person or navigate the site. WillMaker by Singapore Legal Advice User Friendliness: 3/5 stars Comprehensiveness: 3.5/5 stars Cost: SG$89 Able to make changes after initial use?: Yes, within one month. Comment: Sends a lot of follow up educational content to educate people on will making. Drawback: Doesn’t allow for guardians to be non-Singaporean. Requires NRIC before one can proceed. Very basic user interface. MoneyOwl User Friendliness: 4/5 stars Comprehensiveness: 2/5 stars Cost: SG$0 with promo code Able to make changes after initial use?: Yes. Comment: Love the use of non-morbid colors to make will making more enjoyable. Drawback: Can only distribute estate by percentage. Read more: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) Guide To Making a Will - Singapore Edition The Ultimate Guide to Online Wills (Singapore) Online will vs Lawyer vs Will Writing Company - Which to Choose? How to Choose Beneficiary, Executor in My Will? If you would like your online will platform to be considered for our review or have any questions/feedback, kindly reach out to us at j@immortalize.io . All 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! 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 .

There are generally 4 ways to do a will. (1) Write your own will (2) Use an online will (3) Find a non-legal will writing service provider (4) Find a lawyer Unless you are in a deserted island with no internet access or in a plane that’s about to crash, forget about writing your will from scratch. There are free online templates and that can be your starting point. Now, how to decide between online will, will writing companies or lawyer? Let’s start from price. Going to a Lawyer - The Pros Common myth: Going to a lawyer costs thousands of dollars. That’s possible provided you are super rich or have super complicated requests. For most average people, you will be able to find a decent and proper estate planning lawyer for ~SG$400. We recommend going to a lawyer if you can afford it because: 1. You can outsource the work to someone else Writing a will isn’t difficult but there’s a lot of nitty gritty details. For example, while the law allows you to leave your house to all your kids, it may not be a good idea as that is a potential source for family dispute. If you know what you don’t know, you can find out. Seeking a lawyer is particularly useful to help you figure out what you didn’t know you don’t know and have someone handhold you through the process. 2. You can have someone accountable The biggest difference between lawyers and other providers is accountability. If the will isn’t done properly or you were given wrong advice, you can potentially sue the lawyer. If anyone disputes your will, your lawyer can help to defend. Spend a bit of money for that peace of mind. Going to a Lawyer - The Cons Not all lawyers are the same. Some lawyer charges SG$99 while others start from SG$5000. What’s the difference? Here’s our guide and tips on how to choose the right lawyer for you: How To Find The Right Lawyer For My Will? Ready to find a lawyer? Filter through our database here . Using an Online Will While we recommend going to a lawyer if you can, there are circumstances where the alternatives might make sense. 1. If you can’t afford SG$400 2. If you don’t want to pay SG$400 Now, let’s talk about online wills first because they lie on the other price extreme, costing between $0 to $100+. Essentially, they are templates where you fill in the blanks and the online will platform takes care of the legal language for you. It’s most suitable for people who don’t have assets overseas, very sure no one will dispute your will and have a general idea of what can and cannot be done (for example, you can’t will your CPF). We recommend everyone who doesn’t have a will to at least try an online will. It’s a great starting point as most online wills have prompts and tips to guide you through the standard process and you will learn the basics of what you need to know along the way. Finding the Right Online Will If you try googling for online wills, you’ll realize that there are tons of options. What’s the difference between them, especially the free versus paid wills? Generally speaking, they differ in terms of the ability to customize your wishes, the amount of guidance/tooltips and the user experience. The free ones may be baits to sell you something else but some paid platforms can’t even match up to the free ones. It’s all complicated and messy so we went to try out the different online will platforms, reviewed them so you don’t have to. Here’s our review of some online wills (free, paid and even the almost non-existent Syariah digital will that can help you figure out which one works best for you: The Ultimate Guide to Online Wills (Singapore) Best Digital, Online Wills in Singapore Non-legal Will Writing Service Provider And now, for what we think are the most controversial - non-legal will writing providers. They are the in between and encompasses will companies, financial firms that help you do financial planning with a will add-on, insurers that sell you life insurance with a will top-up or even funeral parlors that do pre-death planning. Compared to an online will, they have the added extra human help component but compared to lawyers, they don’t have the legal accountability aspect. Cost wise, they generally fall between online will and lawyers although we have seen some that charges more than lawyers. Here are why we think they are controversial - What’s the justification for them charging more than a lawyer? Is it better to top up a bit more to go to a lawyer? A lot of online wills are very comprehensive, is it better to just use an online will if you are tech savvy? How do we know the agents doing our will truly knows what they are doing or advising? Because they say so? While we have doubts, we also see benefits - They offer convenience. Convenience to do other life, death, estate, legacy-related planning all with one provider or one trusted person. Conclusion Regardless of which way you choose, the most important thing is to Just Get Started . Have the intent and Immortalize will help make everything easy for you. Proceed to Part 2 of the series where we explain how to choose the right lawyer (read article ) , or head to our marketplace where you can compare pricings, capabilities and other information, read reviews, book appointment real-time and explore more on how to conveniently and comprehensively plan for your legacy. Read more: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) Guide To Making a Will - Singapore Edition Online will vs Lawyer vs Will Writing Company - Which to Choose? All About Probate & Administration (Singapore Edition) All 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! 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 .

What Is An Online Will? Online Wills are essentially templates where you fill in the blanks and the platform takes care of the legal language for your will. Most Online Wills have prompts and tips to guide you through the standard process and you will learn the basics of what you need to know along the way. Generally speaking, it’s most suitable for people who don't have complicated situations or assets, very sure no one will dispute your will and have a general idea of what can and cannot be done (for example, you can’t will your CPF). The cost starts from $0 through to $100+ Getting an Online Will done first is useful as it teaches you the basics of what you need to know, makes you think about how you want your asset distributed and flags the issues you may encounter beforehand. If and when you do see a lawyer, you already know what to expect and can spend the time and money discussing issues that really matters. Why Use Online Wills? There are generally three category of providers – lawyers, non-legal will writing companies and online wills. See Online Will vs Lawyer vs Non-Legal Providers: Pros & Cons . While we recommend those with complicated situations to go to a lawyer, Online Will is a quick and cheap way to get a Will done. What’s The Difference Between The Various Online Will Providers? If you try searching for Online Wills, you’ll realize that there are many Online Will providers. What’s the difference between them, especially the free versus paid wills? Generally speaking, they differ in terms of ability to customize your wishes, the number of guidance/tooltips and the user experience. The free ones may be baits to sell you something else but some paid platforms can’t even match up to the free ones. How Do We Judge? Most Online Wills have this structure: - Personal Information - Asset information - Beneficiaries and how you want to distribute (specific gifts or by percentage) - Executors - Other instructions (eg funeral wishes) - Review of Your Will We consider these as “basic” and then score base on how far they deviate from this basic structure. Please note that we do not judge how legal these platforms are as they can be controversial, can change over time and can be affected by the user's actions (eg manually including things like CPF which you aren’t allowed to). We will only be looking at: 1. Usability - How easy is it to use? Do I want to pull my hair out using the platform? Or does it have a lot of tooltips to guide me through the process and is a pretty platform so I don’t feel the morbidness of thinking about death? 2. Comprehensiveness - How much does it cover? How much does the platform cover and how easy is it for me to customize? Below is our rating system, the more stars a platform gets, the better it is. User Friendliness - Based on the ability to use this platform 1 Star - This sucks! No tooltips or help of any sort 2 Stars - Below average 3 Stars - Basic 4 Stars - Helpful and attempts to make the platform welcoming 5 Stars - This is AMAZING. Makes the whole process enjoyable. Highly recommend! Comprehensiveness of content coverage - Based on the number of things they cover and ability for customization 1 Star - Seriously, don't bother using this 2 Stars - Below average 3 Stars - Basic 4 Stars - Decent 5 Stars - A class of its own! With this, you are now ready to view our rankings of online wills for Singapore . If you would like your online will platform to be considered our review or have any questions/feedback, kindly reach out to us at j@immortalize.io . Read more: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) Guide To Making a Will - Singapore Edition Online will vs Lawyer vs Will Writing Company - Which to Choose? Best Digital, Online Wills in Singapore Need help on deciding which online will is suitable for you? All 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. 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

Closet songwriter that uses music to influence, Yue-En’s interest resonates with his style as a lawyer - creative, personable, and straightforward. Unlike countries such as Australia, Singapore doesn’t have many lawyers that focus solely on estate planning (that is not just for the rich) and Chong Yue-En, managing director at Bethel Chambers LLC, is one of the rare ones. We spoke to Yue-En to understand why some lawyers would rather not write wills for clients and the benefits of going to a lawyer for estate planning advice. Name: Chong Yue-En Company: Bethel Chambers LLC Estate Planning Specialization: Mental Capacity Base Country: Singapore Service Style: Creative, Straightforward, Personable Something interesting: Closet song writer Q: Can you tell me more about yourself? Why did you decide to go to law school? Chong: I actually didn’t want to go to law school. My childhood ambition was to be a newspaper reporter. I love human interest stories. When I was six, I remembered reading the newspaper and seeing a feature on socially disadvantaged family. A week later, there was an update that said, “Thank you for $100,000 fund raised for the family”. I was like “Wow, I want to be a newspaper reporter, I can save the world”. But I didn’t make it to journalism school. I randomly applied to law school and got in. Q: You graduated from law school and ended up focusing on will drafting, mental capacity and the likes. Why? I’ve had a lawyer who told me that he would avoid doing wills for clients if he can because there’s a huge liability and you don’t make much. With so many online wills out there, why should people go to a lawyer? Chong: Lawyers are at the short end of the stick when it comes to will drafting because we have a high standard that we need to adhere to. If something goes wrong, we will be responsible and liable. We get sued and will lose our license. Our whole career will be at stake. As lawyers, we are always getting ourselves up-to-date with the most recent contested wills and trusts cases in Singapore and around the world. As such, when lawyers draft wills, we draft it in the most litigation-proof way possible. We don’t want to be sued. We don’t want to be witnesses on the witness stand. We think of every single possibility that could go wrong. We question anything suspicious when it comes to getting instructions from the testator ( the person making the will ). We have legal ethics and the court have given us many guidelines that we have to follow. Justification Fatigue It is precisely because of the above that some lawyers don’t want to do wills for clients. These days, there is a lot of confusion in the market on the pricing of wills. You see banks offering free wills templates. You see people offering $99 wills. Too many people come to lawyers demanding to know why lawyers are ‘so expensive’. We are quite tired of having to constantly justify our prices and existence, so the path of least resistance is to not do the wills work. There is just too much liability, for too little appreciation and a lack of understanding. For clarity, those wills templates that are sold for under a $100, it is framed as a suggested template. You are responsible if anything goes wrong. The Guiding Hand That said, the reason why I still do wills work is because I know the importance of properly guiding a person through the process of thinking about how he/she wishes to plan their legacies. When a person comes into my office, I will be questioning what the person wants and see whether it is legal. For example, the person says he wants to will his share of the apartment to his child. Then I will ask in what manner does he hold the apartment. Is it joint tenancy or tenancy-in-common? If he says joint tenancy, then I will tell him he can’t will the apartment to his child because the other person in the joint tenancy will take over the whole apartment when he passes away because of the rule of survivorship. This is just one of the many questions that I would ask, after which, I would present to them options on how they wish to ensure that their wishes are upheld. Q: The other thing that you do is the Lasting Power of Attorney (“LPA”)? I understand that I can submit an LPA myself. Why do I need to go to a lawyer? [LPA allows you to appoint people to make decisions on your behalf if you lose mental capacity, ie, can’t make decisions for yourself. LPA form 1 is a standard template and has to be certified by either an accredited doctor, a psychiatrist or a lawyer. LPA form 2 allows for customization but must be drafted by a lawyer. See more here .] Chong: The value of lawyers in guiding you through a LPA is that as litigation lawyers, we are aware of the pitfalls and dangers that a LPA donee ( the person you pick to make decisions for you ) would face, having fought to protect the donees and the decisions that they made from others who might wish to sue them and to get them revoked as LPA donees. We are aware of the different scenarios that are happening and what the consequences are. The question isn’t so much about the LPA form itself, but what happens if your family members start disputing the powers given to the people on the LPA. That’s when you look for a lawyer to help you think through if LPA form 1 is sufficient for your purposes. If you have any questions in this regard, the doctors and psychiatrists aren’t going to be able to advise you on the law and what happens in court. Q: What about LPA form 2? Can you give me an example of when it’s used? Chong: Take business continuity planning for example. If you are a sole proprietor or a small business owner, you may need the business to feed your family but may not want to appoint your partner to manage the business. Using a LPA form 2, you can appoint someone else to manage your business affairs, in case you lose mental capacity. Q: How much does an LPA 2 costs? Chong: The lawyer’s hourly rate. Q: Is there a benchmark? Are we looking at $50,000 range or a few hundred dollars range? Chong: I would imagine that if it goes up to even $10,000, you probably need a team of lawyers because your LPA is so complex. It’s more likely in the range of about $2,000-$4,000. Q: Let’s move on to international assets and in the context of Singapore, concurrent wills, another of your specialty. What’s so special about it compared to a normal will? Chong: Concurrent wills involve preparing a separate will for each country that you have assets in and have it written in a way that fits the local system. For example, if your domicile is in England, English law applies to you and that includes your apartment in Singapore. If you have an English will, you take up the court proceedings in England and then have it resealed in Singapore. Resealing is the process of having Singapore’s High Court recognize the foreign grant of probate ( The person executing a will have to get a grant of probate before being able to legally distribute a deceased’s asset ). Need for Concurrent Wills If you have had a Singapore will instead, theoretically, you can just proceed with a standard grant of probate application in the Singapore Family Justice Court. This saves time and money. However, there are problems when there are forced heirship rules in foreign countries as well as laws that extend beyond the deceased’s country into other countries where the deceased has assets. As such, for concurrent wills, there is a need to engage two lawyers, a lawyer in your home country that can advise on estate and tax law that your home country would impose on foreign assets as well as a lawyer like myself in Singapore. Q: What’s interesting about you? Chong: In my free time, I like to write songs. Q: A lawyer that write songs? Why? Chong: I find that writing songs allows me to get in touch with my inner self. To express myself on issues that I really feel for. Writing songs is also about self-reflecting. My dream is to encourage people around me to live more self-reflective lives, to be leaving in peace with one another and to have much joy, so that the world can be a much better place. Q: What kind of songs do you write? Chong: Mainly Christian songs. But really for my own enjoyment. I don’t publish the songs. Q: What’s the purpose of your music? To inspire? Chong: Music allows for a lot of self-awareness and self-reflection. Music has a way of going straight to the soul and words in the music stays with you. It allows you to go on a journey with the songwriter. When you go on that journey, you don’t just see things the songwriter wants you to see, but also things beyond that as well. That’s the life that music brings to people. Q: Can you write a song about estate planning? Write about mental capacity and estate planning. Make all these seemingly boring topics interesting? Chong: I think that is a great idea! Songs can convey ideas and meanings in a gentler way. Let’s see what I get inspired to write! This interview has been edited for length. Read more: Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) in Singapore What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) Guide To Making a Will - Singapore Edition How To Find The Right Lawyer For My Will? Online will vs Lawyer vs Will Writing Company - Which to Choose? Want to find out more about whether this lawyer is suitable for you? Back to profile interviews >   All 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. 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

(Please note that Low Seow Ling is now Managing Director at EMRE Legal LLC . This interview was conducted when Seow Ling was a director at Eden Law) An experienced lawyer who believes in giving practical advice. Focusing on families with special needs, Low Seow Ling, an associate director at low bono-focused law firm, Eden Law Corporation, spoke to Immortalize about estate planning for people with special needs, such as those with dementia and mental disability, as well as the implications of HDB regulations on leaving your flat to your kids. Name: Low Seow Ling Company: Eden Law Corporation Estate Planning Specialization: Professional Donees and Deputyships Base Country: Singapore Service Style: All-encompassing, empathetic, practical Something interesting: Loves photographing insects. Participated in the making of a film about a family with a child with additional needs and their family struggles Q: What is a typical client or target group? Low: Our typical clients are usually from low and middle income families. Many of my clients are Chinese-speaking. Q: What is your estate planning specialization? What are the typical issues that your clients come to you for? Low: I handle a range of estate planning matters like deputyship and will writing, but my heart lies with families with special needs members such as children or elderly with intellectual disabilities or dementia. Typically, I write wills for them. I always encourage them to at least have a will because it is a very practical and useful estate planning tool that pre-empt the possible problems after their passing. I also encourage them to set up a special needs trust fund (a more affordable trust for people with special needs. See www.sntc.org.sg ) I consider myself to be the project manager for their estate planning needs. I handle their basic legal requirements and then direct them to other places as required (e.g. SNTC for special needs trust funds, insurance professionals for certain types of insurance policies). Professional Deputyship Because I'm a professional deputy , I receive enquiries from families that have family members with special needs as they are concerned about having a professional take care of their family members after their deaths. For such families, I assist them with the best estate planning solutions from my experience so that the member with special needs can enjoy the benefits but at the same time be protected if someone else is managing the asset. Q: How much do you charge for professional deputyship? Low: My charges are generally based on the person’s asset. The person with no mental capacity is the one who is paying. The person who comes to us just helps to manage things. For example, in one of my cases, I have a client who’s a destitute but has some money in the bank. In this case, I charge a fixed fee because I know it's just dealing with bank accounts. Ultimately, it’s based on time cost, but for example, if this elderly has probably five more years to live and I calculate that based on her assets, she only has less than $1,000 to spend, then I might not charge her that much because I would want her to have enough money to spend. Q: So sweet. So you charge based on people’s ability to pay? Low: Those who can pay, we charge. Those who can’t, we help and I’ll adjust according to what I feel is alright charging. That’s basically the mission of our firm. Q: Can you tell me more about your background? Why did you make the decision to go into this part of law, especially when it’s not the most lucrative area of law. Low: I was from a neighborhood school, so I’m not your typical lawyer from elite schools. Growing up, I had always wanted to be a lawyer because I was inspired by watching lawyers on TV dramas. In terms of family background, I feel that I am quite privileged because my family is complete and is financially stable. I have friends who struggle with family issues, especially when their family members pass away, so I am very aware of my privilege. These are the reasons why I am a lawyer, so that I would have the knowledge and power to help others less fortunate than me. Q: So the corporate side, the money side never entices you at all? Low: When I was growing up, my parents always told me “you have to do something that you like” instead of “you have to get a good job”. Their priorities were different. My idea of success isn’t defined by how much money I earn but instead by whether I can do something meaningful and contribute to society. After junior college, I had the opportunity to go back to my secondary school as a teaching assistant. I taught students from Normal Technical and Normal Academic streams where a lot of students were affected by their family situations. Knowledge Is Power It wasn’t that they couldn’t or didn’t want to study, but they were affected by their environment. I got to know them, and found out that some of their parents were in prison or they had a complicated family history. I felt that as a lawyer, I could use my knowledge and skills to help make their families’ and children’s lives better. Q: But why this law firm? I know your firm focuses on low bono, which isn’t very common in Singapore. (Pro bono is where lawyer help low income people for free. Low bono are for people who don’t qualify for pro bono assistance but can’t pay normal legal fees.) Low: I entered law school, graduated, and looked for a firm that did pro bono work. I soon realized that some law firms only did pro bono work for branding purposes and little actual help was rendered to their pro bono clients. I ended up joining an ex-colleague in her new law firm with the idea of providing real legal help to underserved communities in Singapore, both pro bono and low bono work and not just for show. Struggles of Altruism When we first started, it was very flexible. When we saw clients in need of financial help, we charged less or did work for free. But we soon realized that this model wasn’t sustainable so over the years we fine-tuned it. We learned along the way how to differentiate between clients who are really poor, and people who have means but just don’t want to spend their money and rely on freebies. Q: Let’s focus on wills for a bit. What’s your view on online wills and will companies? Low: I don’t have an issue with will companies but what people don’t realize is that lawyers are legally trained and must maintain professional standards. We will be sued for negligence if we render the wrong legal advice. If you decide to use a will company, you may be assisted by someone with more general knowledge about wills than you but they are not allowed to give legal advice. You cannot hold them accountable for their wrong advice. Doing a will isn’t as simple as inserting names and IC numbers in a standard form. If this is what you want, you might as well DIY online without any legal advice and without the assistance of a will company. Special Needs Members The group that I care for are families with special needs members. You can’t just say you want to divide your assets 50-50 and it’s not as easy as just giving money to the person because the special needs person will not be able to manage your financial gift. There’s more planning involved, and you need legal advice on the consequences of your actions and to see if there’s a better way of arranging your estate that can help you save money while maintaining safeguards for the person with no mental capacity. For example, a family may have three children where one has special needs. The parents might say “my other children will take care this sibling with special needs”. But you have to think about your other children. You can’t say that just because the two of them don’t have special needs, it’s their responsibility to take care of the one with special needs. Love Or Duty? I help them think of ways to still involve the siblings but to lighten the siblings’ burden. It’s not to say that the child with special needs is a burden, but having to take care of someone not because you chose to but because your parents say you have to, this isn’t fair to the siblings as well. Even if your kids say they love their special needs sibling, later on, their other half may say that they don’t want to be financially burdened. It’s a lot more complicated than people think. Q: And you charge $400 for this? (Low previously mentioned that she charges $400 for a will) Low: Many of my clients are not well to do to begin with. I don’t want them to be discouraged from planning their estates because of costs. My purpose is to help them and I don’t want to them to think that I am trying to earn their money and therefore, they don’t want to talk openly. I want to know their purpose, their family background, and why they want to do things in a certain way. I don’t want to tell them that if you add this clause, you add another $50. Then they will think that they don’t want to add anything and that defeats the purpose of doing a will. Q: That make sense. A lot of will companies or pricing models out there charges by lines or number of clauses and I find that quite deterring, having to go in not knowing how much I will end up paying. Low: For the people who can afford it, they won’t mind and they will pay for it to get proper advice. But a lot of these people who can afford are more educated and they have more information. It’s those who can’t pay that are the ones that need the advice but they don’t get it because they don’t want to pay for it. For will companies, I’ve actually seen several wills that are done wrong because they put in clauses that are not workable. It’s like buying an insurance to insure your disability but there’s so many exclusion that you won’t be able to claim. You end up paying for nothing. Q: I’ve spoken to a lawyer who said that he likes will companies, because he gets more dispute cases this way. Low: [Laughs] My aim is to reduce dispute cases. In the end, it’s about making people’s lives better. Q: What are the common issues that people or your type of clients usually don’t know they don’t know? Low: HDB flats. People don’t realize the implications of giving their HDB flats to their children. 80% of Singaporeans live in public housing so this is an important consideration. Take families with children with special needs for example. They will tell me, I want to give this HDB flat to this child because this child cannot buy a flat by themselves. I will usually raise issues such as what happens to the outstanding loan if this child cannot get a mortgage or will the child be able to manage the flat? Legally, the child cannot own the flat in his/her name unless a deputy is appointed. Or they would want to allow the child with special needs to stay in the flat but have the flat’s ownership held by other siblings. This is a trust situation that works with private property but is not allowed for HDB flats without prior approval. Q: You can’t put a HDB flat in a trust? Low: No, you can’t without prior approval from the HDB. Usually, the HDB flat is sold and the sale proceeds are distributed. But you can’t say that this HDB is given to A but for B to stay and A can’t sell until B agrees. Your flat needs to have an owner and once you give it to A, it belongs to A. You cannot have conditions attached. A lot of people don’t realize it and that’s where will companies sometimes go wrong. Q: What about those without special needs kids? Low: Same thing. Usually, they have one HDB flat. For example, they wish to give the HDB to their kids and then I will ask them if their kids want to buy their own HDB. You cannot say that you give the flat to all of them, but it turns out that one of them owns a HDB flat and the other is single. Then your single child will have to pay your other child to retain the flat. Or your child receives your flat first but later on, they want to buy their own flat and they will lose their first home ownership benefits. These are the issues that arise because of the restrictions that HDB has. Q: Let’s talk about Covid-19. Have you seen an increase in people seeking estate planning advice or are there any interesting cases? Low: In the height of the Covid pandemic, there were terminally ill people in hospital who wanted to do their will. I couldn’t help them because a will requires two witnesses but only one visitor is allowed. Unless the doctor or someone else is willing to be a witness, I can’t witness the signing on my own. In the end, I told them to go online to DIY their will and get a visitor who is a friend and another person to witness for them. For these cases, they are on the brink of passing on and they just want to have something done. I can’t do it because I need to talk to the client and make sure that I do my job properly. A lot of them they came to us through their family members and usually that’s not very safe because you don’t know whether the family members are biased and whether the instructions are accurate. Q: Tell me something interesting about you. What do you do during your free time? Low: I like photography and I participated in the production of a film on the side. My teacher’s husband is a writer and he wrote a film about a family with an autistic child and their family struggles. It’s like an indie film and everyone is just doing it in their free time. Q: What kind of photos do you take? Do you publish these? Low: Mostly sceneries and street photography. I don’t publish them. It’s just for my own enjoyment and happiness. To me, it’s more of noticing the things around me. I take a lot of small things like insects and sometimes I caption them, depending on whether I get inspiration. Sometimes the caption is what I think the insect is thinking. Or my feelings. I have some on Instagram but most of it are for my own enjoyment. Ultimately, it’s about appreciating the things around us. Like finding the beauty in small things. This interview has been edited for length. Want to find out more about whether this lawyer is suitable for you? Back to profile interviews >   All 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. 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

(Please note that Lee Soo Chye is now Managing Director at Oaks Legal LLC . This interview was conducted when Soo Chye was a Managing Partner at Wee Swee Teow LLP ) “He LOVES local food”. That was the immediate response we got when we asked Soo Chye’s team what’s interesting about him. Among the many lawyers we've met (some of whom are really obnoxious), this comment aptly describes Soo Chye’s style as a lawyer – down-to-earth, relatable and practical. As the Singapore government pushes for more entrepreneurs in the island nation, we spoke to Lee Soo Chye, a partner at Singapore law firm Wee Swee Teow LLP and an expert in succession planning for businesses, on the pros and cons of trust structures and estate planning for business owners. Name: Lee Soo Chye Company: Wee Swee Teow LLP Estate Planning Specialization: Succession planning Base Country: Singapore Service Style: Practical, relatable, professional Something interesting: Loves eating local food at hawker centers Q: What kind of estate planning work do you do? Lee: Succession planning. Succession planning isn’t just about wealth planning, it is also about how the client’s business can continue after them. Most of our clients in this space are those who have been with us for a while. We will share with them the need for succession planning, but they may not see the importance at that time. When they do see it, they want to move fast. Q: How lucrative is the estate advisory, succession planning portion out of all the things that you do? Lee: We don’t think of estate advisory and succession planning as a lucrative practice. If you measure it that way, I must say that it’s not very lucrative based on the amount of time we spend on such matters. The primary driver for us in offering these services is that we hope our clients’ businesses, which they have built over their lifetime, can continue after them, if that is their wish. It’s very sad to see a business doing well but not being able to continue after the client passes away just because they didn’t plan for succession. Q: That means you offer succession planning as a complement to your greater offerings? Lee: Over time, it may become a primary service that we provide. Q: Why? Are there any trends that are helping this industry? Lee: People are getting richer and family situations are becoming more complicated. Many businesses now have cross-border jurisdictional issues and for many individuals, their assets aren’t just in Singapore, but also overseas. Where estate duties imposed are substantial, you need to think about how to divest the legal ownership of your assets. In some countries, estate duties can be as much as 40 percent. Many Singaporeans don’t look at what structures they should use to hold the overseas assets. Cross-jurisdictional Issues Going forward, as businesses become more sophisticated, business owners will need to think about appropriate structures. For example, we have a client where some of the overseas businesses are held in the name of locals as per local regulatory requirements. In this case, we need to think about what has to be done to address risks associated with that. Also, there are some jurisdictions that don’t recognize trusts. For example, in Indonesia, you can’t subject Indonesian assets into a trust. In this case, we need to explore alternatives to meet the clients’ objectives. Invariably, this requires us to work with other professionals (both in and outside the legal industry and with our Indonesian counterparts). That’s where it gets more exciting. Q: What is a typical client for you for estate planning? Lee: The SMEs (small and mid-size enterprises) or the “towkays” (business owners) with businesses in Singapore and overseas. Q: How much does it cost to do succession planning? I understand it depends on the complexity and other factors but is there a range? Lee: We phase the services. The first part is advisory. Don’t spend too much on it. It will usually take four to six hours so about SG$4,000 and we usually suggest a cap. After determining what the client really needs, we’ll explore the different structures that may be appropriate for the client. This will take a bit more time. Once we decide on the most appropriate structure, the next phase would be the implementation phase and the cost of this phase depends on how complicated the structure is. Drafting and advising on a trust can cost between SG$10,000-SG$30,000. It’s a one-time fee for us. There are also other structures like foundations which may be considered. In the trust structure for such business owners, we usually recommend that the trust companies be appointed as trustees. They typically charge an annual management fee based on a percentage of the assets under management. For larger estates, we would usually recommend working with bank-based trustees. However, for certain kind of assets, boutique trustees may be more appropriate. Q: This trust business is significantly more profitable, no wonder everyone is fighting for this business. Lee: For us as lawyers, we mainly advise clients. We don’t sell any ‘product’ (maybe the money is in the product sales). Given the nature of the clients and the work involved, much time is required to walk this journey with the client. Over the years, I have also learnt that clients need to first realize and understand the importance of succession planning, and to desire to get it done. Sometimes, it can take years before they are ready to embark on succession planning. There was a client whom we walked with for several years without progress in this area, and only when certain incidents happened did he decide to embark on the plan, which then moved quickly. For me, a lot of time is spent on helping clients crystallize their thoughts and goals on succession planning. Q: Well, that’s because the cost is a bit deterring isn’t it? Lee: Cost is usually not an issue for clients who need this type of advice. At one level, you should consider such structures if your assets are substantial and there are specific goals that can only be achieved through such structures. Most of these tools, like a trust, requires them to give up legal control. Many business owners have to get past this question – “If I am a successful business owner, why would I want to give up control?” Q: Trust is popular in countries like Australia and less so in places like Singapore. Why is that the case? Lee: In Australia, there is tax considerations in adopting a trust structure. In Singapore, a trust is more for protection - protection against creditors, protection against your next generation spending the money, etc. Q: Besides the costs, what are downsides of having a trust? Lee: Once you put assets into the trust, you can’t take the assets back, unless it’s a revocable trust. But for a revocable trust, sometimes there is no real protection. Typically, the creditors can still go after the assets in a revocable trust. The other type of trust is an irrevocable trust. It will be more difficult for creditors to go after the trust assets in an irrevocable trust. Q: Is there a way irrevocable trust can be revoked? Lee: There are certain circumstances when this can happen, but I wouldn’t call it revoking the trust. It’s more about dismantling the trust. For example, beneficiaries of such trust can come together to agree on dismantling the trust in certain situations. This interview has been edited for length. Back to profile interviews >  All 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. 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 .

In the estate planning realm, trusts have long been recognized for their ability to provide flexibility, control, and various benefits such as optimizing taxes and protecting assets from creditors. However, trusts can also play a crucial role in avoiding family disputes, particularly when multiple family members are involved in a family business, according to Matt Richards, Founder of Watiga Trust Ltd . In our conversation with Richards, we explored the diverse type of trusts available to families seeking to safeguard their assets for future generations. Name: Matt Richards (Founder/Managing Director of Watiga Trust Ltd) Company: Watiga Trust Ltd. Estate Planning Specialization: Trusts Base Country: Singapore Service Style: Personalized, white glove, bespoke Anything Interesting: Enthusiastic Marathoner Q: Can you tell me more about yourself? Why did you choose to study law and how did you start your company, Watiga? Richards: I am an Australian, but I have been living in Singapore since 1999. Law is very interesting to me because there are many layers in it. It is the rules that people agree that their community needs to live within and abide by. And there are many fields available for people who study law – they don’t have to just be a traditional lawyer, but can use their skills and understanding gained from the study of law in many professional fields. Before setting up Watiga, I was a general counsel and head of legal and compliance of a private equity fund. I had a lot of transactional experience and had to deal with trustees (people managing trusts ). During that time, I felt that there could be more efficient and effective ways that trusteeship can be done. In 2012, I set up Watiga, and while doing work with trustees in some corporate finance transactions, I realized that there were not many homegrown Singapore-based corporate finance-focused trustees. I thought that this represented an opportunity in the market that we could fill, and so went on to assemble a team that focuses on trust solutions for corporates and investors. Watiga Trust became licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 2016. Our move into legacy and wealth planning trust solutions came out of a need from our clients. As we worked with our clients, many of whom are fund managers and business entrepreneurs, on their corporate finance transactions, we realized that they are also in need of traditional trust solutions for their personal affairs, as much as their corporate needs. Q: What’s the difference between Watiga and other trust companies? Richards: I think that different trust companies have different advantages. For us, our advantage is that through the Watiga platform, we can facilitate the underlying commercial transaction that our clients wish to undertake. We understand the underlying investment activities, we know how to do transactions, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and financings, and how private equity and venture capital funds work. We’re able to deal with, account for, handle the paperwork, and handle the inflows and outflows of monies in alternative investment structures. We’re here to think alongside our clients and come up with solutions with them for situations that others may find too difficult to deal with. Filling in the Gap For example, on the corporate side, we can fill in the gap by assessing client and transaction risks and then (if acceptable) taking on those mandates that bank-based trustees might not be able to do because of their internal policy reasons. Some bank-backed trustees prefer to not have operating companies into their trusts due to liability management considerations for the bank such as risk of loss in the operating company, transaction monitoring considerations, or director liability. In this case, people may consider engaging non-bank backed trust companies like ours. As long as we have the visibility, comfort and confidence in the whole company structure, we can be the trustee of a family trust that holds these operating companies. Trustees have transaction monitoring requirements for anti-money laundering purposes and so, it is necessary for the trustee to have visibility of what is actually happening in terms of fund flows and underlying transactions. We should also note that even in the trusts that we set-up, our clients do continue to maintain their liquid investment portfolios, like stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc., at private or commercial banks, and also continue to interact with their existing relationship manager or private bank. We do not unsettle the client’s existing banking relationship. It is just that the trustee is Watiga, rather than the bank itself, acting as trustee where the assets are held. Q: What kind of trust services do you provide? Richards: We provide the usual services such as trust establishment, drafting of trust deeds, trust accounting and distributions, and tax reporting – basically all the necessary things that professional trustees do to deal with trusts. Some less commonly known trust services that we provide are successor (or replacement) trustee and trustee administrator services. Successor or replacement trustee service is when for example, a client couldn’t work things out with their bank trustee. We can sign a deed of replacement with them, take over the trust and become the replacement trustee. The trust (and the underlying assets in the trust) continues, it is just that the trustee, which is the legal owner of the assets, has changed. Trustee administrator services may be relevant when families want to set up their own company and act as the trustees for their own trust, also known as a private trust company (PTC). For this type of setup, where they are not appointing another company to be their professional trustee, Singapore has a regulatory requirement that they have to appoint a licensed trust company to be their trust administrator for anti-money laundering purposes. Even though the family are board members of the trust and may have more control over its structure, having a licensed and reputable institution as a trust administrator can monitor and make sure that the trust is compliant with the regulatory requirements. Q: We have talked a lot about trusts but why do people need/set up trusts? Richards: There are many types of trusts and each has their own purpose. For example, a family trust is a type of trust that families use to pass on wealth to future generations, a charitable trust is a trust for charity donation purposes, unit trusts are for pooling investor funds together, and so on. When a family business involves multiple family members, people can use a trust to avoid family disputes. For example, a family business that involves four children, but the father or mother is actually the one holding all the company shares in their name. Instead of dividing the shareholding into four 25% blocks to all four of their children, the parent can put the shares into a trust so that the ownership stays consolidated, even after that parent’s passing. This way, the parent doesn’t have to worry about things like what happens if one of the siblings wants to sell his shares to someone not within the family after the parent passes away. Some families also want to ensure that the assets only pass down to their own descendants through the generations, and not be at risk of third parties marrying into the family and then taking family assets in a matrimonial dispute context. Want to know whether you need a trust? Speak to Watiga here to find out. Q: You mentioned unit trust, something that people may not be so familiar with. Can you explain what is a unit trust? Richards: A unit trust is a trust for people who want to pool investor monies together. It is solely used for investment purposes. You can think of it as a very simplified mutual fund, private equity fund or venture capital fund. For example, you have an opportunity to buy a real estate (such as a shophouse) and you need $8 million to do this, but you don’t have enough money. You gather some family and friends, and each of you put in different amounts into this unit trust. Each fund contributor will own the trust in “units” based on their contribution. When enough money is collected, the trustee of this unit trust will do the transaction and sign the purchase agreement. Q: What is the difference between a unit trust and an investment holding company? Richards: The difference between a unit trust and an investment holding company is that a unit trust has less administrative work, may help save money and can also be a more flexible vehicle without the share capital or dividend restrictions of an investment holding company. Governing Structure First, instead of having a shareholder agreement to govern how people hold shares of a company, it is a trust deed, where you hold units and can have different economic arrangements among investors. For example, the lead arranger or sponsor of the transaction may get a higher return from the investment than other passive investors. These instructions that different profits may go to particular unit holders can be written into the trust deed. Just like shares in a private company, units can be sold or transferred, subject to limitations in the trust deed and compliance with regulatory restrictions. Any decision making can also be done by voting among the holders of the unit trust or it can be delegated to a sponsor or the trustee. Administrative and Privacy Benefits Second, for an investment holding company, someone will still have to be responsible for maintaining the company and doing all the accounting, taxes, and filings. If it is a Singapore company, you have to go through all the compliance requirements, Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) registration and submitting annual accounts to authorities. With a unit trust, the trustee will usually be the one who’s going to take care of the structure. Even though accounting still needs to be done so there’s accountability to unit trust holders, these accounts do not need to be publicly lodged, and the identity of the investors is also confidentially maintained by the trustee. Third, creating a unit trust with a licensed institution can assure you that the trustee will follow instructions on what is written in the trust deed, will comply with regulations and transactions are properly handled (including with respect to compliance with “know your counterparty” regulatory requirements). Can be Cheaper Lastly, sometimes unit trusts can be cheaper than an investment holding company, but the cost depends on the underlying assets that a trust company holds and administers. The more you put into the unit trust, the more bookkeeping, custodizing, and accounting for, which means more time and effort that needs to be put in to manage the trust. Q: Can you give us a ballpark of how much does a unit trust cost? Richards: Our charge can be based on a percentage of assets or it can be a fixed annual retainer fee with additional time costs for ad-hoc portfolio activity. We estimate at the outset the time needed to administer the trust and the underlying assets. Feeling overwhelmed about the different types of trusts? Reach out to Watiga to learn about their offerings here . Q: Any upcoming rules or trends that you see that might drive more people to potentially consider trust? Richards: We are definitely seeing some client activity where people are migrating their offshore structures from traditional places such as the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Cayman Islands and Seychelles, to places like Singapore, due to increasing compliance cost of maintaining those offshore companies. Singapore has also introduced a relatively new corporate structure called the Variable Capital Company (VCC) to promote re-domiciliation of investment funds back to Singapore by providing better operational flexibility. VCCs are very attractive and families are starting to use VCCs for various reasons including for legacy planning and wealth management purposes. Q: Any interesting hobbies or interests? Richards: I like to run long distance, especially when overseas. I have done over ten full marathons and many several dozen half marathons so far. We have a running group that we go out most weekends here in Singapore, it is called the Crystal Skull Running Group ( laughs! ). This interview has been edited for length. Back to profile interviews > All articles and resources > FAQs What is a trust? A trust is legal arrangement between a trustor, someone who sets up a trust, and a trustee, a person/entity who manages the assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries. Do I need a trust? Deciding whether you need to set up a trust depends on various factors, including your specific circumstances, goals, and financial situation. It is also essential to consider the costs and complexities associated with setting up and maintaining a trust. It is recommended to consult a professional to discuss your unique situation and determine whether a trust is appropriate for you. Speak to Watiga here to inquire more. 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 .

A revised tax code that saw rich Chinese rushing to shelter trillions of assets and income in overseas trusts is hitting the news again. The new rule - intended to lower the burden on the poor and the middle class by making the rich pay more - took effect in 2019. Chinese citizens have been obliged to pay taxes on their global income for many years. But for those working abroad, it hadn’t been generally enforced. In January this year, Chinese authorities issued instructions on how to comply with the tax law while abroad -- a move that caught many Chinese expats off guard. Read more: Why China’s New Tax Rules Worry Bankers in Hong Kong - Bloomberg How does this new rule affect estate planning? We're looking to feature experts on this topic. Please reach out to j@immortalize.io if you have an interesting view to share! 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! 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 .