After a person passes away, his next of kin not only need to handle his funeral affairs, they might also be facing problems when dealing with the estate of the deceased.
Some of the questions they might face are: (a) how to apply to become the legal representative of the deceased? (b) How to transfer the estate of the deceased to his/her beneficiaries?
In Malaysia, the answers/ relevant legal procedures involved depend on whether the deceased died with a will (testate) or without a will (intestate).
Today we would like to share some legal information with regard to how to obtain a Grant of Probate when a person dies with a will (testate).
A. When a person dies testate, the executor named in his will would be the legal representative of the deceased. The first step that needs to be done is to apply for a Grant of Probate from the High Court.
B. Before engaging a lawyer, the executor will need to obtain the death certificate of the deceased issued by Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN), and understand the contents of the will, such as the distribution of the deceased’s estate, the identity of the beneficiaries, and witnesses, etc.
C. After engaging a lawyer, the executor will need to provide the documents mentioned below for the preparation of court papers:
- Original copy of the death certificate
- Original copy of the will
- A photocopy of the identity card of the deceased, executor, beneficiary/s, witnesses;
- The relevant document of the deceased’s estates.
D. Thereafter, the lawyer will arrange for the executor and the witnesses to sign & affirm the court papers, then file the court documents in the High Court to apply for a hearing date.
E. After the hearing date is fixed (normally about a month after filing the court documents), the executor will need to appear before the Court Registrar with his/her lawyer. During the hearing day itself, the Registrar may also ask some questions in relation to the estate of the deceased. Basically, the lawyer will assist the executor to answer the questions.
F. When the Registrar viewed that all the court papers are in order, the order for Grant of Probate will be given on that day. Generally, the sealed copy of the Grant of Probate will be received one (1) month after the hearing date.
G. After obtaining the Grant of Probate, the executor can start to dispose of the deceased’s estate. According to the law, the executor must pay the debts (out from the estate of the deceased) before distributing the property to the beneficiaries in accordance with the will.
H. The executor can open an estate account to record all transactions involved. When facing a problem in paying debt or effecting the transfer, the executor can seek advice from his lawyer.
This are some information regarding the grant of probate that we want to share with you today. If you have any inquiries about it, please do contact us: https://wa.link/q3kmv5
If you want to know the procedures for applying a Grant of Letters of Administration, you can read our article
About the importance of having a will, you can read our article
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