Estate Planning and Distribution Process

An estate is the assets or wealth. In financial terms, this means the wealth of a person. It is the collection of items that the individual controls or has a form of ownership.

This could include cash in bank, land, houses, share holding, insurance, stock investments, cryptocurrencies, intellectual property rights, jewelry, family heirlooms, books, works of art, race horses, agreements and etc.

The person should plan for the types of properties they should in their estate, that can secure their wealth and securely distribute this wealth to named beneficiaries (now and in the future).

The estate is in limbo. The estate is essentially locked up and cannot be touched.
The laws of Malaysia on estate administration come into play. If the deceased has a Will, then the executors have to get the courts to issue the Grant of Probate.

If the deceased does not have a will, then the assumed beneficiaries will have to agree to appoint someone as the administrator of the estate. And they have to get the courts to approve this, a detailed due diligence process by the court before approval and grant of Letter of Administration.

If the Estate has a Trust created prior to the death, then the Trust Deed takes immediate effect for immediate and confidential distribution of the estate.

Distribution is the act of distributing the estate of the deceased to beneficiaries. The distribution to beneficiaries can be challenged in the courts. Especially if the deceased did not have a Will or Trust.

The Distribution Act in Malaysia covers estate distribution in Malaysia. This Act states what is covered under the Act and what is not covered. For Muslims, the Fariad distribution applies. For Sabah and Sarawak, some state laws apply.

• You want to plan your Estate to ensure secure distribution to beneficiaries.
• You will want to ensure the distribution is unchallengeable in the courts.
• You want to ensure the distribution is executed to your wishes and plan.
• You want to ensure confidentiality of distribution, in areas you want it to be confidential.
• You want to ensure unbiasedness in execution by a professional team of executors, who cannot be influenced by any one of your beneficiaries.

• You need to plan the Trusts and what and who you want the Trust to cover distribution. Then you plan for the Will Writing and Custody.
• You need to name an unbiased Estate Administrator.
• You need to create an Insurance Trust to ensure the proper distribution of the Insurance proceeds.
• You need to create an Annuity Trust to manage rental properties to ensure confidential distribution of income to beneficiaries.
• You need to create a Will to distribute the balance of the estate that are not covered by the Trusts.

• You need the help of a Professional Estate Planner.
• The estate planner needs to have a team of people who can support the different types of Estate complexity.
• This estate support team should include specialist lawyers, accountants, tax and finance and company secretaries.
• Rockwills franchisees are professional estate planners, with in-depth training in estate planning, Rockwills estate planning processes and support services.