A look into common Estate Planning tools and how to better protect our loved ones

“Are you prepared for your eventuality when the day comes?”

Mr Sim Mong Teck (’89), Founder and Managing Partner of Sim Mong Teck & Partners, posed this question to the floor before starting his talk during the NUS Giving Webinar on Family Legacy Planning held on 18 June 2020.

Emphasising the importance of planning for succession in the event of death, he encouraged attendees to reflect upon their estate plans while working hard to accumulate assets and to build a legacy.

“Family Legacy Planning will allow you to better protect your loved ones and think about the assets you wish to leave behind for them. Will, Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) and Advanced Medical Directive (AMD) are three key pillars of Legacy Planning in Singapore”, he shared before going further to elaborate and examine how each of them can help with assets distribution and management in the event one loses his or her mental capacity.

“Do you think having a Will, LPA and AMD is important?” he asked the attendees via a live poll during the webinar.

98% of the participants voted ‘yes’. Mr Sim, however, revealed sobering statistics that even though Legacy Planning is deemed important to many, only 30% of the people present will take action.

“Legacy planning is not a matter that is going to be at the back of your mind at the end of the day. It is usually not an immediate priority and delayed because of procrastination.”

However, failing to do so, he cautioned, will create great distress and inconvenience for your loved ones in the event of one’s demise, which “is totally unnecessary, painful and costly”.

After a round of questions and answers, Associate Professor Ruby Lee (’85), NUS Faculty of Law and moderator of the webinar summarised, “The moral of the story here is that it is not a question of whether Family Legacy Planning should be done only if you have a lot of money, but a question of making sure that if you do pass on, everything is neat and tidy and you’ve taken care of the people you want to take care of.”.

For further information on the NUS Giving Webinar Series, contact the Events team at dvoevents@nus.edu.sg.