A family consists of a husband, wife and 2 young children. They live in the same HDB house with husband paying and owning the house. The wife and children are just occupier of the house.
When the husband passes on, with no Will, based on The Intestate Succession Act, the wife is entitled to 50% of the house and the 2 children, 25% each. This is entitlement and is not automatically transfer/given. The wife will need to apply to the court for letter of administration to transfer half of the flat to herself and most probably she will also wants to buy over the other half share from their young children.
This will cost the wife tens of thousands of dollars in stamp fees and legal fees for the transfer.
With a Will, the transfer costs only few hundred dollars. And more importantly the process is much faster especially during this devastating period for the family where the wife will not need go through the tedious process of applying for the letter of administration and carry out the paper works.
Note: If the HDB house is owned under "Joint Tenancy" with the wife, then the husband portion will be automatically transferred to the wife. In this case, the Will will not supersede the transfer/allocation.
Recommended Reading on Will:
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