Without A Will
A grant of Letter of Administration (“Surat Kuasa Mentadbir”) is a grant issued by the High Court of Malaya allowing the person granted with the Letter of Administration to administer the estate or assets of the Deceased in situation where the Deceased have died without leaving a valid will.
Letters of Administration is applied when the Deceased passed away without a will. Probate is applied when the Deceased passed away with a will.
A letter of administration application normally takes a longer time than a Grant of Probate application. Generally it takes 6 to 9 months.
Generally, the estate will be distributed among the deceased’s immediate family: his parents, his spouse, and his issue. A person’s issue (descendants) includes his children and the descendants of his children who died before him.
The distribution among the family is shown in the following table:
| Intestate with Surviving | Entitlement |
|---|---|
| Spouse only - no Parent(s), no Issue(s) | Spouse only - whole estate |
| Parent(s) + Spouse, no Issue(s) | Parent(s) : 1/2 |
| Spouse : 1/2 | |
| Issue(s) only - no Spouse, no Parent(s) | Issue(s) only - whole estate |
| Parent(s) only - no Spouse, no Issue(s) | Parent(s) only - whole estate |
| Spouse + Issue(s), no Parent(s) | Spouse : 1/3 |
| Issue(s) : 2/3 | |
| Parent(s) + Issue(s), no Spouse | Parent(s) : 1/3 |
| Issue(s) : 2/3 | |
| Parent(s) + Spouse + Issue(s) | Parent(s) : 1/4 |
| Spouse : 1/4 | |
| Issue(s) : 1/2 | |
| If no Parent(s), Spouse, or Issue(s) | Brothers and Sisters in equal shares |
| Grandparents in equal shares | |
| Uncles and Aunts in equal shares | |
| Great Grandparents in equal shares | |
| Great grand uncles and aunts in equal shares | |
| Government | |
| *In descending order of priority |
You may sell the immovable assets of the deceased after the said property has been transferred to beneficiaries’ name or after obtained the order for sale from the court.
