WILLs are to enrich the lawyers only.... nothing more

you can write your own 1 page will... dont need lawyer...

without a will, your parents can also claim your monies

Yea actually it will still need to go to AmanahRaya or something like that to do so. With WILL, usually the lawyer will help execute and follow up, right?

Then who will be the "trusted" person to certify the WILL?

You can have any person to sign as witness. Important thing is the executor, put someone you trust (normally not family, a good friend). Me and my wife put a mutual friend that both of us trust as executor.

That person will be responsible for executing everything when you pass, including perhaps appointing a lawyer if needed (generally not). You can write any weird things in your will, but depend on the executor to actually do it. They will have the legal right to act as you.

not write will BUT the getting the Probate is the real money is

you can also do it your own... but the travel to high court, prepare doc, would the time be worth it ?

This post has been edited by ronnie: May 6 2026, 09:06 AM

any sane person can be witness to the will content and sign their name

Make sure these witness are alive when you die ... else it becomes an invalid will also

That last line is not correct. They must be alive and sane during the signing of the will, they do not need to be alive when you die.

In practice this is only relevant if someone wants to challenge the will (see our own local drama with the ultra-rich). In the normal case where there's a written will and family members whether happy or unhappy can read it, then no issue, just make sure the executor does their job can di.

i think the one witness need to sign some document when applying grant of probate

Witnesses to a will are not required to appear in court, but they must each sign an affidavit confirming the authenticity of the deceased's signature. If one of the witnesses cannot be located, the executor's lawyer will help locate them. The court may ask the executor questions during the hearing to ensure the proper execution of the will.

Refer to https://smartwills.com.my/faq-gp/

This post has been edited by ronnie: May 6 2026, 09:45 AM

Which is where the dilemma stems from. We currently nominate each other 100% coz we have no kids.

My spouse's next-of-kin may not be who we want my EPF money to go to if my spouse didn't withdraw. At least once I pass away, her EPF she can immediately change her nominee instead of 100% to me or vice versa. The surviving spouse EPF is safe to distribute according to the nomination.

For scenarios sake, if I have RM1 mil in EPF, I would want my wife to just keep withdrawing the yearly dividends if EPF permits partial withdrawal since she is my nominee.

So, if the bolded part is how EPF practices, it just forces the nominee to withdraw entirely to his/her account upon decease, and placing in risk free FD. If EPF is 6% and FD is 3.8%, that's a shortfall of RM22k per annum. What a bummer that will be. Applies to those who doesn't want next-of-kin to have the money.

Live also complicated die also complicated.

If your spouse does not withdraw upon your bereavement, and your spouse is without nominees and passes away soon after kin on your side can claim also.

Correct me if I m wrong, your spouse is a Muslim? Then no control on distribution.

So times ago, I read some forummers suggest this platform.
https://www.ubbamanah.com/introducing-the-u...ate-cash-trust/
Said to be able to earn abit more than KWSP.
check it out?
If still hesitates, or is being held back by doubt, my suggestion to you is to starting investing into it now, but use a small amount. Something you are comfortable with even if you suffer losses.
It can be as little as few thousand dollars because that is usually all you need to start investing into a their cashtrust funds.
Hopefully you can gain enough experience, trust, confidence and beable to see how their returns are generated after some years before having your kwsp money transfered to it after your demise.

This post has been edited by MUM: May 6 2026, 12:35 PM

Recommend products that is a center of debate and with lockdown period ?

Yes, ...
As mentioned,
"Hopefully he can gain enough experience, trust, confidence and beable to see how their returns are generated after some years before having his kwsp money transfered to it after his demise"


"Possibly of losing"** few thousands now VS his concerns of losing 22k per year
** eventhough remotely possibles for a company established since 1988.

Just thinking out loud here…

a) You probably need some kind of systematic withdrawal plan for both you and your spouse while alive — so that the balance is gradually drawn down over time.

b) Since your concern is the money eventually flowing to next-of-kin of the surviving spouse, one way is to plan a higher withdrawal rate (say 7 or 8% pa), so the EPF balance doesn’t sit there compounding indefinitely.

of course this means epf balance will be slowly depleting after one's demise, but that is the intention right? the surviving spouse can then stop the monthly withdrawal from his/her own EPF and allow that to accumulate while the deceased spouse's epf balance depletes...
- so need to be comfortable with this trade-off

c) This has to be planned for both sides, since either spouse could be the survivor.

d) The surviving spouse can then rely on their own EPF till death (of course must update nominee list).


Honestly though, this feels quite suboptimal and messy, with a lot of moving parts just to work around nomination constraints. One can also explore the existing trustee system and see how to fit it in here.


End of the day, EPF is a Provident fund, and hence isn’t really designed for "keep funds inside forever and just harvest dividends after death". it’s more of an accumulation vehicle, but we got lucky as EPF now allows us to continue "enjoy" their facilities post retirement till 100.


Out of curiosity...how old are you?

For me, my thinking is by the time I'm 65 to 70, I'd expect to have clear beneficiaries anyway, and EPF would naturally become part of legacy planning rather than something I try to tightly control post-demise.

sure this one is safe and comparable to EPF?

I mean a bit of a stretch to equate EPF to this trust???? seems like no one knows with much certainty how this trust generate such "safe and secure and consistent" return....

I must not have been commenting much in this thread for you to suggest the above. Thank you for the suggestion either way.

The question is not about my investments. I will leave it at that.
We can plan how we live, but we can't plan when we can legally die

In short, I can be gone tomorrow. And she can plan to withdraw my EPF till the age 75 to be zero or minimal balance. Then again she can be gone next year, then her next-of-kin can apply for it. Hence I want an assured process in place to ensure it goes to people on our distribution list.

And if EPF doesn't have guidelines beyond the next-of-kin, it seems full withdrawal is the only prudent thing to do to have my EPF money into her account. Then upon her passing, it will be as per her distribution list in her will.

I'm 52 and plan to retire at age 55, where my employment gratuity benefits will not be taxed By my calculation, our combined EPF would exceed RM2 mil. Not a lot for 2 since she has been a housewife for the past 15 odd years hence no contribution on her part. We won't need to touch it at least for the next 5 years with my other savings and investments. Let the EPF accumulate until either one passes away then withdraw and close that account, or unless we used up our savings/investments

At the end, I want to ensure I leave her with enough information so that she knows what needs to be done upon my demise.

This post has been edited by McMatt: May 6 2026, 03:35 PM

Just a light comment: we can plan how we live, maybe even plan for a max age… but the minimum age is still up to the divine 🙂

That said, I think you are circling around the same core issue.

EPF is fundamentally a Provident fund, not really an estate planning vehicle. So if your goal is very specific control over who ultimately receives the funds and how, EPF may not be the right tool to rely on.

What you’re trying to achieve sounds more like:
a) allow the surviving spouse to continue benefiting from the funds (div), and
b) eventually distribute the remainder balance according to a predefined list (not default next-of-kin of surviving spouse)

That's more aligned with a trust-type structure, where:
a) the surviving spouse can be provided for (income or drawdown), and
b) the remaining balance goes to your intended beneficiaries upon both couple passing

Trying to "work around" EPF mechanics (timing withdrawals, hoping funds stay inside, etc.) tends to get quite messy and uncertain.

Also, just to be careful... anything that involves not properly notifying institutions or continuing to operate accounts after death can create legal and compliance issues, so probably not a path worth exploring.

At the end of the day, it becomes a cost vs complexity question:
A properly structured solution (like a trust, or even just coordinated nominations + will + staged withdrawals) gives clarity
But it comes with setup/maintenance costs and some effort

Given your numbers (the excess 22K rm pa benefit from epf, X 2), it might be worth exploring the trust way...

Personally, I had similar thoughts a few years ago... hence my sharing of the concerns in case you find them relevant. My conclusion was to keep things simple for now, and only optimise further when closer to the stage where distribution becomes more relevant 😅

And that my friend, is where you got everything on point.

Given that we have no kids, I wanted a maximum gain at minimum cost as I do not want to burden my wife with the complexity of navigating around various institutions, applications, forms, solicitors, banks etc.

I had a look at trust fund, testament trust, but similarly, given that we have no kids, I wanted to ensure upon her demise, everything that is hers, and that was mine goes towards the our distribution list instantly. Hence, full withdrawing seems to be the only solution as of now. We don't need a long term trust to continue distributing returns for say, 5 or 10 years. We're gone. What the people on our distribution list do with any balance money we have is their prerogative. I always joke with my closest friends that, "Jangan harap lah. By the time we're gone, there may not be any money left if inflation, medical, cost of living burst our bubble".

Thanks for your input. There is no further need for anyone else to reply to my queries since I am not looking for "maybe" answer. I will update if EPF gives me a different answer to my query.

On a lighter note, spoke to her yesterday about this. She said better she go first since she don't want to manage the above. Bugger!

This post has been edited by McMatt: May 7 2026, 09:24 AM

Anyone have insight on new i-legasi introduce by epf especially any loopholes to exploit ?