PROBATE AND THE LAW OF SUCCESSION 1

TUTORIAL QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1
In 1995, Rani married Ranjit who was her senior in IIUM. By her will made in 1998,
Rani bequeathed ‘all my estate to my husband Ranjit and to my only son Rahul in equal
shares’. Early this year Rani gave birth to a baby girl, Rupali. Last month, Rani and
Ranjit died in a plane crash. The other relatives are Rani’s mother, Nandini and Ranjit’s
father, Yash.

Explain the distribution of Rani’s and Ranjit’s estate.

​(15 marks)
QUESTION 2
In January 2000, John made a valid will leaving all his estate to Julie. In January 2001 he
said to his friend, Edward, “I am going to change my will and leave all my money to my
cousin, Joseph. I do not want to do it but lately my uncle’s ghost has appeared to me
several times telling that I must do it”. After John’s death, a will executed in February
2001 was found in which he gave all his money to Joseph.

Discuss the validity of the above will.

​(15 marks)
QUESTION 3
Discuss the position of the following wills.
a) Santiago made a will leaving the whole of his estate to Lisa, and later went through
a ceremony of marriage with her in 1981. The marriage was found, after the death
of Santiago, to have been polygamous, Santiago having a wife living at the time
of the marriage. ​
(5 marks)

b) Lucy made her will in 1997 and left it with her father for safekeeping. In 1998,
whilst in the hospital, she wrote on a piece of paper – “I direct my father to
destroy the will which he now holds for me”. Lucy signed this paper in the
presence of two friends who then signed below her signature. Lucy posted the
paper to her father who received it, but Lucy died before her father had destroyed
the will.
(10 marks)

QUESTION 4
In 2000, Ah Moon executed a will in which she left all her estate to her husband and her
son in equal share. She then put her thumbprint at the foot of the will in the presence of
the husband and the son. On the next day, Ah Moon produced the will to Ah Sun, her
sister after which Ah Sun subscribed her name as a witness. Ah Moon and Ah Sun then
went to a neighbour’s house, where Ah Moon, in the presence of Ah Sun, asked the
neighbour to witness her will. The neighbour thereupon subscribed her name as a witness
in the presence of Ah Moon only since Ah Sun went to the washroom.

Discuss the validity of the above will.

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 ​(15 marks)

QUESTION 5
1) ​ lex executed a will despite the fact that he was certified as insane and detained
A
in a mental hospital for short periods.
​(5 marks)
2) ​A signed his will in the presence of one of the witnesses, B, while another
witness, C, was caught in traffic jam.. When C arrived, A acknowledged his
signature in front of C only because at that time, B was so busy answering a
phone call.
​(5 marks)
3). ​In his will, Dennis appointed Mary as his executor who happens to be one of the
attesting witnesses.
​(5 marks)

QUESTION 6
Ah Bah died intestate in 1998 leaving behind an estate valued at RM900,000.00. He was
survived by his mother Ah Mak, his grandfather Ah Tuk, his widow Ah Suet, his
mistress Pamela, his son Steven, his daughters Lucy and Liu, an adopted son Andy and
Victoria who was born from his relationship with Pamela.

Advise the administrator as to the distribution of Ah Bah’s estate.

​(15 marks)

QUESTION 7
Michael, a successful entrepreneur planned to have a family vacation at Pulau Sipadan.
He has invited all his close relatives and they agreed to join his trip. It was arranged that
they should travel to Mersing by a hired coach and take a private flight from there
crossing the South China Ocean towards the destination. Unfortunately, due to bad
weather, the plane encountered mechanical problem and crashed to the sea. Michael and
Kenny were pronounced dead upon arrival at the Bintulu Hospital.

Michael’s relatives who joined the trip were: Ronald (his father); Jennifer (his mother);
Kenny, Jacky (his sons); Julie (his wife); Martin (his adopted son); Mary (his sister);
Robert (Julie’s father). Others include two sons of Jacky and one daughter of Mary.

The fact showed that all of the above persons survived the crash except Jacky, Jennifer
(died at the scene); Julie (died 3 days after being warded at intensive care unit, Bintulu
Hospital).

Michael left the following estates:-

The shares at KLSE worth at 2.4 million.
Four terrace houses valued at RM700,000.00 in which he had transferred the right of
ownership to Julie three days before the tragedy.

Verify the above situation and determine the quantum of entitlement of the survivors.
​(15 marks)

QUESTION 8
(a) Alvin made a will leaving everything to his wife, Amanda. During an argument,
Amanda lost her temper and tore up the will. Alvin laughed about it, and said that he

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 would not make another one.
Comment.
​(5 marks)
(b) In 1999, Ramasamy met Juhi and proposed to marry her. Juhi agreed on a condition
that Ramasamy should make a will in her favour. In 2000, Ramasamy executed a will in
contemplation of his marriage to Juhi. In 2001, the marriage took place. In 2002, Juhi
died while delivering a child, Ramarama. In 2003, Ramasamy met Rani, fell in love and
planned to get married. In 2004, Ramasamy made a will in which he disposed of his
estate to Rani and Ramarama in equal shares. However, Ramasamy broke off with Rani
and married Savitri. After the marriage, Ramasamy found out that Savitri was born a
male.

Decide.
​(10 marks)

QUESTION 9
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Ah Wong executed a will on 15 March 2000. As there was no space at the bottom of the
page, Ah Wong put his signature at the back of the will by writing “Wong”. When he was
signing, the two witnesses, Ah Ling and Ah Chow were in the adjoining room. There was
a window between the two rooms that enabled the witnesses to see the testator’s act of
executing the will. Ah Wong then put the will in an envelope and told Ah Ling and Ah
Chow, “I have signed my will and I should like you now to witness my will’. At the same
time Ah Wong gestured the envelope where the folded will was, but not taking it out and
not revealing his signature to them. Both Ah Ling and Ah Chow then signed the will
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without reading its contents. When Ah Wong died on 15 April 2000, there were several
testamentary provisions that were newly inserted found underneath the testator’s
signature. The will also contained no attestation clause.

Determine the validity of Ah Wong’s will.

​(15 marks)

QUESTION 10
Zorro made a will and wanted to execute it in front of two witnesses, Harry and Potter.
Instead of putting his usual signature onto the will he just wrote the words “your macho
man”. When he did so, only Potter was present with him in the same room while Harry
was in the adjoining room busy watching a movie. Between the two rooms, was a
window through which Harry from where he sat could - had he cared to look - have seen
Zorro writing down his self-acclaimed description onto the will. But he did not. When
Potter was putting his signature, only Zorro was present while Harry went downstairs to
take something from his car. When Harry put his signature onto the will, Potter had gone
home leaving only Zorro with Harry.
​(15 marks)
QUESTION 11
st
Richard executed a will on 1 July 2000 disposing all his estate valued at RM600,000.00
to his wife Susan, his daughter Jeanna and his best friend David, to be divided equally
among them. Richard appointed Robert as an executor to his will. The will was witnessed
by David and Robert. After Richard’s death, Robert propounded the will to the court.
Unfortunately, there was a challenge on the validity of Richard’s will by his father,
Harold, on the ground that Richard did not possess adequate mental capacity to execute a
will as he was certified to be insane a month prior to the execution of the will.
Discuss the status of Richard’s will and the distribution of his estate.
​

QUESTION 12
In 1998, Andy executed a valid will in which he made the following dispositions:
(a) “RM100,000.00 to my son, Danny”.
(b) “my two bungalows at Jalan Bangsar to my daughter, Kathy”.

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 (c) “my favourite piano to my mother, Martha.
(d) “RM15,000.00 to my niece, Lorinda”.
(e) “the residue of my estate is be distributed to my wife, Linda”.

In February 2001, Andy sold the piano for RM5,000.00. He also bought another
bungalow at Jalan Bangsar worth RM300,000.00 in January, 2003. On March 2005, his
son, Danny met with an accident and was in coma until the first day of April when he
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died. Surviving him was his son, Albert. On 2 April 2005, Andy died. After his death, it
was discovered that Andy drew a horizontal line across the figure RM15,000.00 to
Lorinda’s disposition and inserted above it the figure of RM10,000.00. He signed at the
th
side of the new figure and put the words “altered on 27 March 2005”. Andy died leaving
RM500,000.00 in cash (not including the proceeds from the sale of the piano) and 3
bungalows.

Advise the surviving family as to the distribution of Andy’s estate.

​(15 marks)
QUESTION 13
Sally died in a plane crash together with her husband, Barry, who was one year younger
than her and her son Philips, who was born prior to their marriage. There was no
evidence available to show the time of death of each of them. Sally died leaving a valid
will disposing RM50, 000 to her husband and RM150, 000 to Philips. Barry and Philips
died intestate. Sally left RM250,000 in Hong Leong Bank saving account and a car,
which was valued at RM45,000. Barry left RM55,000, a terrace house that was valued at
RM350,000, a car that was valued at RM65,000 and a land worth RM650,000 in Penang.
Phillips died leaving RM20,000 in the Bank of Commerce account and a car, which was
valued at RM40,000. Surviving them were Sally’s father and mother, Barry’s mother,
their two sons, one daughter who was adopted in accordance with the Adoption Act 1952
and Sally’s daughter from her relationship with her ex-fiancé.
Distribute the property of all the deceased persons according to the law.
​(15 marks)

QUESTION 14
Irene had suffered from attacks of insanity in the past, and had on three occasions, been
certified as insane and detained in mental hospital for short periods. After her death, it
was found out that she had executed a will, a day after she was released from the General
Hospital for mental treatment, disposing most of her estate to charity. Her son, Anthony
challenged the validity of the will on the ground that his mother had no testamentary
capacity at the time she executed the will.

Discuss the validity of Irene’s will.

​(15 marks)

QUESTION 15
John went to the office of his solicitor, Harry, to execute his will. Harry has a large office
and in one corner his secretary Jane occupies a desk. John, Harry and Jane stood by
Harry’s desk and just when John was about to sign, the door bell rang. Jane went to
answer to it and John signed the will among the words of testimonium clause. Jane called
Harry over saying that he was required in person to be served with a writ. She returned
and signed.
Discuss the validity of the above will.
​(15 marks)
QUESTION 16
Discuss the position of the following wills:
(a) In 2002 Mohan executed a will in favour of his son, Raju. One day he decided to
revoke his will because he wanted to give his property to his daughter, Pooja. He
wrote on a piece of paper “I hereby cancel whatever that I have given in my previous
will.” He told his neighbours, Mahinder and Balan about this; and so, they came over

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 to his house to attest the document. However, when he signed the document in his
room, he forgot to call in his neighbours, who were in the garden talking to Pooja. He
then went to look for the will of 2002 but could not find it. Later Mohan discovered
that his maid had destroyed it by tearing it into hundred pieces. Suddenly he
remembered that he had once asked his maid to tear the will, as he planned to make a
new one.
(10 marks)

b) Muthu made a will disposing half of his property to his wife, Seetha. On the night of
Deepavali, Muthu and Seetha had an argument regarding their financial problem.
Feeling upset with Seetha and under the influence of an intoxicating liquour, Muthu
tore his will into hundred pieces. In the morning of Deepavali, Muthu’s body was
found hanged in his bedroom.
(5 marks)

QUESTION 17
Explain only three of the following:
a) Rahul executed a valid will in 1997. In 1998, he revoked the first three clauses in
the will. In 1999, he revoked the whole will. In 2000, he revived his will.
b) Muthu executed a valid will in 2000 in which he disposed his favourite horse,
Winner, to his daughter, Kumari. Muthu later, sold Winner in January 2001 and
with the proceeds of sale, bought another horse named Toughguy. Muthu died two
months ago.
c) In the course of altering his will, the testator had pasted a strip of paper over part of
the will that cannot be removed and wrote the intended alteration on that strip.
d) By his will in 2005, Ajay disposed a house to his daughter, Meena. On the next
day, Meena died.

(15 marks)

QUESTION 18
​In 2003, John executed a valid will in which he made the followings dispositions:-
(a) “RM50,000.00 to my eldest son, David”.
(b) “RM50,000.00 to my second son, Eddy”.
(c) “RM50,000.00 to my illegitimate daughter, Sharon”.
(d) “The residue of my estate to my heirs in accordance with the rules of intestacy”.

In 2004, David died. !n 2005, John and his wife, Linda, died together in a traffic accident.
The surviving members of the family are Eddy, Sharon, David’s children – John and
Jenny, Eddy’s children – Donny and Mary. Linda left nothing. John’s debt at Bank of
Italy is RM100,000.00. His estate is valued at RM500,000.00.

Advise his family on the entitlement of each of them.

​(15
marks)

QUESTION 19
Discuss the legal position of the following wills: -
a) Simpson executed a will in which a quarter of the estate was disposed to his daughter,
Lisa. After the execution of the will he had an argument with Lisa. Being angry
with Lisa, Simpson began to tear the will with the intention of revoking it, and tore
it into four pieces before he was stopped, partly by his nephew, Bart, who seized his
arms and partly by the apologies of Lisa. Simpson then became calm and fitted the
pieces together. Simpson died leaving a bungalow valued at RM350,000.00, a
sports car worth RM200,000.00, furniture worth RM180,000.00 and savings of
RM300,000.00. Surviving him are Lisa, Bart, Simpson’s mother, Margaret, his
brother, Alex, and his two adopted sons, Ronaldo and Rivaldo.
(10 marks)

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 b) Eugene made a valid will in 1991 in giving half of his property to his wife, Grace, but
in 1994 he decided that he wanted to alter it. Eugene’s friend, Pow Lin, made
alterations to the original will, in Eugene’s presence and at his direction. His
friends, Wei Meng and Lee Ling, initialed the alterations, but Eugene himself, did
not sign the alterations.
(5 marks)

QUESTION 20
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On 4 June 1996, David Green made a legally executed will in which he made the
following declaration of dispositions: -

a) His bungalow at Jalan Sungai Pusu to his girlfriend, Rebecca Blue;

b) RM500,000.00 to his eldest son, Brown;
c) RM200,000.00 to his second son, Romeo;
d) The residue of his estate to his sister, Janet, to be held in trust in favour of his daughter,
Sarah, who was mentally retarded.

In 1999, David married Victoria Reid. In 2000, he executed a codicil disposing his
bungalow at Jalan Sungai Pusu to Victoria after which he declared, “In all other respects
I confirm my said will” referring to the 1996 will. In 2001, due to serious
misunderstandings that never healed between him and his eldest son, Brown, David wrote
on the envelope in which his will was kept the following words “I, David Green,
th
solemnly declare that clause (c) in my will dated 4 June 1996 giving a sum of
RM500,000.00 to my eldest son, Brown, is hereby revoked.” He put at the opposite to the
end of the said statement the words “Your aggrieved father” in the presence of two
friends who, in turn, put their attestation on the same envelope in front of David. In 2002,
for some reasons best known to him, David executed a formal document revoking the
whole will. In 2003, he made another formal document wherein he declared the revival of
the revoked will. In 2004, David died leaving a bungalow at Jalan Sungai Pusu and a sum
of RM3.5 million in cash.

Determine the status of David’s 1996 will and distribute his property accordingly.
(15 marks)

QUESTION 21
st
Kishon Kumar executed a will on 1 July 1990 disposing all his estate valued at
RM600,000.00 to his wife Sari Dewi, his unmarried daughter Kamala and his best friend
Ajay, to be divided equally among them. The will was witnessed by Ajay and Ashok. On
the next day, Ashok was admitted to a mental hospital after he claimed that he was an
st
angel sent by God to save the world from evil spirit. On 1 August 1990, Kishon Kumar,
his wife and his daughter died in a plane crash. According to medical expert, there is no
evidence available to show that one of them survived the other at the time of the crash.
Kishon Kumar was survived by his parents, Rahul and Rani.
Explain the distribution of Kishon Kumar’s estate. ​(15
marks)

QUESTION 22
In 1990, while John was in Singapore for a medical treatment, he executed a will in
which he made the following dispositions:-
(a) ​“RM 50,000 to my son, Jonathan”;
(b) ​“my bungalow in Damansara Heights to my daughter, Jennifer, if she takes care of
my orphan grandson, James”;
(c) ​“my bungalow in Petaling Jaya and RM100,000 to my wife, Jeannie.”

John placed his signature among the words of the clause of attestation in the presence of
Jack and Jill who thereafter attested it. John later added clause (d) that read: “the residue
to my sister, Janet”.

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 In 1995, John altered clause (a) by inserting a number “1” between the letter “M” and the
number “5” to the following effect: “RM150,000 to my son, Jonathan”. John, however,
did not sign near the alteration.

In 1997, John sold his bungalow in Petaling Jaya. John used the proceeds of the sale to
purchase another bungalow in Subang Perdana. John and Jeannie took care of James
themselves.

In 2002, John died leaving a bungalow in Damansara Heights valued at RM1.5 million,
another in Subang Jaya valued at RM1.5 million, and RM1 million in bank accounts.

Discuss. ​

​(15 marks)

QUESTION 23

(a) Some time after executing his will, Andy had so obliterated certain gifts in his will
with a pen as to make them wholly illegible. The obliterations were no executed
in accordance with Section 5 of the Wills Act 1959. It was found out after his
death that a draft copy of the will was still available to establish the contents of
the obliterated passages. Discuss the position of the obliteration.
(5 marks)

(b) In 1999, Si Fu executed a valid will which was witnessed by Leon and Lai. After
his death, it was found that the signature of Leon and Lai had been cut out
although Si Fu’s signature remained untouched. Discuss.
(5 marks)

(c) Ranjit married Karisma in 1981 at Batu Caves Temple. In 1982, he executed a
valid will in favour of his wife. In 1984, he contracted a second marriage with
Kareena and one month later he died. Discuss the position of the will.
(5 marks)

QUESTION 24
Joo Lee, a wealthy 70 years old man whose wife had died 10 years ago, made a will in
favour of his brother, Joo Lam. Later he suffered a stroke from which he never really
recovered. Medical evidence showed that he was sometimes lucid and sometimes
confused. During his treatment in the Hospital, he met Rosie, a young lady doctor, and
fell in love with her. They decided to get married and went for honeymoon to Beijing.
One month after they came back from Beijing, he was attacked again and died. It was
found that he had made a will while he was in Beijing in favour of Rosie. Jo Lam is now
arguing that the marriage and the will are both invalid by reason of the testator’s mental
incapacity.

Determine the validity of Joo Lee’s will. ​(15 marks)

QUESTION 25
Bill and Barbara were husband and wife. Bill was two years older than Barbara. One day,
both of them were found dead in their car apparently due to excessive inhalation of
carbon monoxide. Their exact order of death was not known. Bill died leaving a will in
which half of his estate was given to Barbara and the other half was to be distributed
according to the law. Barbara died intestate. At the time of their death, the value of Bill’s
net estate was RM 160,000 while the value of Barbara’s net estate was RM120, 000.
They were survived by their respective parents, their one year old son, a five year old

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 daughter who was born prior to their marriage and a seven year old niece of Bill adopted
by the late couple and officially registered according to the Adoption Act.

Advise the surviving family as to the distribution of Bill’s and Barbara’s estates.

​(15 marks)

QUESTION 26
A client comes to see you, a prominent probate lawyer, and expresses his intention to
make a will disposing his money amounting to RM1.35 million. He wished to dispose a
quarter of that amount to his wife, RM200,000.00 to his eldest son, RM500,000.00 to his
two daughters to be shared equally and the residue to be divided in accordance with the
Distribution Act 1958. Apart from RM1.35 million, the client also owns four bungalows
at four different locations worth RM2.5 million, two sport cars worth RM650,000, two
Mercedes cars valued at RM600,000 and a racing horse worth a quarter million. He posed
five questions:

a) What will be the effect if he asks his wife to be the executor to his will as well as a
witness?
(3 marks)

b) One month before seeing you, he had actually written a will disposing all his property
to his wife. Since he wanted to make a new will, he wrote the words “THIS WILL
IS REVOKED” across the first will and threw it into the dustbin. Was that sufficient
to revoke his will?
(3 marks)
c) His eldest son was born a month before his marriage to his wife. Will that fact affect
the entitlement of the son in the will and on intestacy?
(3 marks)

d) He wants to know how his property would be distributed if he dies leaving the above
will.
(6 marks)

Examine the above queries and solve them treating each separately.

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