ProviTrust is a revocable trust designed for the purpose of receiving the CPF savings upon the settlor’s demise for the purpose of distributing to the named beneficiaries according to the manner indicated in the trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed.)
It can be a fixed or discretionary trust and you can appoint an individual or professional trustee to hold the CPF savings for the benefits of your named beneficiaries. There will be trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed) stored digitally at ProviTrust Portal and readily available for the settlor and trustee to retrieve at any one time.
Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide trust services which comprises of acting as the trustee, providing trust administration services and setting up of trusts.
Note: ProviTrust is set up by Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) and ProviTrust Portal is also managed by them.
Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) can also act as the professional trustee for ProviTrust, with appointment done by the CPF account member (settlor) via ProviTrust Portal.
EPPL (Estate Planning Practitioners Limited) is the body that champions literacy in Estate and Succession Planning as a professional practice throughout Asia.
EPPL Digital is a new digital platform created and owned by EPPL to facilitate estate planning and trust solutions such as ProviTrust.
Both EPPL (Estate Planning Practitioners Limited) and Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) are under the PreceptsGroup International Pte Ltd, the leading company in Singapore that provides end-to-end estate and succession planning services covering wills, trusts, estate administration, corporate services and education.
The cost to set up ProviTrust is a one-time fee of S$800 (before GST), if you choose to appoint an Individual Trustee.
If you choose to appoint a Precepts Trustee (Professional Trustee), the cost to set up will be a one-time fee of S$2,000 (before GST) and there are also ongoing annual trust administration fees when the trust is activated upon death and after CPF Board transfers your CPF savings to ProviTrust.
Please refer to Fees Guide for the prevailing trust administration fees on an annual basis, which are subject to changes. Once ProviTrust is set up, you will be able to see the updated fees via the ProviTrust Portal. Please do take reference whenever necessary.
Payment is to be made using credit card only.
There is a nominal value of S$1 to be transferred over for the ProviTrust setup.
Settlor will need to make personal arrangement with his or her appointed trustee to transfer the S$1 to him or her.
If Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) is appointed as the professional trustee, the S$1 will be included in the setup fee and will be charged to your credit card prior to the completion of the application.
Any individuals who have reached the legal age of 18 years old, of sound mind and owns a CPF account can set up ProviTrust and be a settlor. A settlor simply means the person who sets up the trust.
A trust is a legal arrangement that allows a person (the “settlor”) to give away his or her assets such as money, stocks, properties and CPF savings to another person or trust corporation known as the trustee for the benefit of other people (“beneficiaries”).
A fixed trust means that there will be fixed distributions to your beneficiaries. The entitlement to each of the beneficiaries is set out and cast in stone during the onset of the trust. These instructions of the settlor are stipulated on the trust deed. The appointed trustee will have to follow these instructions strictly and he or she has no power to alter the distributions.
Read more about fixed trust at The Two Types of Trust for ProviTrust - About Fixed Trust
A discretionary trust is a trust where you might name beneficiaries who are to receive distributions but they do not have any specified entitlements. Any distributions to them is up to the trustee's discretion. This is preferred when:
- The settlor may not want to decide presently, who among his or her beneficiaries should receive and the respective amount allocation.
- For protecting the beneficiary(ies) against his or potential creditors.
However, the trustee is guided by the letter of wishes set out by the settlor as to his or her preferred form of distributions to his or her beneficiaries. The trustee will ordinarily follow what is stated in the letter of wishes but may deviate from it should there be good reasons to do so.
Read more about discretionary trust at The Two Types of Trust for ProviTrust - About Discretionary Trust
The letter of wishes is a guide for trustee while acting on a discretionary trust. The instructions stated in the letter of wishes can be changed from time to time by the settlor (the person who sets up the trust) as to how he or she wants to distribute the benefits to the named beneficiaries. These changes often come about because of the change in circumstances and the beneficiaries’ needs.
The letter of wishes is not binding on the trustee as he or she must exercise his or her own independent discretion and powers to the best interest of the named beneficiaries. The trustee would ordinarily defer to the wishes of the settlor unless there are reasons to vary from them.
ProviTrust Portal is an online submission platform for setting up ProviTrust and is managed by Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL). ProviTrust Portal will enable any CPF account holder to set up a trust and appoint a trustee to carry out his or her distribution plan set out at the trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed.)
The ProviTrust Portal is hosted on cloud with Amazon Web Services (AWS). As you are aware, AWS data centres are housed in state-of-the-art data centres with the highest levels of security to protect your information and data.
More information available here.
For even further enhanced data security, the only login methodology for ProviTrust Portal is via the national authentication system - Singpass. Singpass is managed by GovTech and has stringent security measures in place.
Furthermore, personal data will be retrieved from MyInfo which is also authenticated by Singpass.
Your trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed) will be stored at the Portal.
Identifying a trustee is an important step in setting up ProviTrust. You can choose to appoint an individual trustee or a professional trustee (Precepts Trustee only).
An individual trustee should be trustworthy and accountable. Most people like to start with considering friends and family members as trustee. If you choose a family member or friend, he or she should be financially astute and good in money management.
You may appoint Precepts Trustee as the professional trustee for your ProviTrust.
Note: If you appoint an individual trustee, you can choose to set up your ProviTrust as a fixed or discretionary trust. If you choose to appoint Precepts Trustee, you can only set up your ProviTrust as discretionary trust.
Read more at About Trustee
Yes, a trust deed will be drawn up for fixed trust for the trustee to abide by. For discretionary trust, there will be a trust deed and letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed). The trust deed and or letter of wishes will clearly indicate the CPF monies distribution plans with the percentage of allocation, frequency of distribution and the vesting age for each of the named beneficiary.
In addition, you may also want to let your beneficiaries know that you have appointed an individual or professional trustee.
The trustee can log in to the ProviTrust Portal from time to time, using his or her Singpass credentials to retrieve the trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed.)
The trustee will have to make the necessary arrangement with the beneficiaries on what is the preferred pay-out mode.
No. ProviTrust is solely for the purpose of receiving CPF savings upon a person’s demise. For the pooling in of other assets including your CPF savings, insurance payouts and other financial assets, a Standby Trust offered by Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) would be a solution.
Please contact us at +65 6221 8633 if you would like to find out more about Standby Trust.
Yes. CPF nomination will complete the whole process in setting up ProviTrust. Having a trust will not replace CPF nomination and you will need to nominate your CPF savings to the trustee whom you have appointed in your ProviTrust.
Any CPF account holder should make their respective nomination. A trust is an option that allows you to nominate to a trustee to hold the CPF savings for the benefits of your intended beneficiaries.
CPF nomination is important. But, depending on nomination alone, you might not be able to avoid the potential risks that your nominees are exposed to after your demise. Your nominees might be placed at unfavorable situations such as dementia, still underage to receive your CPF savings or even bankruptcy.
By setting up ProviTrust, you can nominate your CPF savings to a trustee to hold the CPF savings for the benefits of your beneficiaries.
You can choose to distribute your CPF savings to your beneficiaries in a periodic manner such as monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly to provide for their basic needs.
Find out what are the available options for distribution by setting up your ProviTrust with Flexible Distribution
CPF savings comprise of the balances left in the deceased member's Ordinary Account (OA), Medisave Account (MA) and Special or Retirement Account (SA or RA), unused CPF LIFE premiums and discounted Singtel shares*.
These will form the funds for your ProviTrust.
*SDS is part of a Special Discounted Shares Scheme which allows Singaporean CPF members to purchase Singtel shares at a discounted price.
Read more about Singtel shares here.
Dependants’ Protection Scheme (DPS) claim proceeds are not covered by CPF nomination and will be paid by the insured member's insurer. (From 1 April 2021, Great Eastern Life will be the sole provider of DPS.)
Note: For members previously insured under NTUC Income, if the claim event date is before 1 April 2021, they can submit their claim application to NTUC Income directly.
CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS) investments are also not covered by CPF nomination. The deceased's investments (e.g. shares, unit trusts, bonds) and cash balance in the investment account will form part of the deceased's estate. You may want to write a Will to cover this part of asset.
Properties bought with CPF savings will follow either treatment - Joint Tenancy and Tenancy In Common.
The above mentioned will not be covered by CPF nomination and will not form the fund for your ProviTrust.
Through ProviTrust Portal, you can self-help to set up your ProviTrust. Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL), a licensed trust company regulated by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will be administering your application and drafting trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed) based on your online application via the ProviTrust Portal.
Please see The steps to set up ProviTrust
We will not inform your beneficiaries upon the creation of your ProviTrust. We regard informing your beneficiaries as a personal family matter. You are encouraged to let your beneficiaries know that a ProviTrust for your CPF savings has been set up and who the appointed trustee is. Upon your demise, your beneficiaries will then deal with the distribution of your CPF savings with the appointed trustee, instead of CPF Board.
Yes, the details will be kept confidential. Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) will not disclose any information of the beneficiaries indicated in the trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed.) In setting up your ProviTrust, both you and your appointed trustee would be required to scan with Singpass app to log in. This ensures that the information is only visible to you and your appointed trustee.
Yes, your data and information will be secured. As a professional trust company regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) has the duty to ensure confidentiality, data and information protection are of the highest compliance standards.
Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) will require consent from you, upon completion of the application at the ProviTrust Portal that PTL may collect, use and disclose your personal data as provided, or any other documents obtained by PTL for the following purposes, in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 and their data protection policy:
- The facilitation of the drafting of trust documents and other legacy planning instruments.
- Arranging for the trust setup.
- The trust administration.
Your ProviTrust trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed) will be stored online. However, your Will and other legal documents will not be accepted as legal depositories.
Please contact us at +65 6221 8633 to enquire about Precepts Custody Services with regards to the safekeeping of your Will.
Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) will keep the trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed) and any other relevant records for as long as the trust is valid or till the expiry of the maximum period stipulated by the statutory allowable period under Singapore Law.
Currently under Singapore Law, trusts are valid for a maximum period of 100 years, unless a shorter period is specified in the trust deed.
For ProviTrust, trust fund means CPF savings. ProviTrust is designed to accept only one asset, which is your CPF savings that is covered under CPF nomination.
There are no restrictions in selecting your beneficiaries. Anyone can be your beneficiaries as per below, but not limited to only these:
- Of any age, minor or elderly, vulnerable and of unsound mind
- Special needs
- Illegitimate children
- Non-Singaporean, Foreigner
- Charitable Organisation with valid ACRA registered number
Yes, anyone can be your beneficiary for ProviTrust.
If you set up your ProviTrust as a fixed trust, you can have one group of up to 5 beneficiaries to benefit from your CPF savings.
If you set up your ProviTrust as a discretionary trust, you can have two groups of beneficiaries. One main group and one substitute group with each group of up to 5 beneficiaries.
Upon naming your beneficiaries, you can indicate the percentage allocation to give to the respective beneficiaries, the frequency of distribution and the vesting age to distribute the balance of the funds.
Read more at The Two Types of Trust for ProviTrust
If any of the beneficiaries pass away before you, then the benefit that he or she would have received will be given to the other remaining beneficiaries proportionately.
If your ProviTrust is a fixed trust, the balance of the allocated portion that is supposed to be given to the deceased beneficiary will then be given to his or her estate.
If your ProviTrust is a discretionary trust, the appointed trustee will continue to distribute the balance of the trust fund among the surviving beneficiaries, using your letter of wishes as a guide.
Read more at The Two Types of Trust for ProviTrust
Yes, there is a cost.
If your ProviTrust is a fixed trust, you will need to revoke the trust and set up a new one. A deed of revocation will be issued and stored digitally at the ProviTrust Portal.
If your ProviTrust is a discretionary trust, a supplementary deed will be issued to reflect the change(s) and will be stored digitally at the ProviTrust Portal.
Please refer to Amendment Guide
Yes, there is a cost.
If your ProviTrust is a fixed trust, you will need to revoke the trust and set up a new one. A deed of revocation will be issued and stored digitally at the ProviTrust Portal.
If your ProviTrust is set up as discretionary trust, you will only need to make amendments on the letter of wishes. You may retrieve the letter of wishes at the ProviTrust Portal and e-sign after you have completed the necessary amendments.
Please refer to Amendment Guide
Distribution of trust fund through ProviTrust is not a taxable event. There are no taxes on gifts, inheritance tax or estate duty in Singapore. Similarly, there is no tax when a trust is terminated and the balance of the trust fund is distributed at the end of the trust to the beneficiaries.
However, during the period when the trustee holds the fund and reinvests the monies e.g.: Buying real estate or any rental income received from the property is taxable. The tax rate will depend on whether the beneficiaries are Singapore tax resident or non-tax resident. The duties of the appointed trustee includes proper tax reporting and record keeping of the administration during the trust period.
Please visit IRAS website for more information on the tax rate here
It will depend on your beneficiary’s country of domicile and tax residency. Please consult a tax consultant for further tax advisory.
The appointed trustee is required to file Income Tax Return for any trust income received.
For more details on the procedures, do visit here
Yes, you can. There is flexibility in choosing the frequency of distribution for each group such as monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, yearly or lump sum.
For example, you can choose to distribute the fund monthly for your parents, as they have immediate needs such as living expenses. For charitable intent, you may choose to distribute in one lump sum.
Please read more at Flexible Distribution
If the trust fund is exhausted before the specified vesting age, your ProviTrust will end.
Yes. If ProviTrust is set up as a discretionary trust, distribution can then be withheld when certain situations arise for your beneficiaries e.g.: divorce, creditor claims and the trustee will then exercise his or her discretion to protect the trust fund and act for the best interest for the rest of beneficiaries.
Please note that this applies only when you (the settlor) have passed on and when ProviTrust receives your CPF savings from CPF Board and thereafter, starts operating to protect the trust fund from your beneficiaries’ unforeseen circumstances.
During your lifetime, your CPF savings are protected against creditors’ claim on you.
Read more at Protect Against Beneficiaries' Creditors
During your ProviTrust application process, you can specify the vesting age to distribute the balance of the trust fund. Your appointed trustee has the duty to follow your wishes stipulated in the trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed.)
For example: For young beneficiaries, you might want to set the vesting age at 25, after the completion of their studies, to avoid distraction for receiving a lump sum of money.
Please read more at Flexible Distribution
Under the frequency of distribution, you can choose the 'Monthly' option and fill in your desired amount to give to your named beneficiary. For example: At your son’s entitlement, after you have filled in the percentage of allocation and the vesting age, under frequency of distribution, choose ‘Monthly’ and enter S$500.
You may consider setting up a discretionary trust for your ProviTrust, nominating your parents as the main group of beneficiaries and nominating a charitable organisation as the substitute group.
Upon your demise, your appointed trustee will first distribute to your parents, until they have passed on and thereafter, the trustee will then distribute to the charitable organisation which is the substitute group of beneficiaries.
My spouse is my main beneficiary for my ProviTrust. What will happen if we pass away simultaneously?
In the event of a common disaster, the older person is deemed to have died first. ProviTrust can prevent your trust fund to be distributed to unintended beneficiaries. By setting up ProviTrust, your trust fund will be held by a trustee. If you and your beneficiary died simultaneously, your appointed trustee, upon receiving your CPF savings will exercise his or her discretion to distribute the funds to other surviving beneficiaries. Do note that this can only be done if your ProviTrust is set up as a discretionary trust.
Read more at Avoiding Common Death Disaster
Your sister, as your CPF nominee, is the person whom you appoint to receive your CPF savings. The arrangement between you and your sister - About your wishes for her to take care of your parents with your CPF savings has neither legal implications nor clear instructions for her to act on.
Therefore, you may consider setting up ProviTrust, one with clear instructions indicated on the trust deed to provide for your parents with a monthly living maintenance fee and nominating your sister as the trustee to hold the fund for the benefit of your parents.
ProviTrust will effectively start upon the death of the settlor and when the CPF Board transfers the CPF savings to ProviTrust. During your lifetime, you can change the appointed trustee, beneficiary(ies), distribution manner and do note that the trust will remain dormant until death happens.
Firstly, to kickstart your ProviTrust setup, do consider it thoroughly on your intended beneficiaries and the percentage allocation of your CPF savings to each of your named beneficiary.
Thereafter, decide on when you will want them to receive the balance of the agreed allocation and how you would want your CPF savings to be distributed to each of your named beneficiary. You can choose periodic pay-outs and the frequency can be as follow:
- Monthly
- Quarterly
- Half-Yearly
- Yearly
- Lump Sum
- Trustee to decide depending on circumstances
After you have determine in accordance and have it all planned out, you must then decide on whether you would like to set up your ProviTrust as a fixed trust or discretionary trust. (You may wish to read up on the functions of fixed and discretionary trust to help facilitate your planning process.)
Read more at The two types of trusts for ProviTrust
The next step would be to decide on your trustee type, if it will be individual trustee or professional trustee.
After this is being ascertained, you may then visit the ProviTrust Portal to commence your application process by scanning with your Singpass app to log in.
Please refer to The steps to set up ProviTrust
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A CPF nominee is any person or organisation whom you appoint to receive a share of your CPF monies.
A trustee in general acts as the legal owner of trust assets and is responsible for the handling and distribution of assets in the trust including tax filing. Depending on the complexity, the skill set required may involve experiences in the law, finance and accounting's field.
The trustee’s role and responsibility may seem rather complex. However, it is similar to a situation whereby a person is appointed as an executor and trustee of a Will.
Many testators appoint a trusted individual to carry out the role of administering their estates - Someone whom they regard as having the capability and trustworthiness to execute their estate distribution. The same applies to appointing an individual trustee for ProviTrust whereby a trusted person is to be held accountable for the trust fund for the benefits of the named beneficiaries.
If you are unable to identify an individual trustee, you may consider appointing Precepts Trustee for your ProviTrust.
Once you have set up your ProviTrust and nominate a trustee, upon your demise, the CPF Board will transfer your CPF savings to your appointed trustee. Your trustee’s duties would be to carry out the distribution plan that you have instructed in your trust deed (for fixed trust) or letter of wishes (for discretionary trust, this includes trust deed as well.)
Please find out more at The Duties of Trustee upon Settlor’s Demise
In the aspects of ProviTrust, the duties of a trustee is to carry out the distribution plan of the settlor (the deceased who has set up the ProviTrust) according to the terms of the trust deed or letter of wishes. It is also important that the trustee does not benefit from the position of being a trustee.
A trustee in general acts as the legal owner of the trust assets and is responsible for the handling and distribution of assets in the trust, including tax filing. Depending on the complexity level, the skill sets required may involve the experiences in the fields of law, finance and accounting. Trustee may consult professional advices on the areas that he/she is not familiar with, while performing his/her duties.
There are various deciding factors in choosing the right trustee and it can be challenging. There are some basic guidelines in helping you to make this decision. Thereafter, if you regret the decision on your trustee’s selection, you can make changes at ProviTrust Portal with the requirement to pay a fee to the respective changes.
Please refer to Amendment Guide
ProviTrust is an easy set up to distribute your CPF savings. The CPF savings is one part of your total assets and is not covered under the Will testament. The appointed trustee is to only have the designated duties on your CPF savings and changes can be made easily via ProviTrust Portal, should the need arise.
In general, based on the Trustees Act, your trustee will have to abide by the standard investment criteria to review the suitability to the trust of investments or any financial instruments to safeguard the trust fund for the beneficiaries.
If you have appointed an individual trustee, it is up to his/her discretion to manage the trust fund for your beneficiaries and Precepts Trustee is in no position to advise on that.
If you have appointed Precepts Trustee, trust fund will usually be parked in fixed deposits with any financial institutions in Singapore or to invest only in low-risk investments.
The basic guidelines for choosing your Individual Trustee:
- His or her age. Choose a younger person, especially if the trustee is to hold the trust fund for many years.
- The trustee needs to be of good health and have no mental capacity issues.
- The trustee must be trustworthy and be accountable.
- The trustee should have good relationship with your beneficiaries.
- The trustee is a Singapore Citizen, Permanent Resident or a person with an employment or dependent pass.
Yes. There is a cost to issue a supplementary deed to effect this change. You will need to remove your existing trustee and appoint a new trustee. This is to be done via the ProviTrust Portal.
Please refer to Amendment Guide
Yes. You need to revoke the existing ProviTrust and set up a new one. There is a cost for revocation and the keeping of the Deed of Revocation for a minimum period of 5 years, or for as long as the law requires. The revocation is to be done via the ProviTrust Portal.
Please refer to Amendment Guide
Yes. Your family member who is your appointed trustee can be one of the beneficiaries of your CPF savings. Please note that your appointed trustee cannot be the sole beneficiary. This is because a trust is a legal relationship between a trustee and the beneficiary or beneficiaries, which means that an agreement that a person has had with themselves and the law says that no trust can exist in these circumstances.
For example:
1st Scenario:
If you set up ProviTrust naming your spouse to be the sole beneficiary, then your spouse cannot be the trustee in your ProviTrust. You will have to nominate someone else to be your trustee to hold the fund for the benefit of your spouse, in the manner that you specify in the trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed.)
2nd Scenario:
If you set up ProviTrust naming your spouse and your son as your beneficiaries, you can then nominate your spouse as your trustee. Your spouse will then hold on to the fund for the benefit of your son.
However, this may not be ideal due to the potential conflict of interests. The better choice of a trustee would be someone outside of your beneficiaries’ group who is trustworthy, accountable and has good relationship with your beneficiaries. Should the choice of an appointed trustee prove to be too limited for you, you may wish to consider appointing Precepts Trustee as a Professional Trustee for your ProviTrust.
In the event of mental incapacity, your individual trustee will not be able to carry out his or her role. You should change your trustee by logging in to the ProviTrust Portal. You will need to remove your existing trustee and appoint a new trustee. There will be a supplementary deed issued to effect this change.
Please do the same if this Individual Trustee is deceased as well. This is important - For your appointed trustee is also your nominee and according to CPF nomination, if your nomination fails due to your nominee predeceases you, your CPF savings will be passed over to the PTO (Public Trustee Office) to distribute according to the Intestate Succession Act. Your wishes in ProviTrust will not be carried out.
For Change of Trustee, please refer to Amendment Guide
If your appointed trustee dies or become mentally incapacitated after your demise, his or her personal representative will have to appoint another trustee for your ProviTrust and continue to hold the monies in trust as per instructed in the trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed.)
Please find out more at Diagram Illustration on the Basic Guideline for Trustee to act during his or her lifetime and upon his or her Mental Incapacity or Death
There is only one trustee appointment allowed for ProviTrust. CPF nomination cannot have substitute nominees and hence, ProviTrust cannot have substitute trustee as well.
Your appointed trustee will start his or her role as soon as the CPF Board transfers your CPF savings over to him or her upon your demise.
For ProviTrust, the lay person trustees (individual trustees) are not entitled to remunerations.
Yes. A trust deed will be drawn up for a fixed trust for the individual trustee to abide by. For a discretionary trust, there will be a trust deed alongside letter of wishes. The trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed) will clearly indicate the CPF monies' distribution plans with the percentage of allocation, frequency of distribution and vesting age for each of your named beneficiary.
In addition, you may also want to let your beneficiaries know that you have appointed an Individual Trustee.
Yes. Your appointed Individual Trustee will receive an email notification to e-sign on the trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed.)
The set up will only be completed when you as the settlor, your appointed trustee and witness(es) have completed the signing procedures.
Please refer to The Steps to Set Up ProviTrust
You should obtain information on the identity and particulars, including contact details of each beneficiary, understanding the distribution wishes from the settlor (a person who sets up ProviTrust) and the instructions in the trust deed and or letter of wishes (letter of wishes will be embedded within the trust deed.)
Maintaining good relationship with the settlor’s beneficiaries can help to cultivate a harmonious environment while you are acting as the appointed trustee.
During the trust period, it is also very crucial to keep proper accounting and tax records.
You should let the settlor (the person who set up the ProviTrust) knows your decision. He or she will have to remove you as the trustee of his or her ProviTrust.
You may consider to appoint Precepts Trustee as your Professional Trustee. Please note that if you would like to appoint Precepts Trustee, you will have to set up a discretionary trust for your ProviTrust. There will be trust administration fees incurred for Precepts Trustee to administer your ProviTrust upon your demise.
Please refer to Fees Guide for the prevailing trust administration fees on an annual basis, which are subject to changes. Once ProviTrust is set up, you will be able to see the updated fees via the ProviTrust Portal. Please do take reference whenever necessary.
There are some prominent benefits in appointing a Professional Trustee:
- Professionalism and expertism - Having checks and controls with setup being like a law or accounting firm.
- Higher standard of care, trustworthiness and accountability, with experiences in private trust matters.
- Impartiality and security, including being conservative with investments for capital preservation.
- Professional management skills with proper record keeping, including resolutions in the exercise of discretion relating to trust administration.
- Perpetuity and continuity for the management and distribution of assets.
A corporate trustee or professional trust company is bounded by the trust law in Singapore. There are two principal statutes concerning Singapore Trusts, namely the Trustees Act and Trust Companies Act (TCA). Other legislation that covers specific areas of trusteeship includes the Income Tax Act for taxation on trusts, Civil Law Act on accumulations, perpetuity and the trust period. A corporate trustee has in place effective controls to ensure compliance and proper handling of assets such as the maintaining of proper books and records and allowing beneficiaries the rights of inspection.
Among the various sections under Trust Companies Act (TCA), the licensed trust company must comply with the following:
- Appointment of auditors (Section 29)
- Inspection by authority (Section 40)
- Trust funds to be kept separate (Section 59)
Please visit Monetary Authority of Singapore website for more information here
Generally, an individual trustee can fall ill, become dementia or die whereas the corporate trustee (professional trust company) continues in perpetuity.
A trust company is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and has in place effective controls to ensure compliance and proper handling of assets such as the maintaining of proper books and records and allowing beneficiaries to have the respective inspection rights.
Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL), previously known as Rockwills Trustee Ltd. is a licensed trust company (Trust Business License No. TC000040) regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). As an independent trust company, Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) was incorporated in the Republic of Singapore since September 2008 and has in place a governance structure to ensure strong fiduciary duty with proper audits and reporting system. Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) is a leading provider of private trust services for families and business owners who use our trustee and administration services for the preservation of wealth, asset protection, family, and business legacy planning.
Please visit www.preceptsgroup.com for more information.
No. To appoint Precepts Trustee, you must set up your ProviTrust as a discretionary trust. Should you prefer to have a fixed distribution plan, please do appoint an Individual Trustee.
No. ProviTrust is designed for the sole purpose of receiving CPF savings after a person’s demise. For the pooling of other assets including your CPF savings and insurance payouts, a Standby Trust offered by Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) would be a preferred solution. It requires only an initial trust fund of S$1000.
For physical valuable properties like gold bars and other precious metals, special custodial arrangements by Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) would have to be made.
Generally, a nominee can expect to receive the payment 3 to 6 weeks after he or she has submitted the completed application form to withdraw the deceased's CPF savings. For ProviTrust, the nominee is the appointed trustee thus the trustee will have to submit the necessary documents for the application in order to facilitate the withdrawal process of the deceased’s CPF savings.
Please find out more at Distribution of CPF savings upon member's passing
Yes, CPF Board will write to Precepts Trustee upon your death. Once Precepts Trustee is informed, we will proceed to file the withdrawal application to CPF Board.
Please find out more at Diagram to show the workflow of a trustee, during lifetime, and upon mental incapacity and death
The Public Trustee is a government body that acts as a trustee of the deceased's estate. They ensure that the assets of the deceased are distributed to the rightful beneficiaries.
Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) is an independent trust company, registered and licensed under the Trust Companies Act (Chapter 336) incorporated in the Republic of Singapore since September 2008.
A trust company is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the Trust Companies Act (TCA), Trust Companies Regulation (TCR) 2005 and other relevant laws in Singapore.
The Public Trustee Office (PTO) will distribute your CPF savings accordingly to the intestacy laws (for Non-Muslims) or the Inheritance Certificate (for Muslims). You will not be able to specify how your CPF savings are to be distributed.
By appointing Precepts Trustee as a professional trustee for your ProviTrust, there are flexibilities as to who you can choose to be your beneficiaries and how much each beneficiary will receive.
Do note that both Public Trustee Office (PTO) and Precepts Trustee Ltd (PTL) do charge an administrative fee.
For PTO's estate and trust administration fees, please visit: https://pto.mlaw.gov.sg/deceased-cpf-estate-monies/information-for-next-of-kin-cpf-monies/
For PTL’s estate and trust administration fees, Please refer to Fees Guide for the prevailing trust administration fees on annual basis, which is subjected to changes. Once ProviTrust is set up, you will be able to see the updated fees at your portal. Please do take reference whenever necessary
No, you can only appoint Precepts Trustee as your professional trustee for your ProviTrust.
The Public Trustee’s Office will distribute your CPF savings accordingly to Intestacy Laws (for Non-Muslims) or the Inheritance Certificate (for Muslims). You will not be able to specify how your CPF savings are to be distributed. With a ProviTrust that has been set up as a discretionary trust, there are flexibilities as to who you can choose to be your beneficiaries and the amount that each beneficiary will receive.
Yes. You will first be required to revoke the existing ProviTrust and set up a new one. There is a cost for revocation and the keeping of the Deed of Revocation, which will be kept for a minimum period of 5 years, or for as long as the law requires. The revocation can also be done at ProviTrust Portal.
Please refer to Fees Guide
No, you can only appoint Precepts Trustee as your professional trustee with ProviTrust.
No. After you have set up your ProviTrust, your appointed trustee is also your nominee for your CPF nomination. Your witness cannot be your nominee, hence in the case of ProviTrust, your witness cannot be your trustee.
Yes. Any individual who is not your nominee, can be your witnesses. The witnesses must be at least 21 years old and of sound mind.
Yes, you can. After you have set up your ProviTrust via the online portal, you can then visit any of the CPF Services Centre to submit your CPF Nomination in person.
Find out more at https://www.cpf.gov.sg/Members/Schemes/schemes/other-matters/cpf-nomination-scheme
Should you appoint a Precepts Trustee for this, you can then download the Trust Deed and bring it together to submit to CPF Service Centre during your visit, after you have set up your ProviTrust.
You will be required to fill in Precepts Trustee Ltd information as below:
Name: Precepts Trustee Ltd
Foreign Passport/ Identification Card No: 200806006K
Email Address: [email protected]
Mailing Address: 10 Anson Road #06-17 International Plaza Singapore 079903
No. You do not need to inform CPF Board. However, after your ProviTrust is successfully set up, you must then nominate your CPF savings to your appointed trustee.
Read more at Submitting your CPF nomination form online
As the CPF Board will only notify the trustee within 15 days after the demise and thereafter, the withdrawal of the CPF savings will take between 3 to 6 weeks to be processed. Thus, it will be too late for the reimbursement of the funeral expenses.
You may want to have a contingency plan for other source of funds for the mentioned expenses.
There is no fee for distribution from ProviTrust. Distributions can be made monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, yearly, in lump sum according to the percentages stipulated in the ProviTrust or subjected to trustee’s discretion depending on circumstances.