Have you nominated your Beneficiaries for your EPF Money?

LKC's comments ( on the Star news report as below: )

Nominating your beneficiaries for your EPF money is only the first layer of estate planning.

However, to avoid being caught by the situation of Double Tragedies where both parents perish leaving behind young children while all your accounts are frozen, you are advised to specify in your WILL where you want the money to go to. Usually is to the children - so you better have a Testamentary Trust in your WILL. Empower your appointed Trustee in your Will to hold on trust until your children are old enough to stand on their own two feet
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For Muslims, there is even more ground for Integrated Estate Planning because the situations are made more unique due to the Faraid distribution. It can be complicated depending on who are left behind but just a simple illustration - when a Muslim male dies, his widow will get 1/8 ( one eighth ); his father 1/6; mother 1/6; the balance to son(s) & daughter(s) in the proportion of 2:1.

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MANY people said " NO NEED to mention EPF & Insurance in the Will because there is nomination already ". Recently I mentioned this to my CFP friend & her college principal friend & they nodded their heads. There were surprised When i pointed out that is not correct from integrated estate planning point of view.

I am annoyed whenever people tell me that their will-writers ( from lawyer's office; will writing companies; those who do cross-selling like insurance agents; UT agents and bank staffs )told them that. They didn't give you the total picture.

FACT: All your areas in estate planning are inter-related and your competent estate planner must take all the followings into considerations:

1. Your Will and your EPF;
2. Your EPF and your testamentary trust;
3. Your Will and your life insurance nominations;
4. Your Will and your testamentary trust;
5. Your Will and your living trust;
6. Your Will and your business shareholdings;
7. Your life insurance and your testamentary trust;
8. Your life insurance and your living trust;
9. Your life insurance and your business shareholdings;
10. Your living trust and your business shareholdings.

Sound confusing? Don't worry.

Let me give you an analogy: your body - there are inter-relationships between your various organs in your body - your heart, your lung; your kidney; your liver; your endocrine system; your immunity system, etc. etc.

Some people call this the "holistic" approach. Psychologists say that even our emotion can affect our physical health. The reverse is also true - our physical heath also affects our mental well-being!

In the same way, you must adopt the holistic or integrated approach in your estate planning because all the areas are inter-related.

( Source:http://www.lkcestateplanning.com/?i=additional_page&id=16 )

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For your Integrated Estate Planning, please contact: www.lkcestateplanning.com
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Campaign to get EPF members to nominate beneficiaries
Published: Sunday November 15, 2009 MYT 4:12:00 PM
source:http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/11/15/nation/20091115161537&sec=nation

KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is launching a campaign to remind members to nominate beneficiaries for their savings.

Its general manager for public relations, Nik Affendi Jaafar, said the campaign was necessary considering that only 23 percent of the 12.4 million EPF members had nominated their beneficiaries.

"As your nomination determines who will receive your EPF savings, it can offer some financial protection to your family should death suddenly occur.

"Nomination will not only ensure speedy payment to your family, but will also help to spare your loved ones unnecessary suffering," he said in a statement here Sunday.


He said it was also vital for members to review their nomination of EPF beneficiaries from time to time to ensure that it was up to date.

"This is especially important if you experience any major life changes, such as marriage, divorce or birth of your children," he added.

According to Nik Affendi, without a nomination, members' next-of-kin would be required to produce documents, such as Letter of Administration, Letter of Probate or Distribution Order, from the relevant authorities to substantiate their claims.

The process of obtaining these documents would be time consuming and sometimes costly, as a fee was often imposed by the issuing authorities, he added.

Nik Affendi said that to nominate, members would need to only fill the KWSP 4 form and submit the completed form to any EPF branches, adding that the form could be obtained at any EPF branches or downloaded from the EPF website at www.kwsp.gov.my.

In the case of Muslim members, the beneficiary named would act as an administrator (wasi) who would be responsible for distributing the savings in accordance with Faraid Law, he added.

The campaign, to be held from Nov 16 to Dec 21, involves running of advertisements through the radio and in newspapers to remind EPF members to nominate and update their EPF nomination. - Bernama


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