Public Trustee's Collection of Fees Charged for Administration of Unnominated CPF Monies
Ministry of LawSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the fees collected by the Public Trustee for administering un-nominated CPF monies, with Mr Leong Mun Wai inquiring about total collections, average fees per estate, and the rationale behind tiered pricing. Minister for Law Mr K Shanmugam explained that these statutory fees cover the costs of tracing beneficiaries and distributing funds under inheritance laws, ensuring taxpayers do not bear these expenses. He noted that average fees are not tracked due to varying case complexities, while the tiered model ensures larger estates contribute more toward administrative costs. The Minister emphasized that members can avoid these fees entirely by making a free CPF nomination through online services or at physical service centres. This process allows the CPF Board to distribute monies directly to adult nominees without involving the Public Trustee’s Office.
Transcript
6 Mr Leong Mun Wai asked the Minister for Law (a) how much have been collected by the Public Trustee in fees charged for the administration of un-nominated CPF monies in 2022; (b) what is the average fee charged and average amount of un-nominated CPF monies administered per estate; and (c) why does the Public Trustee not charge a flat fee for the administration of un-nominated CPF monies regardless of the amount administered per estate.
Mr K Shanmugam: The Public Trustee (PT) receives from the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board the CPF monies of CPF members who pass on without nominating any beneficiaries and distributes the un-nominated CPF monies in accordance with the provisions of either the Intestate Succession Act 1967 or the Administration of Muslim Law Act 1966, whichever applies.
The work done to administer these CPF monies includes tracing and identifying the next-of-kin of a deceased CPF member, determining all eligible beneficiaries by confirming the familial relationships between the next-of-kin and the deceased CPF member, and making distributions.
PT charges a statutory fee to cover the costs of all such work. Without this fee, which is kept very low, taxpayers would bear the cost of the work done. The fee model is prescribed in the Public Trustee (Fees) Rules 2010 and follows a tiered scale so that cases involving larger sums of un-nominated CPF monies will bear a bigger share of the costs.
The Public Trustee’s Office does not track average fees. It is not feasible or meaningful to do so because different cases have different levels of complexity. For example, in some cases, significant time and effort may be required to trace the beneficiaries.
To save on the fees entirely, CPF members should exercise their choice and nominate the recipients of their CPF monies. This way, the PT need not be involved in distributing the monies or collect fees for doing so. There are no costs involved in making a CPF nomination and no fees chargeable when the CPF Board distributes the monies directly to adult nominees. CPF members can make a nomination via the CPF Board’s online nomination service.1 They may also visit the CPF Service Centres or ServiceSG Centres, where the officers will help with the nomination process and also act as their witnesses.