Payment on death of member if no nominated person
25A.—(1)  Where, at the time of a member’s death before, on or after the effective date, no person has been nominated by the member under section 25(1), the Board must pay all the moneys payable on the member’s death out of the Fund to the Public Trustee for disposal in accordance with —
(a)the Intestate Succession Act 1967, if the member is not a Muslim at the time of his or her death; or
(b)section 112 of the Administration of Muslim Law Act 1966, if the member is a Muslim at the time of his or her death.
(2)  The receipt of the Public Trustee is a discharge to the Board for the portion of the amount payable out of the Fund on the death of a member which is paid to the Public Trustee under subsection (1) or section 25(2) as in force immediately before the effective date, as the case may be.
(3)  Despite subsection (1) and section 24(3A), where any beneficiary of a deceased member has incurred any reasonable funeral expenses in respect of the deceased member, the Public Trustee —
(a)may pay to that beneficiary, from the deceased member’s relevant moneys, an amount that the Public Trustee determines to be reasonable to defray those funeral expenses; and
(b)must pay the remainder of the deceased member’s relevant moneys in accordance with paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1).
(4)  Subject to subsections (3)(a) and (5), instead of paying the deceased member’s relevant moneys to the beneficiaries of the deceased member directly in accordance with subsection (1)(a) or (b) or (3)(b) (as the case may be), the Public Trustee may pay the whole or part of those moneys to a beneficiary representative, on such terms and conditions as the Public Trustee may impose, for disposal to the beneficiaries in accordance with paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1).
(5)  Subsection (4) does not apply if the deceased member’s relevant moneys exceed the specified limit at the relevant time, unless the Public Trustee is satisfied that the amount in excess of the specified limit is immaterial.
(6)  The receipt of a beneficiary representative of an amount of moneys payable to the beneficiaries under subsection (1) or (3)(b) (as the case may be) is a discharge to the Public Trustee for that amount.
(7)  Subsection (6) does not affect any recourse which any person may have against the beneficiary representative for any amount paid to the beneficiary representative under subsection (4).
(8)  To avoid doubt, a beneficiary representative must not, in respect of the disposal of any amount paid to the beneficiary representative under subsection (4) —
(a)act in the capacity of an executor of any will of the deceased member or an administrator of the estate of the deceased member; or
(b)set off the moneys paid to him or her under subsection (4) against the debts of the estate of the deceased member.
(9)  In this section —
“beneficiary”, in relation to a deceased member, means any person who is entitled to the whole or a share of the moneys payable on the member’s death in accordance with paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1);
“beneficiary representative”, in relation to a deceased member, means a beneficiary of the deceased member —
(a)who has applied, in the manner required by the Public Trustee, to be paid the whole or part of the deceased member’s relevant moneys for the purposes of subsection (4); and
(b)whose application mentioned in paragraph (a) has been approved by the Public Trustee;
“deceased member’s relevant moneys” means moneys payable on the member’s death out of the Fund that are paid to the Public Trustee under subsection (1) or section 25(2) as in force immediately before the effective date;
“effective date” means the date of commencement of section 50 of the Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Act 2021;
“relevant time”, in relation to a deceased member’s relevant moneys, means the time of the Public Trustee’s receipt of the latest payment of the deceased member’s relevant moneys under subsection (1) or section 25(2) as in force immediately before the effective date;
“specified limit” means the amount specified by the Minister charged with the responsibility for the Public Trustee Office for the purposes of subsection (5).
[Act 39 of 2021 wef 18/06/2022]