LEGAL TRUSTS MAINTAIN LIFE INSURANCE PROBLEMS IN SINGAPORE

Proposes changes by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to the rules relating to beneficiaries of life policies are unlikely to help those with so-called “trust” policies, reports the Singapore Straits Times . Policyholders who have named a spouse or child as a beneficiary in a trust policy entered into an irrevocable legal trust under Section 73 of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act (CLPA). This has caused problems if the purchaser of the policy falls out with the originally intended beneficiary and has led to several expensive court disputes. However, the MAS said that it did not want to change legal relationships retrospectively, stating that “as a fundamental principle in public policy making, new legislation should not retrospectively unravel former legislation”. New policies will be framable in such a way that beneficiaries can be altered.