Section 23

Subject to subsection (3), where any person is entitled to apply for probate of the will of any testator without leave being reserved to any other person to apply for probate, it is lawful for the person, whether absent from Singapore or not, and despite the provisions of any other written law, instead of the person applying for probate, to authorise a licensed trust company to apply to the court for a grant of administration with the will of the testator annexed, and such a grant may be made to the licensed trust company upon its own application, when so authorised.

Subject to subsection (3), where any person is entitled to apply for letters of administration with the will of any testator annexed, it is lawful for the person, whether absent from Singapore or not, and despite the provisions of any other written law, to authorise a licensed trust company, either alone or jointly with any other person, to apply to the court for a grant of letters of administration with the will of the testator annexed, and such a grant may be made to the licensed trust company upon its own application, when so authorised.

Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to a case in which a will provides that the licensed trust company must not act as executor or in the trusts thereof.

Despite the provisions of any other written law, any person or persons entitled to apply for letters of administration of the estate of any intestate, whether the person or persons are absent from Singapore or not, may authorise a licensed trust company to apply to the court for such letters of administration, either alone or jointly with any other person, and administration of the estate of the intestate may be granted to the licensed trust company, either alone or jointly, upon its own application, when so authorised.

For the purposes of any application to the court for letters of administration of the estate of any deceased person, the court is to consider a licensed trust company, when authorised under subsection (4), to be in law entitled equally with any other person or class of persons to apply for and obtain a grant, but a licensed trust company, being so entitled, is not on that account alone to be preferred to the widower, widow or next of kin of any intestate.

A grant of probate or of letters of administration is not to be made to an agent or a nominee on behalf of a licensed trust company.