Regulation 34

Any person may, at any time after the death of a deceased person and before probate or letters of administration have been granted to his or her estate, enter a caveat if he or she wishes to —

Any person who wishes to enter a caveat (called in this Part the caveator) may do so by filing the caveat in Form 170.

Except as otherwise provided by this Part, a caveat remains in force for 6 months from the date on which it is entered and then ceases to have effect, without affecting the entry of a further caveat or caveats.

The Registrar must maintain a record of caveats and on receiving an application for a grant, must cause the record of caveats to be searched.

The Registrar must not make any grant if he or she has knowledge of an effective caveat in respect of the grant.

Despite paragraph (5), no caveat operates to prevent the making of a grant on the day on which the caveat is filed.

A caveator may be warned by the issue from the Registry of a warning in Form 171 at the instance of any person interested (called in this Rule the person warning) which must state his or her interest and, if he or she claims under a will, the date of the will, and must require the caveator to give particulars of any contrary interest which he or she may have in the deceased’s estate.

Every warning mentioned in paragraph (7) or a copy of the warning must be served on the caveator.

A caveator who —

Where a caveator who has been warned withdraws his or her caveat under paragraph (9), he or she must serve the notice of withdrawal of the caveat to the person warning.

A caveator having an interest contrary to that of the person warning —

A caveator having no interest contrary to that of the person warning but wishing to show cause against the making of a grant to the person warning —

A caveator who files a notice of intention to contest or not contest the warning must, unless the Court gives permission to the contrary, file and serve a summons for directions before the expiration of 21 days after the date the warning is served on the caveator.

The summons for directions mentioned in paragraph (13) may include directions for the following:

If the time limited for filing the notice of intention to contest or not contest the warning has expired and the caveator —

Except with the permission of the Registrar, no further caveat may be entered by or on behalf of any caveator whose caveat has ceased to have effect under paragraph (15) or Rule 37.

Upon the issuance of a summons for directions under paragraph (13), the matter is deemed to be contested and the expenses of entry of such caveat, the warning mentioned in paragraph (7), the notice of intention to contest or not contest the warning and the issuance of the summons for directions are considered as costs in the cause.

In this Rule, “grant” includes a grant by any court or authority having jurisdiction in matters of probate outside Singapore which is produced for resealing.