Man left $8m house to charity and not relatives

Court upholds man’s final wish even though stated charity no longer existed in original name

- Tan Ooi Boon

Charity begins at home, as the adage goes, but a big gift to an endowment fund in Singapore that involved a house and a contested will turns that notion on its head.

It should all have been straightforward: An anonymous donor who died in 2018 stated in his will that his house in a prime estate would go to a charity of his choice - the National University Hospital Endowment Fund. The house is estimated to be worth $8 million based on similar homes that are on sale in the estate.

All seemed clear but the donation in the will signed in 2006 hit a roadblock because the stated charity no longer existed in that name after having undergone two significant changes and eventually becoming the NUHS Fund.

The gift was supposed to be handed to the charity after the man's widow, who continued to live in the house after his death, died in 2020. The couple had a son and grandchildren but none of them were named as beneficiaries in the man's will.

The man's former daughter-in-law, who is the sole surviving manager of his estate, then filed a claim to contest the donation, arguing that the gift had lapsed because the man's intended charity no longer existed. If so, the house would go to the man's son.

But the High Court upheld the man's final wish and ruled that his donation would go to the new entity, the NUHS Fund, because it is the successor to the previous charity and its funds are also being used for the same charitable purposes.

Justice Kwek Mean Luck noted that even if the old fund had ceased to exist, anyone reading the "gift clause" in the man's will would agree that the donation was meant for its charitable purposes. And as the same charitable mission continued through its successor, the NUHS Fund, the gift had not lapsed and the house would go to the new entity.