There is no such document as a letter of probate. It is one of the most searched phrases in this area of law and it does not exist, which is a problem, because the two things people mean by it are different and you cannot apply for the wrong one.
This page is the vocabulary, kept short. The process behind each term is covered in more detail elsewhere and linked at the end.
Based on the Probate and Administration Act and the Intestate Succession Act as at September 2026, and on the practice of the Family Justice Courts.
What probate is
When someone dies, their bank will not release their money and the land registry will not transfer their property on the word of a relative, however obviously entitled that relative is. Somebody has to be given legal authority to collect the assets, pay the debts and distribute what is left.
Probate is the court process that grants that authority. The document it produces is what banks, the CPF Board, HDB and the land registry will actually act on.
What that document is called depends on one thing: whether the deceased left a valid will.
Grant of Probate: where there is a will
If there is a valid will naming an executor, and that executor is willing and able to act, the executor applies for a Grant of Probate.
The grant does not give the executor the assets. It confirms the authority they already have under the will, so that third parties can safely deal with them. The executor then collects the estate, settles debts and taxes, and distributes according to the will.
This is what most people mean when they search for a letter of probate.
Letters of Administration: where there is no will
If there is no will, the estate is intestate, and there is no executor because nobody was appointed. A person entitled to the estate applies instead for Letters of Administration.
Two differences matter in practice.
You do not choose who inherits. The Intestate Succession Act does, in a fixed order: spouse, children, parents, siblings, and onwards. What the family agrees among themselves does not change the entitlement, though beneficiaries can of course deal with their own share afterwards.
Who may apply is also fixed, in broadly the same order of priority, and the court may require sureties where a beneficiary is under 21 or lacks capacity. Finding sureties is the step that most often holds up an application.
Letters of Administration with Will Annexed
The third case catches people out. There is a valid will, but no executor who can act: none was named, or the person named has died, or is unwilling.
The will still governs who inherits. But because there is no executor, the application is for Letters of Administration with Will Annexed. The estate is distributed under the will, by an administrator rather than an executor.
Which one you need
| Situation | What you apply for | Who inherits |
|---|---|---|
| Valid will, executor able and willing | Grant of Probate | As set out in the will |
| Valid will, no executor able or willing | Letters of Administration with Will Annexed | As set out in the will |
| No will, or the will is invalid | Letters of Administration | Under the Intestate Succession Act |
The other terms people use
Letter of probate means a Grant of Probate, nine times out of ten, and Letters of Administration the rest of the time. If someone has asked you for one, ask whether there was a will before you do anything else.
Grant of representation is the umbrella term covering all three documents above. It is what a bank means when it asks for “the grant”.
Executor is appointed by a will. Administrator is appointed by the court. They do much the same job with different sources of authority.
Schedule of Assets is the list of everything in the estate, filed with the court during the application. It is usually the slowest part, because it cannot be completed until every bank, insurer and registry has confirmed what the deceased held.
When you do not need a grant at all
Not every asset passes through the estate, and families sometimes spend money on an application they did not need.
- CPF monies with a valid nomination pass directly to the nominees and are outside the estate entirely.
- Property held as joint tenants passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant by survivorship. Property held as tenants in common does not, and the deceased’s share does form part of the estate. Which one applies to an HDB flat is a question of how it was held, and it is worth checking before assuming. See joint tenancy and tenancy in common.
- Small bank balances are sometimes released without a grant at the bank’s discretion, on an indemnity. Each bank sets its own threshold and none of them are obliged to.
- Insurance policies with a named beneficiary may pass outside the estate depending on how the nomination was made.
Which court hears it
Where the gross value of the estate is up to $5 million, the application is dealt with by the Family Courts. Above that, it is heard in the High Court. The estate value therefore has to be estimated before the application is filed, not after.
Where this sits
If you now know which document you need, the detail is here:
- How to apply for a Grant of Probate, the filings and the sequence
- The probate process and timeline, step by step with the documents at each stage
- When Letters of Administration are required, including who may apply and in what order
- Grant of probate and letters of administration compared, including contested applications and challenges to a will
Our fixed fees for straightforward estates are on the probate page. If you are holding a death certificate and a bank letter and are not sure which of the three applications you are looking at, that is a short conversation rather than a long one.