Single, ageing and struggling to find the right donees for my LPA: Opinion

I have known for several years that I should get my Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) and Last Will and Testament done, but this important task took a backseat to chasing stories and meeting work deadlines.

That is, until I hit 50, and could no longer postpone the need to get my legacy planning done and cross that off the bucket list.

The LPA is a legal document or deed that allows the applicant to appoint one or more trusted people or donees to help make key decisions in the event he or she loses mental capacity due to conditions such as dementia, severe illness or a coma. This document is valid only if the donor is certified by a doctor to have lost mental capacity. Anyone who is at least 21 years of age can apply.

In fact, I suspect I’ve started legacy planning a tad late, but therein lies the rub.

I am single, with few family members that I can entrust the responsibility of being donees and replacement donees for my LPA. Quite simply, I do not wish to burden them. While I have friends who have offered to be donees, most of them are my age or slightly older.

While I appreciate their kindness, I cannot help but wonder – what if they cannot fulfil their duties as donees, for whatever reason, when the time comes? Or worse, what if they do not outlive me?

I understand what it means to be literally left holding the bag. When my mother passed on, the appointed executors of her will, my uncle and one of her best friends, relinquished their executorship because of age and poor health, and also because they felt my sister and I were old enough to undertake the task.

But because my sister was busy preparing for her wedding at the time and was also burnt out from being a caregiver to our mother, the task of being executor of my mother’s estate fell on me.

It was my first experience managing the distribution of an estate. Thankfully, my mother had made a will, and kept most of her financial and medical records. Years of being a business and court reporter also helped.

Organising, collating and evaluating her bank accounts and investments, insurance policies, Central Provident Fund balances, property title and medical bills underscored to me the importance of keeping meticulous records and finding competent and trustworthy executors for my own will.

Do it early

Putting together advance medical directives (AMD), advance care planning (ACP) and an LPA while you are still healthy and of sound mind will give you more control over what happens should you lose the mental capacity to make your own decisions.

ACP, while not legally binding, will guide your loved ones, caregivers and the medical team to make decisions on your behalf, when you lose mental capacity and critical healthcare decisions need to be made.

An AMD is a legal document signed in advance, stating your personal decision to stop life-sustaining treatment if you become terminally ill, incapable of expressing decisions and death is imminent.

While you do not need a lawyer to make an AMD, this document must be signed in the presence of two witnesses, including your doctor. And it can be terminated by signing a revocation form in the presence of at least one witness.

With the average lifespan rising beyond 80, it is even more critical to make such plans as the chances of a person becoming mentally impaired before death will likely increase.

Now is as good a time as any to get one’s LPA done, because Singaporeans can have their $70 application fee waived if they make their LPA using Form 1 before March 2026.

Form 1 is for applicants who wish to grant donees general powers with basic restrictions. Form 2 is for those who wish to grant donees customised powers, and will not be covered by the fee waiver.

The Form 1 fee has been waived for Singapore citizens applying for the LPA since 2014, and in July 2023, Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli highlighted that the extension of the fee waiver till March 2026 will be the final one.

Certification fees, typically priced between $25 and $300, are charged by LPA certificate issuers, who include lawyers, psychiatrists and accredited medical practitioners.

In the last 15 months, the number of LPAs registered by Singapore citizens aged 50 and above jumped to 233,000, from 177,000 at the end of June 2023.

Legacy planning is critical for everyone, but even more so for unmarried individuals – a fast-growing demographic in Singapore – as those who do not have any or suitable family members to manage their affairs may have to appoint trusted friends or a professional deputy as their donee, based on a mutually agreed fee. 

Professional deputies include licensed trust companies, professional lawyers, accountants and social workers. To be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), they must complete a training course and meet criteria, such as having experience in mental capacity cases or at least five years in a related field. They also cannot be undischarged bankrupts. They must also have a good credit rating, and no history of criminal offences or breaches of fiduciary duties.

As at July 2024, there are about 8,200 registered LPAs with non-family members appointed as donees and replacement donees, the OPG said in response to The Straits Times’ queries.

This figure will likely rise as not only is there a higher proportion of people staying single in the past decade – the proportion of singles in Singapore increased across nearly all age groups from 2013 to 2023 – a growing proportion of married women are also staying childless, according to the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s Family Trends Report published in July 2024.

The report found that in 2013, 10 per cent of female residents aged between 40 and 49 who were married did not have any children, and this rose to 13.9 per cent in 2023.

Vulnerable as we age

Horror stories like that of former China tour guide Yang Yin, who was jailed for nine years for cheating wealthy widow Chung Khin Chun whose assets were estimated to be worth a total of $40 million, not only illustrate how vulnerable elderly singles are, but also underscore the importance of appointing the right legal representative or donee.

Yang, who had been given an LPA by Madam Chung in 2012 to manage her welfare and financial affairs, was arrested and charged with misappropriating $1.1 million from Madam Chung, who has no children and was diagnosed with dementia in 2014.

But even those who appoint their children or relatives as their donees have to be careful, given the numerous cases of bitter squabbles over the wealth of mentally incapacitated individuals ending up in the High Court in recent years.

Small wonder that the idea of appointing not just one, but three strangers (two donees and one replacement donee) for my LPA to manage my finances, healthcare and property and the fear of being taken advantage of if I am incapacitated is making my stomach churn.

Thankfully, I do have good friends of a similar age who are lawyers, and at this point in time, they would likely make good donees. But I find it hard to ask them for help because they have families of their own to take care of, and I fear that when the time comes, they may have issues of their own to deal with.

To ensure that my hard-earned assets don’t end up dissipated or not used according to my wishes, I will have to limit the powers of my representatives so that they cannot use my LPA like a blank cheque.

According to the OPG, should professional deputies, who are appointed as donees, act dishonestly, they may face disciplinary sanctions from their respective professional organisations like the Law Society or Singapore Medical Association.

Licensed trust companies whose officers or employees act dishonestly run the risk of having their licence revoked by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. In cases where donees are found to be acting improperly, the OPG may refer the case to the police for further investigation and prosecution, and their registration may be cancelled.

While that is reassuring, on top of getting my LPA, I may also have to find at least two other trusted people to alert the authorities should the professional deputies mismanage my affairs. And here’s where I regret not developing stronger family ties like my cousin Fanny, who always nagged me about the importance of family.

But being introverted by nature and having spent almost two decades alone, working in Hong Kong and the United States, I feel closer to some of my colleagues than I do to my own family.

In fact, some of us are considering the possibility of moving into a community care apartment together, when the time comes, so we can look out for one another. This refers to a type of public housing that pairs senior-friendly housing with on-site social activities and care services.

But first, the need to bulletproof my LPA, and I will have to continue looking for competent, ethical and trustworthy donees who will have the skills and knowledge to handle my financial and healthcare matters when I can no longer do so myself.

Source: Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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