OCBC bank rolls out the free online Will writing services on 27 December 2018. Below are the views of Mr Patrick Chang, founding director of Simply Wills on this initiative. Patrick has been in the Will writing services business for more than 17 years. Mr Patrick’s and his team have written more than 15,000 wills to date.
Following are the extracts of the interviews between Jiale from MoneyMap036 and Mr Chang.
Jiale : Hi Patrick, can you tell the audience what’s your opinion on this initiative?
Patrick : I will say that that is a good initiative. I tried it out and after looking at it, I thought yes, for simple cases, they can get this done
free of charge it is really adding value to their life.
Jiale : So this is a legit copy?
Patrick : Yes this is the one from the OCBC and if I get it signed, it is already valid. It is good enough for simple cases. On the other hand, I also ask myself after being in the business for 17 years, can this serve all the people? I am afraid to say that some other people are still preferred to meet me (or my colleagues) on a face-to-face basis because they want someone with a little bit of experience to guide them along, with the one face-to-face interaction. So for those who feel that this one serves their needs they should just go ahead get it done. But if it’s not
good enough then look for someone else, pay a little bit of money to get a full version.
Jiale : A poorly constructed Will is worse than No Will. Agree?
Patrick : Yes, I totally agree and the other had to be fair, not everybody’s situations are that complicated. So if it is not complicated, then it is good enough as a valid Will in Singapore. The only thing is, like what I said, this is not tailor-made. As for most of my clients, (you’ll be surprised0, they’d rather pay a few hundred dollars to get my professional opinion than just do an online free version. Because it does not cater to their needs. So those are the customers who want to see us, and they want to pay a consultation fee to get the Will done.
Jiale : So your stand is that, if their situation is more simple they can go ahead with the OCBC free Will Writing Services, but if they want to speak to someone, they have more elaborated or family situations, it might be better to seek a professional is that correct?
Patrick : Yes, correct. Will writing can be complicated for some of our clients who like to address multiple policies, multiple properties, and especially if they have business interests in any of the companies, this (OCBC free Will) probably can’t take care of that.
Jiale : Any final thoughts?
Patrick : I would think that everybody should have a Will written. Whether you do it the free online version, you get a law firm, or you get professional people to do it, you should just get it done. As long as it is a Valid Will done, it is probably 10X better than not having one.