PUBLISHED ONFebruary 19, 2025 4:22 AMByCandice CaiThe child may be your flesh and blood, but it doesn't mean they will gain an equal share of your inheritance in the eyes of the law here if they are born out of wedlock.
Local comedienne Shirli Ling, 36, revealed this in a recent video posted to her Instagram account, in which she shared her thoughts after reading news about the death of Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu and the speculation surrounding the division of her assets as well as custody of her children.
"Barbie's recent death is very sad as she was so young and she was our childhood idol," said the Ah Girls Go Army actress, who's not only a mother to five children aged nine to 19, but also a grandmother of one.
"Based on news reports I read, although she remarried, her current husband (Korean DJ Koo Jun-yup) didn't legally adopt the children she had with her former spouse. So now that she has passed on, the custody will automatically be held by their biological father," she continued.
Shirli also talked about inheritance in her video.
She indicated that based on the law here, mothers of children born out of wedlock would have to legally adopt their biological children for them to be seen as legitimate and thus have a fair share of the inheritance.
Citing her own experience of being a single unwed mum in the past when she had her fourth child, she shared that she too, has to "do a legal document to adopt my own daughter".
"In the event that I pass on in the future and I did not legally adopt my daughter, if I've a lot of assets and my kids fight for my money, my daughter may lose out," Shirli explained.
A page on the Ministry of Social and Family Development's (MSF) website states that illegitimate children have a "lower priority for inheritance of parents' assets".
It added however, that single mothers do not need to adopt their own children in order to qualify for or gain more from government benefits and schemes such as the Child Development Account and education subsidies.
According to MSF's website, parents should note that adoption by the mother would "terminate the duties, obligations and liabilities of the biological father, and the child would no longer be able to seek maintenance from the father under the Women's Charter".
Speaking to AsiaOne, Shirli stated that she'd uncovered this information on inheritance and child custody laws here after a conversation with her lawyers.
Shirli, who's now married, added that she has not gone through the process to legally adopt her daughter, who's 11 this year, adding it would cost "about $3,000" .
But she said that she intends to do so as soon as she has "settled her losses" from the recent closure of three of her F&B stalls.
Her husband is also willing to go through the adoption process to be her child's legal parent, said Shirli.
She also shared in the video: "Even though I don't have many assets now, I'm confident that past 40 years of age, I will have a lot."
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