Authority comes before clearing
Everything in the home belongs to the estate, from the furniture to the photographs. Authority over it lies with the executor named in the will or, if there’s no will, an administrator, and the Family Justice Courts confirm that authority with a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration. The family can and should secure the home and search it straight away. Decisions about giving things away, selling them or clearing them belong to whoever will hold the grant.
The order that avoids regret
Every family’s situation is different, but the order rarely is:
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Secure the home
Lock it, keep the keys with one or two people, and photograph each room as it is.
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Search it
For the will, the papers that lead to money and property, valuables, and the things only the family can judge.
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Settle who decides
The executor or administrator, with the grant in hand or applied for.
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Check what the home needs
For an HDB flat, how it was owned decides whether it’s kept, transferred, sold or returned, and by when.
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Let the family choose
Give everyone who should have a say a fair chance to ask for things, including relatives abroad.
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Then clear
Free routes first, then a clearance for what’s left, booked well before any sale or handover date.
Where the deadline comes from
Usually from the home itself. When a sole owner or tenant-in-common of an HDB flat dies, HDB expects the executor or administrator to apply for transmission within six months of the grant, and to transfer the flat to an eligible beneficiary or sell it within the following twelve months. A surviving joint owner simply keeps the flat. For a rented home, the tenancy sets the date. Our guide to clearing a late parent’s HDB flat covers each case.