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About this check

The Probate Route Check asks five short questions and tells you which body handles a deceased person's estate in Malaysia: Amanah Raya Berhad, the Small Estates Distribution Unit at JKPTG, or the High Court. Applying to the wrong one costs months, so this first decision is the one that matters most.

The route depends on a few facts. Whether the deceased left a valid will, and whether the executor named in it is willing to act. Whether the deceased was a Muslim. Whether the estate includes land or a house in Malaysia. Roughly what the whole estate is worth before debts. And where the assets are: Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah or Sarawak.

In broad terms, a valid will with a willing executor goes to the High Court for a grant of probate, whatever the estate's size. Without a will, an estate within the small-estates ceiling goes to the Small Estates Distribution Unit, and a larger estate goes to the High Court for letters of administration. A small estate made up only of movable assets, such as bank balances and vehicles, may be taken to Amanah Raya Berhad as well as, or in place of, the Small Estates Distribution Unit; Amanah Raya may also decline and send the family back to the other route. For a Muslim estate the same bodies administer, but the shares follow faraid, and the Syariah Court certifies each heir's share.

The check also shows who inherits under the Distribution Act 1958, which applies in Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak but not in Sabah, when a non-Muslim dies without a will, and explains why banks freeze accounts until the right document arrives.

This page explains the law in general terms. It is not legal advice on your family's estate, and reading it does not make you a client of the firm. If you are unsure which route applies, or a bank has already declined a claim, send us what you know on WhatsApp and we will tell you what comes next.