1 -1. Short title, commencement and application.

(1) This Act may be cited as the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act 1971 .

(2) This Act shall apply throughout Malaysia but shall not apply to the estates of deceased Muslims or natives of any of the States in Sabah and Sarawak.

2 -2. Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

  "annual income"  means in relation to the net estate of a deceased person, the income that the net estate might be expected at the date of the order, when realised, to yield in a year;

  "court"  means the High Court;

  "death duties"  means estate duty and every other duty leviable or payable on death;

  "Minister"  means the Minister charged with responsibility for the administration of estates;

  "net estate"  means all the property of which a deceased person had power to dispose by his will (otherwise than by virtue of a special power of appointment) less the amount of his funeral, testamentary and administration expenses, debts and liabilities and estate

3 -3. Power for court to order payment out of net estate.

(1) Where, after the commencement of this Act, a person dies domiciled in Malaysia leaving:

(a) a wife or husband;

(b) a daughter who has not been married, or who is, by reason of some mental or physical disability, incapable of maintaining herself;

(c) an infant son; or

(d) a son who is, by reason of some mental or physical disability, incapable of maintaining himself,

then, if the court on application by or on behalf of any such wife, husband, daughter or son as aforesaid (in this Act referred to as a "dependant" of the deceased) is of opinion that the disposition of the deceased's estate effected by his will, or the law relating to intestacy, or the combination of his will and that law, is not such as to make reasonable provision for the maintenance of that dependant, the court may order that such reasonable provision as the court thinks fit shall,

4 -4. Time within which application must be made.

(1) Except as provided by the following provisions of this section or section 6 an order under this Act shall not be made save on an application made within six months from the date on which representation in regard to the deceased's estate is first taken out.

(2) If it is shown to the satisfaction of the court that the limitation to the said period of six months would operate unfairly:

(a) in consequence of the discovery of a will involving a substantial change in the disposition of the deceased's estate (whether or not involving a further grant of representation); or

(b) in consequence of a question whether a person had an interest in the estate, or as to the nature of an interest in the estate, not having been determined at the time when representation was first taken out; or

(c) in consequence of some other circumstances affecting the administration or distribution of the estat

5 -5. Effect and form of the order.

(1) Where an order is made under this Act, for all purposes, including the purposes of the laws relating to death duties, the will or the law relating to intestacy as the case may be, shall have effect, and shall be deemed to have had effect, as from the deceased's death, subject to such variation as may be specified in the order for the purpose of giving effect to the provision for maintenance thereby made.

(2) The court may give such consequential directions as it thinks fit for the purpose of giving effect to an order made under this Act, but no larger part of the net estate shall be set aside or appropriated to answer by the income thereof the provision for maintenance thereby made than such a part as, at the date of the order, is sufficient to produce by the income thereof the amount of the said provision.

(3) An office copy of every order made under this Act shall be sent to the High Court Registry for entry and filing, and a memo

6 -6. Variation of orders.

(1) On an application made at a date after expiration of the period specified in section 4(1), or, as the case may be, of that period as extended under section 4(2), the court may make such order as is hereinafter mentioned, but only as respects property the income of which is at that date applicable for the maintenance of a dependant of the deceased, that is to say:

(a) an order for varying a previous order on the ground that any material fact was not disclosed to the court when the order was made or that any substantial change has taken place in the circumstances of the dependant or of a person beneficially interested in the property under the will or, as the case may be, under the law relating to intestacy; or

(b) an order for making provision for the maintenance of another dependant of the deceased.

(2) An application to the court for an order under subsection (1) (a) may