Nomination is important to ensure that your loved ones will receive the protection as intended by you and that policy moneys may be paid out by insurers without any delay.  Where no nomination is made, the policy moneys will be paid out to your lawful executor (if you have made a Will) or your lawful administrator (if no Will has been made) – this process will take a while.

*If there is no lawful executor or administrator, then the policy moneys will be paid out to the rightful persons in accordance with applicable distribution laws.

You can nominate any individual(s) you want.  HOWEVER, not all nominees will receive the policy moneys beneficially or for their own use.  Depending on your marital status and who you nominate, nominations may produce unexpected results for the nominee(s).  Likewise, nominations by a Muslim policy owner and non-Muslim policy owner will have different consequences.

How so?

Nominations made by a non-Muslim policy owner will create either (i) a trust policy in favour of the nominee(s) or (ii) a non-trust policy.

To ensure that your nominee(s) receive the policy moneys as intended, you need to ensure that a trust policy is created in favour of your nominee(s).

Trust policy will be created:

(a)   if the nominee is your spouse or child; or

(b)  if the nominee is your parent (provided that there is no living spouse or child at the time you make the nomination).

In such as case, you are creating a non-trust policy.  Here, your nominee will only receive the policy moneys as executor and distribute the policy moneys in accordance with your Will or where there is no Will, in accordance with applicable distribution laws.  If you intend for these nominee(s) to receive the policy moneys beneficially and not as executor, you will need to assign the policy benefits to them.

In brief, if you nominate people other than your spouse, children or parents, make sure to assign the policy benefits to them to ensure that they receive the policy moneys for their own use.  Please contact MSIG if you require more information on this.

Nominee(s) irrespective of the relationship with the policy owner can only receive the policy moneys as executor and the policy moneys must be distributed in accordance with Islamic laws.

The policy moneys as well as your other assets will be distributed in accordance with applicable distribution laws.

For West Malaysia and Sarawak, the Distribution Act 1958 applies, where the policy moneys and assets will be divided between your surviving spouse, children and parent(s) in certain proportions.

The Distribution Act 1958 is however not applicable to Muslims in West Malaysia and natives in Sarawak.  For Sabah, policy moneys and assets will be distributed in accordance with the Intestate Succession Ordinance 1960.

It is easy to make a nomination. You can download the PA Insurance Nomination Form here  or you may contact us and request for a copy. Complete and return the original PA Insurance Nomination Form to MSIG for our further action – you may wish to refer to the sample completed form for reference.

Please make sure that the form is duly signed and witnessed by someone who is 18 years old and above, of sound mind and not a named nominee, failing which the nomination may be deemed invalid and send back to us via email, fax, or mail.

A specimen of the form is also available for your reference here.

Yes, you can revoke the nomination under your trust policy but under the law you must obtain the written consent of the trustee before the revocation can be valid. (Refer to explanation in question 3 above). Hence, if you wish to revoke the nomination, you may download the Consent Form provided by us through the link below for completion. After the submission of the completed Consent Form and new Nomination Form to us, we will pass an endorsement for a change of nominee to your trust policy.

• Consent Form for Revocation of Nomination

A nominee is a person who is nominated in the insurance policy to receive or administer the insurance policy benefits (death benefit only) upon the demise of the policyholders. A beneficiary is a person who is entitled to receive and enjoy the benefits from the insurance policy. An executor is someone whom you appoint to manage and distribute the death benefits to others according to relevant laws.