Delivering the broad grounds of judgment, Justice Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz ruled instead that M Subbamah’s first will, made nearly 50 years ago, remains legally binding.
“The 2011 will did not revoke the 1976 will,” she said, allowing the appeal brought by four of Subbamah’s 11 children.
None of the other siblings contested the second will.
Justice Lim Chong Fong, chairing the bench, concurred with Hayatul in the decision delivered yesterday, while Justice Evrol Mariette Peters dissented.
Peters said the High Court in 2024 made a correct finding in fact and law that did not warrant appellate intervention.
Subbamah died in 2013. She was survived by 11 children.
Four of them – Manogaran, 73; Kamalaveni, 72; Ratha, 69 and Soosila, 68 – filed a suit claiming to be beneficiaries of their late mother’s estate.
They named ARB, the government-owned trustee company, and their brother Mohd Shan Abdullah, 52 – the sole executor and only beneficiary under the second will – as the first and second defendants in the suit.
The High Court in 2024 dismissed their suit, holding the second will was valid and giving rise to the four siblings’ present appeal.
Hayatul, however, said the High Court did not properly consider various suspicious circumstances surrounding the execution of the 2011 will, which ARB and Shan failed to adequately dispel during the trial.
“The 2011 will was drawn up by ARB (and) Shan was the one who brought the mother to the ARB office to prepare and execute the 2011 will.
“Shan admitted filling up the will form (borang wasiat), naming himself as the sole beneficiary,” she added.
Hayatul said it was incumbent upon ARB, the propounder of the will, to affirm the testamentary capacity of the deceased.
She said the 2011 will was invalid as ARB and Shan failed to prove the deceased’s testamentary capacity and remove the suspicious circumstances.
Hayatul also noted that the will was prepared in English at Shan’s request and explained to the deceased in Bahasa Melayu, although she was proficient in Tamil.
The second will also emerged four years after Subbamah’s death, while the earlier will was drawn up by a lawyer and witnessed by a clerk.
ARB and Shan were each ordered to pay RM40,000 to the four siblings as costs.
The ruling allows the four siblings to apply for a probate for the first will which names all the deceased’s children as beneficiaries.
Her assets consist of a house and other movables inherited from her late husband.
Lawyers Karin Lim, A Suppiah, Shamshul Jamil, and Fatin Maisarah Hisham appeared for the siblings while Habib Rahman and Hafiz Tajudin represented ARB.
Razeena Rahumathullah and Aznil Abdul Majid acted for Shan.