1. ) AFSAR BIN IBRAHIM 2. ) FAZRIL BIN IBRAHIM v ROZAINI BINTI IBRAHIM

Case Significance

Illustrates the court sanctioning a sale of estate land under section 60(3) of the Probate and Administration Act 1959 over a beneficiary's objection, holding a valuation report to be a non-binding guide to market price.

This High Court decision at Kuala Lumpur concerns an application by the administrators of a deceased estate for an order for the sale of estate land under section 60(3) of the Probate and Administration Act 1959, over the objection of a beneficiary. The applicants, the joint administrators of the estate, sought the court's sanction to sell shares in two parcels of land in Seberang Perai Selatan, Penang, pursuant to a sale and purchase agreement dated 9 April 2025 with a corporate purchaser, as part of completing the administration and distribution of the estate. The respondent, a beneficiary, objected, raising issues about the fiduciary powers and responsibilities of the administrators, the majority rule in estate administration, the adequacy of the valuation and the absence of an up-to-date valuation report, the validity of the sale and purchase agreement, and the burden of proving current market value. The court held that the absence of a current valuation report was not fatal and did not prejudice the respondent, and that there was no legal impediment to the administrators relying on an earlier 2016 valuation report if the valuation was acceptable to buyer and seller, because a valuation report serves only as a guide to market price and does not bind the parties to a transaction. It further held that the respondent's objection to the absence of an inventory of the deceased's assets was irrelevant to the application, particularly as all the other immovable property of the deceased had already been distributed among the beneficiaries, the respondent herself having received RM5,784,862.65 from the sale of that property. Finding the objections without merit, the court allowed the administrators' application for the order for sale with costs of RM5,000. The judgment is a useful illustration of the court sanctioning a sale of estate land under section 60(3) despite a beneficiary's objection where the sale advances the administration.