Criminal liability for breach of fiduciary duty: a case of criminal breach of trust by the personal representative of the deceased’s estate

The governing law on the administration of estate in Malaysia requires an appointment of a personal representative before a deceased’s estate can be dealt with. The personal representative acts as a fiduciary and is empowered to take possession and control over of the estate. However, in the hands o...

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Main Authors:	Halim, Akmal Hidayah, Mohd Noor, Nor Azlina
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	UPM Press 2015
Subjects:	K Law (General)
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/47583/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/47583/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/47583/1/10_JSSH_Vol_23_%28S%29_Oct_2015_pg125-136.pdf

id	iium-47583
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-475832016-01-11T05:42:04Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/47583/ Criminal liability for breach of fiduciary duty: a case of criminal breach of trust by the personal representative of the deceased’s estate Halim, Akmal Hidayah Mohd Noor, Nor Azlina K Law (General) The governing law on the administration of estate in Malaysia requires an appointment of a personal representative before a deceased’s estate can be dealt with. The personal representative acts as a fiduciary and is empowered to take possession and control over of the estate. However, in the hands of unscrupulous personal representative, the estate might be dishonestly used or misappropriated. In such a case, the personal representative could be charged for criminal breach of trust as provided by the Malaysian Penal Code and would therefore be punished with imprisonment, whipping and fine. This paper aims to examine whether such punishment is adequate in regulating the conducts of the personal representative and remedying the estate beneficiaries against the misconducts of such personal representative. The study adopts the doctrinal analysis by examining the existing primary and secondary materials including statutory provisions as provided the Probate and Administration Act 1959 (Act 97) and the Penal Code (Act 574) , case law and other legal and non-legal literatures relating to the adequacy of the relevant law. The article finds that once the estate has been misappropriated, charging the personal representative and punishing him for criminal breach of trust are inadequate and will not give much benefit to the estate beneficiaries. The punishment should be extended to depriving the personal representative of his own property so that the rights of the estate beneficiaries as the vulnerable party are better protected. UPM Press 2015 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/47583/1/10_JSSH_Vol_23_%28S%29_Oct_2015_pg125-136.pdf Halim, Akmal Hidayah and Mohd Noor, Nor Azlina (2015) Criminal liability for breach of fiduciary duty: a case of criminal breach of trust by the personal representative of the deceased’s estate. Pertanika Journal of Social Science & Humanities, 23 (S). pp. 125-136. ISSN 0128-7702 http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	K Law (General)
spellingShingle	K Law (General) Halim, Akmal Hidayah Mohd Noor, Nor Azlina Criminal liability for breach of fiduciary duty: a case of criminal breach of trust by the personal representative of the deceased’s estate
description	The governing law on the administration of estate in Malaysia requires an appointment of a personal representative before a deceased’s estate can be dealt with. The personal representative acts as a fiduciary and is empowered to take possession and control over of the estate. However, in the hands of unscrupulous personal representative, the estate might be dishonestly used or misappropriated. In such a case, the personal representative could be charged for criminal breach of trust as provided by the Malaysian Penal Code and would therefore be punished with imprisonment, whipping and fine. This paper aims to examine whether such punishment is adequate in regulating the conducts of the personal representative and remedying the estate beneficiaries against the misconducts of such personal representative. The study adopts the doctrinal analysis by examining the existing primary and secondary materials including statutory provisions as provided the Probate and Administration Act 1959 (Act 97) and the Penal Code (Act 574) , case law and other legal and non-legal literatures relating to the adequacy of the relevant law. The article finds that once the estate has been misappropriated, charging the personal representative and punishing him for criminal breach of trust are inadequate and will not give much benefit to the estate beneficiaries. The punishment should be extended to depriving the personal representative of his own property so that the rights of the estate beneficiaries as the vulnerable party are better protected.
format	Article
author	Halim, Akmal Hidayah Mohd Noor, Nor Azlina
author_facet	Halim, Akmal Hidayah Mohd Noor, Nor Azlina
author_sort	Halim, Akmal Hidayah
title	Criminal liability for breach of fiduciary duty: a case of criminal breach of trust by the personal representative of the deceased’s estate
title_short	Criminal liability for breach of fiduciary duty: a case of criminal breach of trust by the personal representative of the deceased’s estate
title_full	Criminal liability for breach of fiduciary duty: a case of criminal breach of trust by the personal representative of the deceased’s estate
title_fullStr	Criminal liability for breach of fiduciary duty: a case of criminal breach of trust by the personal representative of the deceased’s estate
title_full_unstemmed	Criminal liability for breach of fiduciary duty: a case of criminal breach of trust by the personal representative of the deceased’s estate
title_sort	criminal liability for breach of fiduciary duty: a case of criminal breach of trust by the personal representative of the deceased’s estate
publisher	UPM Press
publishDate	2015
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/47583/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/47583/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/47583/1/10_JSSH_Vol_23_%28S%29_Oct_2015_pg125-136.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T21:07:41Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T21:07:41Z
_version_	1777411043382788096

Criminal liability for breach of fiduciary duty: a case of criminal breach of trust by the personal representative of the deceased’s estate

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