How long are the accounts frozen when someone dies?
From death until a court grant is issued and the bank processes it, a deceased person's sole-name accounts are frozen — in Singapore, a straightforward Grant of Probate commonly takes two to four months, an intestate Letter of Administration longer, and any dispute stops the clock entirely; contested regional estates have stayed frozen for years (the Yung Kee litigation ran five). Joint accounts, insurance with valid nominations, and CPF nominations typically pay outside this freeze, which is why they exist. The practical heir question is not whether the freeze happens — it is what the family lives on while it does.
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What freezes and what does not
Freezes: sole-name bank and brokerage accounts, and anything only the deceased could sign for. Banks act on notice of death; access then waits for the grant.
Usually passes outside probate: joint accounts with survivorship, life insurance with a valid nomination, CPF with a valid nomination, and assets already inside a trust. This is the machinery a good plan builds precisely so the family is never illiquid during the freeze.
The timelines, honestly
Singapore, uncontested with a valid will: commonly two to four months to grant, plus bank processing. Intestate (no will): longer — an administrator must be appointed and sureties may be required. Contested, anywhere in the region: unbounded; the case files on this site include estates frozen for half a decade.
Malaysia deserves its own warning: unadministered estates — particularly Muslim estates subject to faraid — are notorious for staying locked for years.
The question this page exists to prompt
If your family's income stops the day the founder's signature does, that is a liquidity plan failure, not fate. Asking 'who signs, and what do we live on, during the gap' is an operating question — one a founder who refuses to discuss wills will often still answer.