Rule 19 of Non-Contentious Probate Rules (Cap. 10A) states that :

 

The person or persons entitled to a grant of probate or administration with the will annexed shall be determined in accordance with the following order of priority, namely-

 

(i) the executor;

 

(ii) any residuary legatee or devisee holding in trust for any other person;

 

(iii) any residuary legatee or devisee for life;

 

(iv) (a) the ultimate residuary legatee or devisee ; or

(b) any person or his personal representative entitled to share in the residue not wholly disposed of ;

Provided that if the Registrar is satisfied, any legatee or devisee entitled to share in the whole or substantially the whole of the estate, notwithstanding that the residue is not wholly disposed of under the will;

 

(v) (a) any specific legatee or devisee (or the personal representative of such person) ; or

 

(b) any creditor (or the personal representative of such person) ; or

 

(c) any person who, notwithstanding that the amount of the estate is such that he has no immediate beneficial interest therein, may have a beneficial interest in the event of an accretion thereto;

 

(vi) (a) any legatee or devisee, whether residuary or specific, entitled on the happening of any contingency ; or

 

(b) any person, having no interest under the will of the deceased, would have been entitled to a grant if the deceased had died wholly intestate.

 

An applicant is only entitled to a grant if he can bring himself within the capacity under Rule 19, with all persons having prior rights having been cleared off.