A practice built on patience and precision.

Pesara Counsel was founded in Singapore by a small group of lawyers who had spent years handling estate and employment matters and noticed, repeatedly, that pension entitlements were among the most misunderstood aspects of their clients' financial lives. People approaching retirement or recently retired were often uncertain about what they were owed — from CPF, from former employers, from private schemes set up decades earlier. When matters were contested, they frequently had no clear sense of where to begin.

The name draws on the Malay word for retired — pesara — as an acknowledgement of the community the practice serves and the Singaporean context in which it operates. From the outset, the firm has worked only within pension, retirement, and estate planning law. That single focus, rather than dilution across practice areas, allows us to maintain depth where it counts.

The firm operates on the conviction that legal advice is most useful when it is written, clear, and given without pressure. Consultations are scheduled to allow adequate time. Advisory letters set out options rather than instructions. Where clients need time to discuss with family or consider their next step, they are encouraged to take it. Urgency is not manufactured to prompt a decision.

Our office sits within the Marina Bay Financial Centre, which places us at the centre of Singapore's professional district and within straightforward reach for clients across the island. We see clients by appointment, and consultations can also be conducted by video for those who find it more convenient.

Singapore's pension landscape is shaped by several distinct frameworks. The Central Provident Fund sits at its centre, governing the retirement savings of the majority of resident workers. Alongside it, certain occupational groups — notably the older cohort of public servants — may hold entitlements under legacy defined-benefit pension schemes, the terms of which differ considerably from CPF provisions and are not always well understood even by those holding them.

Private retirement schemes, including those administered by insurance-linked products and employer-sponsored arrangements established before CPF's broader roll-out, add a further layer of complexity. Surviving spouse provisions, nomination changes, and the coordination of retirement assets with estate documents such as wills and lasting powers of attorney are areas where individuals often find they have more decisions to make than they had anticipated.

Pesara Counsel works within this full range. Our approach values precision over speed — we take care to understand the specific documents, history and circumstances of each client's matter before forming a view, and we set that view out in writing so it can be examined, questioned and acted upon at the client's discretion.