A devoted Filipina maid inherited six million Singapore dollars from her late employer after more than 20 years of service.

The maid refused to be named in public for fear of possible threats to her life in the impoverished Philippines, where wealthy people have been kidnapped for ransom and some killed by their abductors.

The windfall, including cash and a luxury apartment near the Orchard Road shopping belt, came from the estate of her employer Quek Kai Miew, a medical doctor and philanthropist who died last year at 66.

The maid had also taken care of the doctor's late mother, and was told that she would be a beneficiary of her employer's will when it was drawn up in 2008.

Looking at a different angle, this is excellent estate planning if it is being executed to her intentions. Will was carried out properly even though it is to an unrelated party....