The thought of writing a will to an average Nigerian is seen as an abomination or taboo. Most households would never bring up death as a topic of discussion. We were made to believe that death is the monster lurking in the shadows and our most terrifying childhood nightmare coming to life. The superstitious belief that death shouldn’t be spoken about is a notion that we, however, need to turn our hearts away from.
Death is inevitable and having this thought at the back of your mind can help you to make wise decisions, such as ensuring that the interest of the people you care about and your assets are protected, while you are still alive. As the old saying goes, “no one knows tomorrow”. You might as well plan today.
Your first step to planning is to take into account what you have and how you want it to be distributed in order to protect those you care about. The next step is to determine what estate planning tool that will work best for you and how it will help you to achieve your objectives.
To put it simply, a will is a witnessed document that states in writing the wishes of how a person wants his or her properties and possessions distributed after death. It could be your cars, building, laptop or even as little as your phone.
In light of this, we can say that it is not an exclusive preserve of the rich and wealthy of the society to make a will. If you own assets, have people dependent on you or own an equity stake in a business, then you should write one. As an employee, your contributions as a worker under the contributory Pension Scheme are assets that could as well be recognised in a will.
Do you still think you don’t need a will? As a Retirement Savings Account holder, have you ever thought about who will be your beneficiary if you go over the Big Ridge before age 50? The need for workers currently contributing to a pension scheme or people who have retired to make a will cannot be overemphasised.
Having a will allows one to prescribe who inherits your assets, entitlements, and possessions. Imagine a scenario where the wife of the deceased takes the siblings of the late husband to court in order to claim a share of the pension benefits left behind rightfully for her and the kids (as the intention of the deceased would have been). This thing happens every day in our society. We have to stay enlightened.
It makes the pension benefit transfer process easy for the surviving family members and having it clearly outlined will avoid igniting a rift or conflict among the beneficiaries. The benefits of having a will are enormous. You want to avoid the intestacy process through which a court becomes involved in distributing your benefits when you are gone, to unintended beneficiaries. Section 8(2) Pension Reform Act, 2014 (as amended) recognises the imperative for a contributor to a pension scheme in Nigeria to make a will in order to make for easy transfer of their Pension Fund contributions to named beneficiaries.
A will can also minimise the tax consequences associated with the transfer of a person’s belongings and ensure that his relatives continue to receive financial support. The law even is in great favour of this act.
In addition, it is worthy to also note that the person named “Next of Kin” does not automatically become the beneficiary of a deceased’s pension. Ideally, a “Next of Kin” is the closest relative of the person needed for accessibility in case of emergency. Being a beneficiary is totally different from being a next of kin, but that is another topic for another time.
The alternative is to use a Letter of Administration to access the benefits left by the deceased. This letter has to be granted by a Surrogate court or Probate registry in Nigeria. The function of these courts is to appoint the appropriate people close to the deceased, such as the husband, wife, child or sibling, to access the benefits.
This means that your benefits may become subject to the Native Law and Custom prevailing in your community and assets could be distributed to unintended beneficiaries. You definitely don’t want that. Remember the scenario I painted earlier about the widow whose husband didn’t have a will? We all know how the story ends. What eventually happens is that the siblings take most part of the assets, leaving the immediate family of the deceased with next to nothing.
Death is hard, but suffering from the subsequent loss is even harder. Remember that the decisions you make today can have profound consequences for your loved ones. Having a will is not a superstitious belief as many believe, but a means of security and planning. Start now.
Bamiyo Awonusi is a brand and corporate communications executive at Leadway Pensure PFA
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