HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!
 
It is that time of the year again – the long-awaited festive season!

 
How fortunate to enter another holiday season in which to spend time with family and friends.  It is also a good time for reflection, a great time for new beginnings and a renewed hope.  A lot can happen in a year: the best, the good, the bad and the ugly.
 
Stay blessed this holiday season with many reasons to celebrate with family and friends.  If you are so lucky to have a break and maybe go away on holiday, drive safely.  Make time to appreciate and enjoy the scenery along the way.  You don’t know if you will experience it again or if it will be as breathtaking the next time.
 

Legatus Trust’s offices will close for the festive season on Friday, 20 December 2019 at 12h00 and re-open on Monday, 6 January 2020 at 08h00.

 
LEGATUS - TRUST SERVICES

NOTICE:  Please take note that Legatus Trust manages testamentary trust by Will as  nominated trustee, co-trustee or agent for the trustee only.  Legatus Trust in general no longer cater for inter vivos trusts and will only consider the creation and administration of inter vivos trust on a case by case basis.

 

The last in our charity drive for 2019 is the “Wet Nose Animal Rescue Centre”.
 
WET NOSE ANIMAL RESCUE CENTRE
 “You can’t buy love, but you can adopt it!”
 
Wet Nose Animal Rescue Centre is a “Right-to-Life” animal shelter, which means no animals are put down, except in most extreme cases where an animal is suffering and it’s in the best interests of the animal.  The Centre wat opened in April 1999, as a registered non-profit organisation devoted to the rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming of abandoned, abused and neglected animals.  They take care of over 600 fur-babies, relying only on donations. 
 

Read more about this charity at https://wetnose.co.za/  
 
 

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE TESTATOR AND THE EXECUTOR DIE SIMULTANEOUSLY?
Read more about this in the next edition

The drafting of a Will is a very personal experience.  Personal information must be divulged and clients must discuss their own circumstances and wishes regarding their personal belongings, even their financial situation. 
 
While drafting and advising a person on a Will, it not only has the potential to protect precious family relationships and save money but can establish a critical advice-relationship between an intermediary and a client. According to David Thomson, Senior Legal Advisor at Sanlam Trust, there are few client interactions as profound in gaining personal information about a client as the drafting of a Will and therein lies the opportunity to cement a long-term client relationship.
 
The experience with Wills is that the contents of some have split families, turned siblings against each other and have led to the wasting of inheritance money on unnecessary court battles. A Will should be drafted in such a manner as to avoid inheritance battles. It is no secret that a well thought through Will plays a major part in anyone’s financial planning. A poorly drafted Will can cause disputes and unimaginable trauma in a time of great sorrow for loved ones left behind.
 
During these discussions where a client must express what they would like to have happen to their possessions after their death and instructions are taken to draft a Will, you as an intermediary have an opportunity to establish the foundation for a long-term relationship with your client.  Not only that, the opportunity also presents itself to build lasting trust. Thomson explains that these opportunities could further lend itself for discussion on the client’s investment and insurance portfolio – “Thé discussion”.
 
You can use the Will-discussion to prepare the ground for proper estate planning. Thomson says that the most likely solution from an estate planning exercise is pure life cover, to ensure liquidity within the estate to pay executor’s fees, estate duty, debt, capital gains tax and other taxes.
 
This is also a perfect opportunity for you to explain the importance of the inclusion of a testamentary trust for minor dependants or persons in need of special care. You will do well to also advise your clients to return original signed Wills to Legatus Trust for safe custody, like we have emphasized regularly in our newsletters.  It offers your clients peace of mind to know this document is in safe custody.
 
This is also a good time to explain Legatus Trust’s role as executor and to inform your client that appointing a family member or friend without the necessary expertise, might not be the best decision. Clients don’t always understand the responsibilities of an executor and the effort it takes to finalise an estate, or how time-consuming it can be. In addition, these are factors to consider that might be complicated for the layman.  Clients with loved ones living overseas will have questions about foreign inheritances and exchange control. The exemption from estate duty on retirement funds is also an important aspect of estate planning.
 
Thomson says: “Clients will generally welcome a simple calculation showing their potential exposure to estate duty and capital gains tax and whether they have the means to pay for these expenses and taxes. Most intermediaries have access to a liquidity calculator or software to help them calculate this. The importance of having enough cash available to the estate and the trust set up to, for example, look after minor children, should not be underestimated. Funds may have to be provided for a lot longer than the client initially believes - experience has shown that to be the case quite often. Proper estate planning will give you a much better idea of how to address these concerns.”
 
Any debts and liabilities of a client should be settled when they pass away. There are a variety of insurance solutions for this.  Legatus Trust offers the Estate Preservation plan underwritten by Clientèle Life. For more about this, see our website or contact your Legatus Trust marketer.
 
The aim is, however, not to overwhelm a client.  The priority should be to prepare the Will and get it duly signed and witnessed.  Some of the other important issues can be prioritised for a follow-up meeting. Thomson says that once an estate analysis and plan has been compiled, most of the work has been done and it can conveniently be used as base to update regularly with updated client information.
 

Nina Wang was a property developer and Chinachem owner, the richest woman in Asia.  She passed away in 2007.  According to her Will, her multi-billion-dollar fortune of roughly $10.6 billion went to charity, but her feng shui consultant, Tony Chan, had other plans.
 
According to The Wall Street Journal, he miraculously produced another Will upon Wang’s death.  In it she bequeathed her entire estate to him.  Unfortunately for Chan, he was found guilty by the Hong Kong courts in 2014 of forging the Will.  His only inheritance was a 12-year sentence behind bars.  He filed an appeal application in 2015 which was unsuccessful. Most likely, Chan didn’t like the feng shui in prison.