Why drafting a will is essential for your loved ones
No matter how busy life gets, it's important to prioritise what we love. This includes making time to spend with the people we care about. But have you thought about your loved ones' future and whether they'll be looked after if you are not able to?
No one enjoys facing their mortality, but unfortunately, it is a reality – we all pass away at some point. And that is when the value of a valid will must not be underestimated. No matter how much or how little you own, or how many or how few people you have in your life, your will is the most important document you'll ever compile, and it should be treated with the respect it deserves.
Plenty of companies can help you draft your will, but when you pass away, who is going to carry out your wishes and who will make sure your loved ones are cared for? There's a huge difference between ticking off admin items on a to-do list and engaging with empathy on a human level. Especially at the most difficult times in our lives when we lose the ones we love.
Drafting your will is the 'estate planning' part. After you pass away, the process shifts to what's called 'estate administration' (your 'estate' refers to whatever you own and owe), and that's when the human approach matters.
To many companies, a life cover payout is an administrative milestone. To us, a spouse or beneficiary may be receiving millions, but we are mindful that it can never compensate for the value of their loved one's life, nor make up for the loss they have suffered and now have to come to terms with.
On the other side of the funeral director's invoice we receive when we wrap up an estate, there's a wife who had to go and select her husband's last suit, or an only child who had to bury an elderly parent. This is why we approach our work from the point of view of wrapping up a life, not wrapping up a deceased estate.'
Losing a loved one is extremely painful and triggers many emotions. Sadness, anger, confusion. Being abandoned to climb a mountain of admin at a time of profound grief is the last thing one has the capacity for. So, to make the loss of a loved one just a little easier, Capital Legacy sends an estate consultant to meet in person with bereaved families or next of kin. Because very few people know what to do when someone passes away. The estate consultant can explain what's needed, give guidance on compiling the necessary documents, and help to get the estate administration process underway without delay.
The problems South Africans face in finalising deceased estates have been widely reported. On average, it takes between two and five years for an estate to be wrapped up in our country. Capital Legacy works to a timetable of around nine months on the majority of estates that they administer.
Of course, the complexity of the estate could impact this timeline, including factors such as divorce, minor children, business or property transfers or sales, and assets held abroad. Whatever the circumstances, however, the human approach is always top of mind – understanding that winding up a deceased estate in an administrative sense is one thing, but honouring a person's final wishes is entirely another.
Communicating regularly and clearly to keep beneficiaries up to date on the progress of their loved one's estate, making sure their immediate needs are taken care of (especially where young children or individuals with special needs are concerned), paying out pre-inheritances to beneficiaries at the end of the year so they have something to look forward to during the holiday season, and providing a personalised pack with all the official documentation related to the deceased's life neatly collated into a single file once the deceased estate administration process is concluded.
No one wants to think about a time when they are no longer around, but ignoring that death is a fact of life could place your loved ones at risk. Don't leave them in the lurch. Get your affairs in order today.
* Nadesan is the executive director of estates at Capital Legacy.
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