Sadly, charitable bequests often give rise to family squabbles and contested Will claims by disgruntled family members and sometimes estranged or distant relatives.
“Recent Australian trends show that charitable bequests are frequently overturned by the courts, or the charity ends up with only a fraction of the intended bequest.[i] In general, charities are reluctant to be in court battles over bequests with their deceased ‘benefactor’s’ family members.
“Many advisers and their clients don’t realise that by arranging for an intended charitable bequest using a special beneficiary Nomination feature of an Imputation Bond designed to be outside the contestability of a Will (and as private ‘secret’ arrangements, if desired) ensure that their wishes can be directly met.
This is because the proceeds of an insurance bond nomination must legally be distributed directly to its nominated beneficiaries, and these payments are made outside of the will and legal estate.
In short, imputation bond nominations are not ‘testamentary’ in nature, and as non-estate assets are also not subject to Probate requirements which put Wills into the public domain.
What is Probate?
These are the legal procedures to prove a person’s valid ‘Last Will and Testament’ and to authorise a legal personal representative to act. The process necessarily puts the Will and the estate’s assets in the public domain.
This happens due to probate advertising requirements and access to probate documents, such as the inventory of assets of the deceased’s estate.
contact
Ross Higgins
Austock Life
Managing Director
03 8601 2056 Or 0407567774
life@austocklife.com
[i] See “Every Player Wins a Prize” – Family Provision Applications and Bequests to Charity – 2008 Myles McGregor,-Lowndes, and Frances Hannah – Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Non Profit Studies