Letters Of Administration: If You Are Pension Compliant, Write Your Will By Bennybonny Eucharia

The rigours of getting letters of administration is becoming
tougher and tougher because of the recent rise in claims of dead
people’s monies. There have been numerous cases, some still
lingering in court, of people who claimed the Death Benefits of
Retirees while they are still alive.

According to the National Pension Commission (PENCOM), “Some
unidentified fraudsters under the disguise of being relatives of
workers and retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme have
been approaching Pension Fund Administrators to collect the
pensions of contributors…The fraudsters, who have been deceiving
the PFAs with fake documents, have successfully collected the
pension benefits of some living workers and retirees after
providing ‘evidences’ that they are dead”

PENCOM recently issued a circular titled
‘Revised Procedures on Processing of Death
Benefits’, to all Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs). This
was to put more stringent control over the process of payment on
Death Benefits applications. The PFAs are mandated to do the
following before the monies of the deceased can be paid to his or
her beneficiaries:

1. Confirm the genuineness of the Letters of Administration at the
   Probate Registry and verify the information of the administrators
   and sureties. Banks and PFA’s charge between N8,000 and N10,000 for
   legal search and confirmation at the Probate.
2. Contact the employers of the deceased for confirmation of his
   or her death and for confirmation of the registered next-of-kin on
   their records. The confirmation from the employer must be in
   writing. Only heavens know when the response/confirmation from the
   employer will get through to the PFA and who will take
   responsibility to ensure its speed.
3. `Investigate, confirm and certify the Death Certificates
   presented by beneficiaries/administrators to PFAs before payment.
   Recently, at the Probate Registry in Lagos State, Death
   Certificates from hospitals are no longer required. The only
   acceptable one is the Certificate of Death obtainable from the
   National Population Commission at the Local Government.
4. Ensure that the affixed current passport photograph of the next
   of kin/legal beneficiary shall be confirmed and certified by the
   deceased’s employer.
5. Ensure that the officer of the PFA that undertakes the due
   diligence in the probate registry, hospital or Police authority
   writes and signs a report on his or her findings. `

Note that all costs (legal search, transportation,
verifications, confirmations) are borne by and deducted from the
monies of the deceased. Do you really need to even be concerned
about what happens to your monies when you are not there?

The Lagos State Probate Registry has also on their own part, not
relented in toughening the whole process too.

Many people are pension-compliant but have never asked questions
on how easy it is for their loved ones to access their monies when
they eventually travel to the great-beyond. To some, it is a taboo
to talk about death now. “Death is not my portion”, they say. They
believe that writing a Will is somehow an invitation to death.

I recently went as an Executor for the reading of the Will of
one of our deceased’s client, a Divisional Police Officer. All his
well-placed brothers came in doubt for the reading of the alleged
Will of their late brother. They verily believed the deceased could
not have written a Will. They had already started out on the
process of sale of some of the deceased’s property merely because
he had no surviving male child. He had only four female children
who were minors. They thought it was time for them to claim all
that their late brother worked for. But luckily enough, the
deceased put his house in order before joining his ancestors. He
willed everything to his loving wife and his four daughters just
two years before his death. It was unbelievable for them to see
that the Will was truly signed by their late brother. They went
home in shame.

Your pension is enough reason why you should have a Will.
Someone out there may snob my candid advice of having a Will
because of how costly it is to get one. With the recent development
in legal practice and the services of a competent law firm, it is
easy and Cost-efficient to get a Will than to torture your
beneficiaries through the process of Letters of Administration at
your intestate demise.

Companies like Seven-Up, Nigerian Breweries, Nigerite, DHL, etc.
are doing a lot for their staff. They have underwritten a Group
Legal Insurance for their Unions. Union members have their Wills
handy and are rest assured that even the government will respect
their wishes at their demise.

I am too young and don’t like talking about death now. But each
time I went to the Probate court and saw the hell beneficiaries go
through, I always wished that the dead could be given a glimpse
into the ordeal of their loved ones and an opportunity to make
amends their wrong choice of not having a Will.

There are ways out of all these messy and lengthy processes of
Letters of Administration. Unions, Co-operatives, Clubs begin to
discuss Wills and Living Trusts with your members and your lawyers.
Take advantage of your bunching together in groups to get
affordable and valid Wills for your members.

Whatever your age, if you have an Estate, Pension, cash in
banks, houses, flourishing business, Shares, floating securities
and debts, valuable assets, or even people you would like to look
after, consider making a Will.

BENNYBONNY
EUCHARIA, A Legal Practitioner based in
Lagos State With specialty in Probate, Estate Planning and Group
Legal Insurance.,
ukbenny3@gmail.com,
0806-605-3162.