About 10 years ago, their mom passed on. She was a matron and had employee benefits including group risk cover and also had her own private life cover insurance policies. We watched helplessly as the children received huge payouts and became instant millionaires. One child resigned from her job and started a mashonisa, another one eventually dropped out of varsity and one by one, all four kids were destroyed by the money. Fast forward ten years later, all the money is gone.  At least one of the kids is working as a cleaner at a local supermarket.

This is sadly a common story in our communities. This can be avoided, if parents draft a Will. In the Will, we create a Children’s Trust so that you,  the parent, can stipulate the age when your kids can receive the lump sum payout. I advise parents to state that in the event they pass on while the children are young, the life cover must be used to pay school and university fees or whatever course of study they might choose and once all the kids are finished with their studies, then the balance of the money can be paid out when the youngest child is 25 years old as an example. This is to avoid flooding them with lots of money while they are still young and immature.

When a child turns 18, they are adult by law so they would receive the life cover policy payouts and at this stage, they are likely to misuse it because they are immature. You can also appoint a guardian for your children. The role of the guardian is to liaise with the trustees e.g. inform them where the children go to school, the school fees and other necessities.

Most of us need a Will and if you are a parent, it is absolutely important to have a Will. Contact ThuthukaSA so we can help you to draft your Will. If you are an employer and you want us to help your employees to draft their Wills, contact us. 

*some details have been changed to protect the identity of the family.