Once a person dies without a will, his estate is subject to intestate succession which means that his heirs are imposed on him by law. The discretion to give out your property the way you want is thus taken away. For workers contributing to pensions, if you die without making a will, your dependents can only access your RSA balances by obtaining Letters of Administration in line with section 8(2) of the PRA Supra which takes longer time, is very costly and, most importantly, dis-entitles you from having any say on who gets what.
The erroneous belief that only wealthy people need write a will. There is always the excuse that I do not own anything, or I am just starting life and have no assets to put in a Will, therefore I don’t need one. The above misconception tends to discourage many from writing a Will. For them, only the rich who have enormous wealth and a fleet of assets need the will to protect and share those assets.
Let me state for emphasis, that any sane adult irrespective of the few assets he owns, can and should make a Will. As earlier mentioned, all contributors to pensions are now required to have a will, detailing how the balances in their Retirement Savings Account are to be distributed to their named beneficiaries upon death. The Pension Law has also provided two other options as to how beneficiaries can access the RSA balances. Sadly, those two options do not provide smooth and seamless means for your loved ones to have access to your pension contributions within months of your demise.
How to address these obvious myths and misconceptions?
Having identified some of the key myths and misconceptions about whether we need a will, what then can we do to correct some of these outdated and obviously unsubstantiated beliefs that contribute to inhibiting will writing.?
One of the tried-and-true ways of overcoming these misconceptions or erroneous postulations in Nigeria is for us to openly communicate, educate, and sensitize our people about the dangers of now making proper plans for our families. All stakeholders, facilitators at organized fora, lawyers, trust companies, etc. should
make themselves a resource for dismantling these myths and stereotypes by finding innovative ways of guiding average Nigerians and encouraging them to write a will