ORPHANED ASSETS: THE ART OF WASTING ONE’S OWN SWEAT

Phenomenal Growth

Rs 5,124 crores in 2013.

Rs 8,864 crores in 2016.

Rs 11,300 crores in 2020.

And if the Indian government’s statement to the parliament is to be believed, Rs 24,356 crores as on 31 Mar 2021.

What a phenomenal growth!

No. It is not the statement of the country’s achievements. It is the about the unclaimed money lying in 8.1 crore bank accounts. Each branch of every bank might have orphaned and unclaimed accounts. If the insurance sector is also considered, the orphaned assets could be anywhere near 50,000 crores. The figures do not include assets lying forgotten in vaults and lockers of banks and financial institutions. 

The story of orphaned assets is incomplete!

There is no organised and definite valuation, of real estate across the country lying uncared for and deteriorating due to ownership disputes or ignorance of inheritance. If assessed it will easily put the unclaimed accounts to shame.

Who perpetrates such a colossal waste of resources? Who are the losers?

Perpetrators and Victims

Many of us reading this article might have already been affected. If not already, each one of us could soon be affected. We could be perpetrators and victims as well. No one is immune.

Worse, even as we read, most of us, may be in the process of wilfully orphaning our assets; perpetrators of orphaning our own sweat, through ignorance, deliberately or because of apprehensions!  Yes; you are a potential perpetrator if you are an adult, of sound mind, have moveable or immovable assets, big or small, in your name and haven't yet written a will. Ironically, you may not even realise that your inaction could orphan your own assets, sooner than you think.

Our individual and social conditioning has a lot to do with this phenomenon.

 

Confirmation Bias

We associate ‘will’ more with death than life. We link it with the old, sick and dying. May be the very rich, with complex asset holdings may need a will otherwise. Therefore, a will is seldom considered required well late into life. Those below sixty may even consider, the idea of a will laughable. Sadly, raging pandemic, increasingly unpredictable calamities that forces of nature unleash and escalating global violence have made life all the more uncertain. Unfortunately, for some amongst us, the time to write a will may never come.

The picture of a will, we conjure, is about a grim looking lawyer and a sheaf of paper containing intricate prose, beyond comprehension by anybody but himself. With the person who wrote the will, dead and gone there is none to vouch for what was actually intended. Poorly researched films do little to help truth. Experiences within the family fuel apprehensions.

This bias, handed over from one generation to the next prohibits us from believing that a will is truly the simplest legal document that an adult, of sound mind, can make on his or her own. It is as easy as writing what one wants, in one’s own hand on a plain sheet of paper. If one knows the ‘mechanism of inclusion and exclusion’ the will written by an individual can stand legal scrutiny and ensure actualisation of what the individual actually desired.

 

Inclusions and Exclusions

The will, to be legally valid, must be written by an adult of sound mind and in consonance with inheritance laws.

To be effective and incontestable, a will must categorically include a self- declaration stating that the testator is of sound mind and making the declaration on his or her own volition. It must also include names and details of each intended beneficiary along with the details of the benefits being willed. What is being willed in favour of the beneficiary must be unambiguous.

Details of immovable property and moveable properties like ornaments, vehicles, various instruments of investments like fixed deposits, insurance policies, shares, mutual funds, bank accounts, lockers and other costly and items considered dear being willed must be included. As much detailed the inclusion, lesser is the problem for the legal heirs.

It is wise to mention and exclude all previous wills written at the beginning of the will. It is important to exclude probable infiltration by greedy folks whom one wants to avoid by categorically stating that the assets mentioned shall be divided only amongst those mentioned in the will. 

With no specific formats and no compulsions of registering it, one can detail out on blank sheets of paper, how one's own movable and immovable property should pass on to others, after one’s demise. The document is complete when one affixes the signature with the place and date and is duly witnessed by at least two adults on the same document.

 

Why The Reluctance?

If will was so easy, why do people die without writing their will?

It is mostly ignorance and partly apprehension. A will can be written and changed as many times as one wants. If so required, one can even register one’s will each time it is changed. The very reasonable cost of registration is not linked to the value of assets. Yet people do not attempt to write their will.

Apprehension, about how each beneficiary would view what has been received in comparison to what he or she perceives others, mostly siblings receive, also holds people back from writing their will. However, equitable one may attempt to be in partitioning one's assets, discontentment is inevitable. Equality, a perception remains a mirage.

Many individuals do not write their will hoping to elicit terminal care from potential beneficiaries. Nothing can be more laughable. However hard one may try, there is a limit to lure. One can leverage, only presence and not attention with one’s belongings. Despite poor prognosis and repeatedly proven, this is a common practice.

There is also an underlying emotional factor of having to concede the fact that one is mortal and have to leave. The truth is that departure is certain; time, manner and place of departure not in our control. Why not accept the inevitable with grace and prepare to exit with honour?

 

Now What

Young or old, rich or poor, able-bodied or disabled, healthy or sick, certain or uncertain, brave or scared, if you are an adult and reading this piece, you should be of sound mind. Then it’s time to sit down and draw up your will if you haven’t yet written. If you have already written, its time to review it.

Procrastination never helps. Fatalism is fodder for the faint-hearted and justification for the lazy. Decision to act is wisdom.

To start with, list out all the assets and liabilities and decide who in your life deserves to get what you, now have. You could end up knowing the material possessions you actually value. Even more important, you would reveal to yourself how differentially dear you hold each one in and around your life.  The beauty of the process is that you could end up recalibrating and resetting relationships and you can do it in utmost confidentiality.

A will is also much beyond inheritance and division of assets.

 

The Beauty of a Will

Each successive will, is indicative of an individual’s journey of life. The will exposes the quantity of one’s physical acquisitions, quality of social relations and the strength of emotional bonds. Successive wills over time captures the essence of one’s journey in life. A run through over few wills one has written would, like a kaleidoscope reveal the emotional anchors and the beauty of a journey called life.

PS: I have been getting many mails for forwarding a draft for the will. I am attaching it as a page in my blog (link given below). You are free to access it and use it. Query if any can be put in the comment box or send as mail to me

https://jacobshorizon.blogspot.com/p/1.html