•Says digital property planning will broaden alternatives for attorneys
Wale Igbintade
A Nigerian expertise firm, Castle eWill and Trust Limited, has launched a digital estate-planning platform designed to simplify Will preparation, encourage succession planning and make estate-planning companies extra accessible to Nigerians.
The platform permits adults to put together, replace, securely retailer and handle their Wills and Trusts on-line, with the goal of serving to people defend their households, protect their property and be sure that their needs are revered after demise.
The Chief Executive Officer of the corporate, Mr Olumide Olaiya, stated the initiative was based on the assumption that everybody ought to have the chance to plan for the way forward for their family members, no matter their monetary circumstances or location.
According to him, the corporate hopes to change into Africa’s most trusted digital platform for property planning, Will preparation, Trust administration and probate assist.
Olaiya stated many Nigerians postponed getting ready Wills as a result of they thought of the method uncomfortable, difficult or related solely to rich people.
He defined that Castle eWill was searching for to change the notion by offering an accessible start line for property planning whereas encouraging customers to get hold of applicable skilled authorized recommendation.
The platform’s Will preparation course of contains 5 phases, starting with the supply of private data, adopted by particulars of executors, trustees, beneficiaries and property.
Users are subsequently required to present particulars of their items and needs, provide details about witnesses, and assessment and make sure the doc earlier than printing it and submitting it to the related High Court Probate Registry.
Olaiya stated the method was designed to make Will preparation extra easy whereas incorporating safeguards to defend customers’ data and assist the authentication of their paperwork.
On information safety, the corporate stated recordsdata have been encrypted earlier than being written to disk, whereas makes an attempt to entry them have been logged.
The platform additionally incorporates identity-verification measures, together with e mail affirmation, authentication of government-issued identification paperwork and comparability with a reside digital camera verify.
According to the corporate, these measures are supposed to set up that the person making a Will is the particular person recognized within the doc.
Another function is a QR seal hooked up to each Will generated by the platform.
Castle eWill stated scanning the code permits recipients to confirm the doc’s id, model and date of issuance, serving to establishments, together with banks and registries, decide whether or not a duplicate is real and present.
The platform additionally sends reminders encouraging subscribers to assessment their Wills each 12 months and following vital life occasions that would have an effect on their property plans.
Such occasions embrace marriage, the delivery of a kid and the acquisition of property.
Addressing considerations that digital Will-making companies might diminish the position of authorized practitioners, Castle eWill maintained that its platform was supposed to broaden, moderately than undermine, alternatives for attorneys.
The firm argued that making property planning extra accessible might carry extra Nigerians who had by no means consulted attorneys about Wills or Trusts into the method, thereby creating further demand for skilled authorized companies.
The firm additionally expressed its intention to collaborate with attorneys throughout Nigeria to present these companies.
Drawing a comparability with developments within the banking business, Castle eWill stated the introduction of web banking and cellular purposes had expanded entry to banking companies moderately than eradicated the necessity for banks and banking professionals.
It maintained {that a} related strategy might apply to authorized companies, with expertise serving to extra folks take step one in direction of succession planning whereas attorneys present the experience required to deal with advanced authorized points.
According to the corporate, skilled authorized recommendation stays notably necessary in estates involving difficult household buildings, company property, collectively owned properties, customary and Islamic regulation, overseas property, taxation, guardianship, enterprise succession and competing claims amongst beneficiaries.
The firm maintained that expertise might widen entry to property planning, whereas skilled authorized judgment remained important to guaranteeing that people and households acquired applicable recommendation and that their needs have been correctly documented and carried out.
