Will ‘a must’ for all Expatriates!
Writing a will to ensure that your affairs are in order should you pass away is of utmost importance to expatriates living in Qatar, says a local expert who stressed that certain procedures can make posthumous arrangements particularly difficult if steps have not been taken.
Mohamed Marria, senior estate planner at Just Wills, recently spoke to Gulf Times on the challenges associated with the death of a loved one, and urged expatriates to take steps to ensure that should the worst occur, their spouse is able to deal with the situation as easily as possible.
“What I am doing is trying to educate people on the importance of making a will,” he said, adding “the way I see it is that having a will is the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle.
“In the GCC, local state Shariah Law means all bank accounts are frozen as soon as they are informed of the individual’s death – there is no concept of either or survivor accounts no matter what a bank tells you,” he explained.
“At this point, the person realises he/she cannot put food on the table or afford to repatriate their spouse’s body,” said Marria adding “then their visa has to be cancelled if they are on the deceased person’s sponsorship.”
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=505913...
Thanks tinku...You are a real star :)
Prism - I thought the loan automatically dissappears if the borrower dies coz it's covered by an insurance for the bank !
I just transfer money regularly back to India and all my accounts there either are joint accounts or with a nominee and I as a rule never create any loans against me. As for the employer, the nominee details are already with them and I am given to understand that anything due to me would be transfererd to the bank account provided after getting clearance from the banks etc....so seems no hassels of creating this will.
It's generally understood that the person who writes a will should be aware of the Islamic laws of bequeathing. The writing down is mainly of assets to people/charities etc those who survive you will be unaware of or careless about.
For example you have left your estates and cash etc accordingly but you wish to leave your watch for your best friend. This should be written down.Or perhaps your debtors who no one is aware of. These should be written down because if not once you are no more your property will be then be divided according to the shariah law, and anyone outside of it may not benefit from it.
And yes, a will can compromise the protocol in certain cases, depending on how valuable be the property,your inheritors,etc. However note that any unfairness on the part of the bequeather can then be a sin upon him/her.
the guy died unexpectedly and the spouse with her young daughter were thrown into a limbo since they were under the husband sponsorship.
Luckily with so much help/support from us, the spouse got company benefit after 14 months and the bank money is still under process (16 months already passed).
there should be a online database where some one can post his/her "will"(only will) with password of his full hand finger prints. and after death his hand should match if he had some "will" or not in that online database site or program . coz finger prints will remain in hands even after death.
Tinku - Can you please share the format of that form with us please. I can implement it in my organization too :)
Fatima - I was always under the impresion that in Islam there is a well defined method of allocating the estate of a person recently deceased??
Would the existence of a will compromise the protocol if the will is at odds with the agreed norms??
Assets will have a nominee always.. be it a property or bank deposits. It automatically passes to the nominee if you call it a day, Unless you want to distribute it like BB wrote :P
I recall contacting QNB, few months ago, they said no worry, as long as your wife brings a death certificate, she will gain full access to the funds. That was on the phone, how accurate is everybody's guess.
Very important topic. Thanks BlueBull (author).
If any of you guys or author knows the procedure, please please share or give the starting point.
how about putting bank account deposit name of my wife and children? is it still a problem for them to take the deposit out in case? if it is then, then it is a lot better to put our savings out of Qatar so they won't face a problem in withdrawing the savings if the problem arises.
Anyone who have done it recently cares to share the procedure with us? the template document, official attestation, cost etc
Writing a will is something we are advised to do even in Islam and I for one see nothing but good in it. Some reasons being the ones mentioned by Tinker. Specially if you got loved ones who are dependents, you'd not want them to face any injustice and oppression so it's always wise to make your bequeaths whilst you can.
BB can i have one of those gold jewelry? :D
I thought will is a confidential document to be taken very seriously and handled with care. Guess, I am so not into the latest where we can leave a will on an online forum with our identity concealed but the authorities would be able to break the riddle, establish my identity and do the needful....:)
Here's my will:
My two jeans go to my brother
Third jeans goes to my best friends
All the other jeans go towards charity to be decided by my brother
My car and bike go to my brother
All my gold jwellery including my earring go to my mom
My car in india goes to my dad
My bank deposits ( amounting to 101 QR so far ) goes to my local senator's election fund
All my insuraance money goes to my mom
That's All.