Pension fund invests in second residential apartments

Pension fund invests in second residential apartments
http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=254729

Letter to the Editor - The ‘inheritance’ saga goes on

05-July-2017
I would like to comment on the Letter to the Editor published in the July 3 issue of Seychelles NATION under the heading ‘TAKING EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY OUT OF LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY’.
With due respect, while Mr V. Charles’s letter contains much food for thought….it leaves a lot to be desired as well. Maybe much more!
Why do we tend to look at things “on the surface”, as if everything is perfect, instead of searching beneath the surface to get the bigger picture and accept the real situation!!??
Did the audience get the bigger picture of the programme “ZOOM”, assimilate its contents rightly or just the “surface”!!?? Has the audience taken a step to really understand as to why “those laws need adjustments or changes”!!??
I quote here, Mr Charles’s 5th paragraph and part of the 6th; “For the French, the family was at the centre of the inheritance. You just cannot leave your children out of the inheritance after the parents’ death. Now? We want to be British……”
Does accepting such “changes” mean that we want to be British!!?? Come on…let us be real, there is a cry for change where those laws are concerned!! If it has surfaced, definitely there is an “outcry” out there!
My feelings are that we are ourselves contracting those issues! Let us take a look at the 10th paragraph; “Fathers are being asked to be responsible. An old dying man finally accepts paternity for his son after non-acknowledgement for most of his life. He also makes his Will. Nothing for the son in it. I thought moral damages existed in civil law”.
Again with due respect, at times our limited capacity to stop and think logically, damages our own morals or ability to see the right perspective of things. In the above scenario, who knows if it would not be that same out of wedlock son who would be by his ailing father’s side, and can in turn be the right candidate chosen by his father to be the inheritor or an inheritor!!
Nowhere in Mr (Bernard) Georges’ explanations did I understand that “an out of wedlock child”, or a “late-cum-acknowledgement child cannot be an inheritor or inheritress!! We are here giving the wrong impression!
While I do admit there are times preferences among the parents where siblings are concerned, likewise there are also siblings who will force their parents to act upon the former’s recommendations, whether the latter being in a sound or not sound mind.
For the past years, I have found myself in court a number of times, yes I would agree with Mr Charles that “one lawyer’s indifference is another lawyer’s bread”, yet that does not mean I would deny the changes to such law! I would rather say that instead of the lawyers listening to only the two parties and acting cunningly, they should rather be on their feet in the households, in the neighbourhoods and talking to other relatives, friends and acquaintances in relation to that case they are defending, whenever one comes on their table, so as to obtain substantial information/evidence, just as they do in criminal cases, so that in the end, the rightly deserved inheritor/inheritress will win.
Albeit the neighbourhood is full of gossipers yet there are the few honest ones who will testify to real facts and truths!!!
How many parents do we find in ‘Old People’s Home’ nowadays? (They might be old, yet they remain the parents of a child/children!) How many parents are being taken care of, only by carers and when the latter leave, the former remain alone. How many parents do not see their children or child until they are lying in a coffin? (reason why even at funerals nowadays there are fights and disputes among siblings!) I might be sounding harsh but it is a great reality! Even there, some are not present! How many children/child remain alienated from their parents for many years, either overseas or even here in their native land, some even for twenty-five years and some even for life?? How many children/child who never even care to visit their parents…whether alive or dead!!?? How many children/child who steal from their parents?? Some even steal from their parents on a hospital bed! And many more…..
Mr Charles’s 11th paragraph says; “what is clear is that the number of people seeking redress for illegal inheritance must be a lot more than the selfish beneficiaries. The majority cannot be the ones wanting the change..” In all honesty, I believe it is the opposite!!!
Should the “last cry” of those parents be heard or not be heard!!?? Shouldn’t those parents have “the liberty” to do whatever they feel like doing with their hard earnings or inheritance, as long as they are still in their sound mind before they leave their terrestrial dwelling?? What is so wrong with that?? What can be considered wrong is when a sound minded parent’s “Will” is being disputed, despite facts and substantial evidence! THAT IS A CRIME!!
After all, Liberty is all about: ‘the power of choosing, thinking, and acting for oneself. Freedom from control or restrictions’. ! So give those parents their absolute rights to CHOOSE, please!
Liberty overlaps Equality and Fraternity, as much as I admit they each have their importance!
In a family where there is real Fraternity, there will never be any “out of bounds” situations which will take members to court at each other’s throats, unfortunately it is becoming a custom nowadays for whatever reasons. In a family where love, care, compassion, give and take exists, ( meaning equality in all aspects), when the parents are alive, hence a parent’s ‘Will” will be in order and after death nothing is bound to change, there will be no inequality…, thus if it is vice versa, then surely disputes will arise…no matter how hard one may try.
As the “Changes” will be tabled in the Legislative corner, hopefully the honorable members of the Assembly (including mine) will do their homework correctly, taking into consideration as well, what the Master of us all says about “inheritance”:
“Behold, I am coming soon. My reward is with me and I will give to everyone according to what he has done..” Rev 22 vs 12
“For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due to him, for the things done while in body, whether good or bad..” 2 Co 5 vs 13
So why condemn the parents in acting the same way!!!???
Let us be careful or else we shall end up looking for more lands to build more homes for the parents…for the child/children will be taking the existing law as a “fait accompli”!!

Noëmie Woodcock

Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this letter are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Seychelles NATION newspaper.