Capital Legacy’s response to article – “Estate planning: Be careful when planning your legacy” by Georgina Crouth (June 2019)

Key facts that are worth repeating to clients are:

  1. Our will-drafting service is free, irrespective of whether clients take out policies or not, or appoint Capital Legacy as executor or not.
  2. Testators have complete freedom of choice over whom they appoint as executor and are in no way forced to appoint Capital Legacy.
  3. The minimum premium on our product is R 53.00 per month, not “hundreds” as the article claims.
  4. Where Capital Legacy is appointed as executor, we do not charge a 3.5% plus VAT fee. We charge according to a sliding scale depending on the value of the estate. Higher value estates pay lower percentages.
  5. All clients who have their wills drafted by us receive an automatic 25% discount (what we call “indemnification”) on executor, trust and conveyancing fees if we execute their Will, irrespective of whether they take out the product we offer.
  6. Capital Legacy does not manage any investments on behalf of testamentary trusts. Such decisions are referred to the broker on record for the client, for financial advice to trustees. A decision on investments is made by the trustees of the trust, and Capital Legacy administers these decisions.
  7. The piece focusses on a broker who is the guardian of children whose trust administration is with Capital Legacy. He is also crying foul regarding the published article based on inaccuracies and is taking the matter up alongside us.

Our business has been grossly misrepresented and we are taking action to seek redress through the courts and the Press Ombudsman.

There were some truths contained in the article, such as “The company has rapidly grown into the largest administrator of estates in the country” and a quote from myself “We still see one unhappy customer is too much and it hurts us when we have made a mistake and myself and my team will do anything and everything possible to make it right”.

We are an honest company with a true quest to make things better in the Wills, Estates and Trusts’ space. We have an offering that puts the client first and protects the beneficiaries more than any other offering can do.

We continue to work with the broker community which understands the value we bring.

Please contact me or your broker consultant if you have any further questions about this matter.

Best regards
Alex Simeonides