Black Sheep Affairs
Kristin Dampeer
A parent may love all her children equally and want to treat all the same in the estate plan. But is this wise? Another issue is what to do about the black sheep who estranged himself from everyone in the family, including the parents? Should the parents continue to include that beneficiary in the estate plan?
Keep in mind that when a parent falling critically ill or even dying may create an emotionally charged situation. Sibling grievances long suppressed tend to bubble to the surface. Add into the situation that many crucial decisions must be made, and you have a recipe for disaster.
One potential solution is to name a corporate trustee or co-trustee with one of the children. Having a bank or trust company serving as trustee adds a layer of assurance that the trust terms are adhered to and that no trustee is improperly taking assets for her personal benefit.
Keep in mind, however, that a bequest of a fixed dollar amount usually has priority and is paid out first before the percentage beneficiaries. In other words, if you leave $100,000 to Beneficiary A, and then 50% of the remainder to Beneficiary B and 50% to Beneficiary C, if all you have left in the estate is $200,000 at your death, Beneficiary A gets his $100,000, but Beneficiary B and C will only receive $50,000 each. If you want to limit the amount of the specific bequest to a percentage of the estate, you can do so without giving that beneficiary access to the accountings and documents.
If you feel that you would rather disinherit the black sheep beneficiary, it is better to completely disinherit him as opposed to leaving a stated dollar amount such as one dollar, it is always best to simply disinherit completely. Even bequeathing a small amount gives the beneficiary legal rights that he otherwise would not have had.
Millions of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) do outstanding work every day, both locally and globally. They help to change the world in their niche, and their hard-working staff deserve admiration and respect.
Yet, as with any other public activity, there are those disingenuous people who use NGOs as a cover for bribery, opaque lobbying and influence peddling, as the 2022 Qatargate scandal has shown. In this scandal, a former Member of Parliament, a former Vice-President of the European Parliament and several of their Socialist colleagues abused the system for their own benefit. Fortunately, they are now facing justice. However, as this case has shown, we need to reinforce controls and plug loopholes to prevent corruption cases like Qatargate as far as possible.
We EPP Group Members have been advocating for clear standards and transparent and enforceable rules. Unfortunately, not everyone in the European Parliament is willing to cooperate with us in a thorough reflection and investigation of the Qatargate scandal. These are mainly colleagues from the Socialists and the Greens. At this moment, when the Institutions are facing a massive crisis of confidence, it is up to all of us to try to restore trust.
The millions of euros stuffed into the suitcases of the accused by front organisations disguised as NGOs is a massive blow to all of us trying to do politics reasonably and by the rules. The vast majority of Parliament and the other Institutions should not be mixed up with the criminals who took the bribes, and we do not want to blame all NGOs for the misconduct of a few. We must fight together if we want to regain the trust of our citizens. We must expose the black sheep who undermine our work and that of all legitimate NGOs worldwide.
To make the EU legislative process as transparent as possible, we support the immediate measures for greater transparency introduced by the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola. But, we also need to get to the core of the scandal. We urgently need comprehensive financial pre-screening of NGOs before they are listed in the transparency register. Currently, only the EU funds directly awarded to NGOs are subject to monitoring and reporting. This means that it is difficult to track EU funds that are reallocated in the form of sub-grants, sub-contracts or shared within a consortium.
Let us not forget that these are difficult times. A brutal war is raging on our continent. We face economic problems. It is more important than ever that we allow citizens to maintain their confidence in our European Institutions and their law-making process. We are on the same side in this struggle as all the NGOs that want to solve problems. We need to set rules that make it harder for non-transparent and fictitious NGOs to sneak around and deceive the EU institutions. We are determined and we will continue this fight, with or without the support of the Socialists and Greens.
The ram and ewe were white. His twin is white. White is preferentially selected for the ease of dying the wool. But sometimes recessive genetics just have to do what they do and you end up with a black sheep, or spotted sheep, or white sheep with a black spot, etc.
He ventured out of the jugs today to meet the rest of the flock. More so than with any other lamb, the rest of the group quickly ran over to check this odd creature out. They stomped and sniffed, armed to defend themselves against something that is novel or different. Nature has conditioned them to guard against that which may be a threat but with a moment of investigation they quickly accepted the novel one as one of their own.
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