Good day Sir/Madam. Me and my twin brother are 22 years old and our mother is in her 50's and our father is his late 60's. 

We are all part of a trust where we all 4 are trustees. Most of the family's assets is kept in the trust. My father has a life insurance policy of about 16 million rand that will pay out to my mother and to our trust when he passes away.

He is afraid that when he passes away, the insurance companies will take very long to pay out or does not pay out the amount in whole, which will be very stresfull and inconvienent for my mother.

His solution to this is to add another trustee that is a friend of his, Dinette. Dinette is an insurance broker and deals with insurance companies a lot. He says that it if he passes away, Dinette can enquire with the insurance companies and that they will pay out faster,  because she is a insurance broker and a trustee. 

So my question to you is, will insurance companies pay out faster and in whole to a trust, if it is a insuranance broker as well as a trustee that is handling the paperwork and making the enquiries to them? Are there other ways to follow up on insurance payouts, rather than adding somebody on the trust? What solutions can I propose to my father, that will reassure him my mother will get her insurance payout without having to add a trustee?

To be honest, our family have been having issues and is divided in two. Me and my brother vs my father and mother. I am just not comfortable to sign to add another trustee, that will give my parents 3 vs 2 voting rights over me and my brother. And I am suspecious that my father is making excuses to add another trustee that will give them 3 vs 2 voting rights over me and my brother. Please let me know what you think.

Hi there and thank you for your question, 

I am a practicing attorney based in South Africa and I will assist you with your question. Please feel free to ask as many follow-up questions in order to clarify your question. If you have a new question, you must please open a new thread. 

Q: will insurance companies pay out faster and in whole to a trust, if it is a insuranance broker as well as a trustee that is handling the paperwork and making the enquiries to them? --> There is nothing that I have seen before which would suggest this to be the case. 

Q: Are there other ways to follow up on insurance payouts, rather than adding somebody on the trust? --> Yes, definitely. Any trustee can make the enquiries, as well as any properly authorised third party. What I would do is the following - ask the trustees to sign a resolution authorising Dinette to represent the trustees in dealing with the insurance company so that she can make enquiries on the trustee's behalf - when the time comes. You could also entitle this a Power of Attorney, or such like. 

Q: What solutions can I propose to my father, that will reassure him my mother will get her insurance payout without having to add a trustee? --> The above suggestion. 

"To be honest, our family have been having issues and is divided in two. Me and my brother vs my father and mother. I am just not comfortable to sign to add another trustee, that will give my parents 3 vs 2 voting rights over me and my brother. And I am suspecious that my father is making excuses to add another trustee that will give them 3 vs 2 voting rights over me and my brother. Please let me know what you think." --> I was actually going to say that I think that this is EXACTLY what is happening! Your Dad is engineering a position where you guys will be out-voted in all decisions. 

If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question. 

Att. Patrick 

Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow-up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted to be answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.