Charities Management have featured a piece co-written by Fiona Campbell-White and Kate Vowden, legacy manager and solicitor at the British Heart Foundation, suggesting charity legacy managers take certain preventative measures to protect legacies against fraud.
Theft from a deceased person’s estate is rarely an isolated event and isn't always easy to spot. The likely scenario is that the solicitor steals again from the same or a different estate and the minimum level of insurance (£2 million to £3 million) may not be sufficient to consider all the claims as one.
Fiona comments: "If executors have given you any cause for concern, e.g. they have been slow to notify you of a legacy; they are reluctant to part with information/documents; unresponsive to communications; displaying an attitude that you should just be “thanking and banking”, then it is worth checking in with your co-beneficiaries. There is strength in numbers and information is power."
There are steps you can take to protect your charity against criminal activity and to enable you to take fast and decisive action when needed.
You can access the full article here.
