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MAKING a will won’t kill you, but not making it will cause a lot of unec- essary trouble and possible financial loss for your successors.

And yet, it is estimated that half of all adults have not made a will and only 20 per cent of business owners have decided who will inherit their businesses when they die.

This leads to more family disputes over inheritance and succession with the sale and division of estates result- ing in a significant share of the pro-

ceeds being consumed by legal costs.

You don’t have to make a will but it makes good sense to leave your af- fairs in good order for those who sur- vive you. It is a sad, but inevitable fact of life that many people die under the age of 30 – yet a very small number of them may even have thought about making a will.

If you make a will, you decide who gets what after your death. You can also decide who doesn’t benefit as you can minimise the impact of capital ac- quisitions tax on your beneficiaries.

If you don’t make a will, your next

of kin will inherit your estate. If you are not married, have outlived your parents and have no children, the Government could be the ultimate ANON lol a

In many cases, the people who ben- efit from your life’s work may be peo- ple you may not have wished to bene- fit from your death. If you don’t make a will, it’s possible the wrong people may be your legal successors.

You get to choose, but only if you take the right action at the right time. The right action is to seek advice from a solicitor and the right time 1s now.

A GARDA investigation into the misappropriation of thousands of euro in rents 1s “complex”, a court has been told.

The comment was made, as the State was granted an extension of time for preparation of the Book of Evidence in the case of a property agent, who is accused of 61 charges, in connection with the misappropria- tion of almost €80,000 in rents.

Fiona Lillis (36), of Lisduff, New- market-on-Fergus, is accused of 49 theft charges and 12 charges of de- ception, in relation to €76,540, be- tween December 17, 2007 and Sep- tember 30, 2008.

The charges relate to the owners of six properties. She is facing 45 theft charges and four charges of deception in relation to one prop- erty owner Richard Dineen, totalling €59,570, relating to rent and rental deposits for accommodation at Kin- cora Apartments, Shannon.

Another six charges – three theft charges and three deception charges – relate to Adrian Kelly, in relation to a property at Dun na Manach, Quin. The other six charges relate to Kin- cora Apartments, Shannon.

Ms Lillis appeared in court initial- ly in July and the case was adjourned to last Thursday. On Thursday, In- spector John Galvin, prosecuting, said that the book of evidence was not ready. He asked for a two-month adjournment.

However, defending solicitor Ca1- triona Carmody said, “This has been going on since July. My application is that it be adjourned peremptory against the State.”

Inspector Galvin said, “It’s a com- plex matter. It will take time.”

Judge Joseph Mangan extended time for service of the book of evi- dence and adjourned the case for two months.

A SIX-MONTH jail term has been handed down to a woman who plead- ed guilty to charges under the Theft and Fraud Offences Acct.

Cora Mulqueen (35), of Kincora Apartments, Shannon, pleaded guilty to altering a Department of Social and Family Affairs cheque and three other offences, arising out of an inci- dent in December 2007.

Shannon District Court was told previously that Ms Mulqueen was a chronic heroin addict and had been unsuccessful in her attempts to give up the drug.

Her solicitor, Caitriona Carmody, said that her client has now moved away from Shannon and is off her- oon

Judge Joseph Mangan said the pro- bation report in the case was “very negative” and imposed a six-month jail term. He fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

It is important for you to make a will because if you don’t, the law on in- testacy decides what happens to your property.

A will can ensure that proper ar- rangements are made for your de- pendants and that your property is distributed in the way you wish after you die, subject to certain rights of spouses and children.

A person who dies having made a valid will is said to have died ‘tes- tate’. If you die testate, then all your possessions will be distributed in the way you set out in your will. It is the job of the executor or executors you named in your will to make sure this happens.

There are legal limits as to how much of your property goes to which person, as set out in law in the Suc- cession Act, 1965. An executor can be a beneficiary under the will. In other words, the executor can also inherit under the will.

After you die, somebody has to deal with your estate, by gathering together all your money and posses- sions, paying any debts you owe and then distributing what is left to the people who are entitled to it.

If you leave a will before you die, one or more of the executors you named in your will usually has to get legal permission from the Probate Office or the District Probate Regis- try for the area in which you lived at the time of death to do this. Permis- sion comes in the form of a document called a Grant of Representation.

If you did not name any executors in your will or if the executors are unable or unwilling to apply for a Grant of Representation, documents called Letters of Administration (With Will) are issued.

When your estate is distributed, the legal rights of your spouse and children, if any, will be fulfilled first after any debts are paid before any other gifts are considered.

A person who dies without a will is said to have died ‘intestate’. If you

die intestate, this means your estate, or everything that you own, is dis- tributed in accordance with the law by an administrator. To do this, the administrator needs permission in the form of a Grant of Representa- nlOyee

When a person dies without a will or when their will is invalid, this Grant is issued as Letters of Admin- istration by the Probate Office or the District Probate Registry for the area in which the person lived at the time of death.

The legal rules governing the dis- tribution of your property apply: e When you have not made a will e When the will has been denied probate because it has not been made properly or a challenge to it has been SLECOLeAT AU e When the will does not complete- ly deal with all your possessions. In these cases, after debts and ex- penses have been deducted, the estate is distributed in the following way. If you are survived by: e A spouse but no children (or grandchildren): your spouse gets the entire estate. e A spouse and children: your spouse gets two-thirds of your estate and the remaining one-third is di- vided equally among your children. If one of your children has died, that share goes to his/her children. e Children, but no spouse: your es- tate 1s divided equally among your children (or their children). e Parents, but no spouse or chil- dren: your estate is divided equally between your parents or given entire- ly to one parent if only one survives. e Brothers and sisters only: your estate is shared equally among them, with the children of a deceased broth- er or sister taking his/her share. e Nieces and nephews only: your estate 1s divided equally among those Hae hailes e Other relatives only: your estate is divided equally between the near- est equal relationship. e No relatives: your estate goes to the state.

PLANS by the University of Limer- ick (UL), the country’s leading sports university, to extend its Clare campus by 25 acres with sports amenities have come under fire. In a planning application lodged with Clare Coun- ty Council, UL is seeking planning permission for two standard soccer pitches, one GAA pitch and one rugby pitch along with a sports pavillion and 392 car-parking spaces.

However, in an objection against the development, local resident, Caro- line O’Brien of Shravokee, Clonlara states that “our greatest concern re- lates to the impact that this develop- ment would have on our property at

Shravokee, Clonlara.”’

She states, “The proposed devel- opment will have a very significant footprint on a very special landscape, namely a floodplain of the River SJat-evelOnee

“The loss of 25 acres of floodplain would have enormous consequences for the rich natural habitat of this area.

“On occasion, flood waters have en- croached within a few metres of our buildings. Even the slightest increase in the flood levels in this flood plain would inundate our property.

‘The cumulative effect of these vari- ous developments on this flood plain will inevitably increase the future of floods.

“We are highlighting the serious threat presented to our property by the proposed development.”

Ms O’Brien cites the Clare County Development plan, which states that “proposals for development on the coast, within a flood plain or adjacent to a river or its flood plain, will only be permitted where it can be clearly demonstrated that it does not place itselt at risk of harm to life or dam- age to property through flooding or increase the flood risk in the relevant river catchment”.

She states, “In our opinion, the pro- posed development is at variance with this condition.

“If this development proceeds and our property is consequently affected

by flooding could you please indicate where the responsibility lie.”

However, consultants for UL state that “the proposed development com- plies with the requirements of the County Development Plan”.

The university states that “the sports facility is an appropriate landuse in a floodplain and it is adaptable to cli- mate change”.

The consultants state, ““The extent of the development, relatives to large river flood levels and large floodplain extent will result in no impact on lo- cal water levels and effects on flows downsteam will not be significant.”

The consultants admit that the sub- ject lands have been subject to isolat- ed flooding incidents in the past.

NETWORK Ireland’s National Pres- ident, Una Murphy, will be the VIP guest at the Clare Branch monthly meeting, which will be held at 8pm on Wednesday at The Temple Gate hotel in Ennis.

Una Murphy is the Commercial Lending Manager with AIB Mayo. She has made “Professionalism In Business” a theme for the network in her year as National President and will share her insights on this subject with those attending the Ennis meet- ing.

On the same evening Jill Hincks, Managing Director of Passion for Creative will speak on the subject of ‘How to Succeed in Business — Get Your Ducks All In a Row.” Jill will hand out a free copy of her book to each attendee.

Network Clare President, Pamela Clancy said she is delighted that the National President and Jill Hincks are attending the meeting in Ennis, ‘We are really pleased to have the na- tional president, Una Murphy come to Clare and share her vast experi- ence of professionalism in business and on the same evening to have a second speaker of Jill’s calibre who has over 25 years national brand agency experience in London and Manchester, has created award-win- ning campaigns for such clients as M&S, B&Q, Argos and Homebase and who specialises in retail psy- chology and brand strategy. Many women in business use creativity “to get their ducks in a row’ on a daily basis and we are looking forward to hearing Jill’s input on this topic,” she said.

Network Ireland is a progressive dynamic organisation for women in business, the professions, industry, trades, government departments and the arts. It was formed in Dublin in 1983. The organisation has developed both a quality reputation and a qual- ity distribution system for ideas and information. Today it has branches in Clare, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Laoise, Limerick, Louth, Mayo, Tipperary North, Tipperary South and Waterford. Networking is increasingly important in growing successful companies.

Members in Clare represent a di- verse range of business interests. These include Orla Holland of Inte- rio, Quin Road Business Park, En- nis, Eileen Clair, Therapist, Kilkee, Pamela Clancy of Clancy Solicitors in Ennis, and Alice O’Carroll of Clare supported Employment Serv- ices. Other members include Mary Hanley from BillPost, Kilrush, Re- becca Brew of Crotty’s Pub Kilrush and Ana Marques of Lion Oak Serv- ices. Sarah Malone of Innfluential Marketing has been a Clare Member, as well as Madeline McAleer of Clare Focus, Brid Vaughan of BlathInis and Grainne McCormack of Choco- lat. Lisa Walshe from Houlihan and Co. Solicitors and Mary Corry from Elsevier Ltd. Shannon.

The Clare Network extends a warm welcome to anyone interested in finding out more at the Templegate Hotel in Ennis on Wednesday 23rd September at 8pm.

UL extension plans come under fire

AN TAOISEACH Brian Cowen will make his first trip to the county town as leader of the country on Monday next.

The Fianna Fail leader was criti- cised during the local election cam- paign for not stopping in Ennis as part of his tour of the county, favour- ing Shannon and Kilmaley instead.

He denied at the time that he avoid- ed the county town as he did not want to engage lobby groups on the closure of 24-accident and emergen- cy services at the hospital.

“The schedule has been fixed and there is no problem meeting people as I go around. And I think it is im- portant to point out, regarding Ennis Hospital, the ward block construc- tion is going to take place (later in the year) we hope. I would be ex- pecting that it would be taking place then,” he said at the time.

More than three months on and Mr Cowen has agreed to a walk around in Ennis.

The Taoiseach will begin his sec- ond official visit to Clare in Shannon, where he has accepted an invitation from Shannon Chamber President, Jan Barrett, to speak at his annual lunch for the business community.

Announcing the event, Chamber President Jan Barrett said, “The chamber is delighted to get an op- portunity to directly represent its members’ interests in these chal- lenging times to An Taoiseach, and

to support the case for the passing of the second referendum on the Lisbon sbi iAee

After lunch, Mr Cowen will begin his visit to Ennis by launching the CCTV (Close Circuit Television) service at Ennis Garda Station. With “big brother” watching over him he will then walk through the winding streets of the town from 2.45pm be- fore meeting the party faithful in a local hotel.

Mr Cowen will then travel west to Lissycasey to the new water plant.

Derma deta oD NNTca CoM AOU Beh ( ome Kirush for the official opening of a community creche.

The childcare facility, Cuan Samh, serves the Adult and Community Learning Centre on Cooraclare Road. The ceremony is timed for 5pm. The purpose-built unit replaces earlier childcare facilities housed in a pre- fabricated building at the centre.

Big stink over Quin odour

IT all went according to form in Bodyke on Friday evening as the home side got back to winning ways ahead of their quarter-final clash this weekend whereas winless Meelick are doomed to the relegation fight.

Already qualified for the last eight despite an inconsistent start, Bodyke needed a positive showing here and did so thanks to defensive anchor Sean Doyle who mopped up any breaks as well as their attacking quartet of PJ Kelleher, Johnny Howard, Keith Qui- gley and newly crowned All-Ireland Under 21 champion Colm Madden whose latent understanding allowed them to accumulate 2-16 of Bodyke’s total between them.

In saying that, despite the com- prehenisve scoreline, the Bodyke management still won’t be wholly satisfied approaching this weekend’s knock-out stages. They were totally in control of this tie from start to fin- ish but lapses in concentration that hampered them against both Feakle and Clarecastle again resurfaced here as they never ruthlessly put con- fidence shy Meelick to the sword at any stage. Allied to that was a poor conversion rate of 16 wides over the hour that in the business end of the season against the bigger sides could

prove very costly.

Meelick, for their part, ravaged by emmigration, injuries and suspen- sions, epitomised a side who just wanted to get the game over with and put this season behind them after three opening defeats but with a win here ensuring a play-off with Wolfe Tones to avoid relegation, the carrot was still dangling for them to muster up one last battling display.

For that to happen, they needed a positive start but their gameplan was in the shredder as early as the fourth minute after two soft goals had them firmly on the backfoot. Meelick did get the opening score through Ken- neth Keane but from the puck-out, their defence were immediately diso- rientated by Bodyke’s movement and it allowed Tom McNamara to kick through to the unmarked Colm Mad- den who was clear to rattle James Duffy’s net. From the puck-out, PJ Kelleher fed Keith Quigley for a point and only two minutes later, the writing was on the wall for Meelick as a Sean Doyle free from his own 65 was added to by Patsy O’Donnell to open up a 2-1 to 0-1 lead.

From that juncture on, it was a firefighting exercise for Meelick but with Johnny Howard, Colm Mad- den and Keith Quigley causing ma- jor headaches, Meelick just had too

many fires to put out and not enough manpower to stop the flames.

Eanna Mulvihill’s frees were the only reliable source of comfort for the south east Clare side but down to the bare bones, they hadn’t the firepower to trouble Bodyke who had enough chances to put Meelick away by half-time but only took fifty per cent of them. By half-time, they led by 2-11 to 0-07 and went about finishing the job early in the second period with Quigley and Madden adding points before a 36th minute goal from Johnny Howard had them cruising at 3-13 to 0-08.

However, although the result was now beyond doubt, they never con- vincingly built on that advantage, misfiring with hopeful efforts and it allowed Meelick to stage a mini- revolt.

The introduction of Ger Markham immediately caused Bodyke prob- lems, earning a 20 metre free with his first touch that Alan Markham slammed to the net in the 42nd minute before the substitute got one himself three minutes later when an Eoin Daly ball dropped behind the full-back line for the full-forward to pull to the net.

With the lead now sliced to eight, the loss of midfielder Barry O’Dwyer to injury was now felt by Bodyke but

it was his partner PJ Kelleher who steadied the ship once more with two successive points along with a Qui- aD keer

The brief crisis averted, Bodyke regained control to ease up to vic- tory and provide the perfect launch- ing pad for a concerted drive at the knock-out stages. Some fine tuning is still necessary though if they have a realistic chance of toppling the big boys in the grade.

Wheelchair bus vandalised