Summary – Care needs to be taken for gifts to charities and not-for-profit entities where an officeholder for the time is being appointed as executor.

Often Will makers when leaving a substantial gift to a charity or not-for-profit entity wish to appoint an office holder in the organization as executor of the Will.

Such an appointment was reviewed in the recent Supreme Court of South Australia case in the Estate of Chomiak [2012] SASC 27 (29 February 2012).  The deceased, Anna Chomiak, died in 2010, aged 93.  Her Will, which was prepared by a solicitor, nominated the “priest in charge for the time being of the Ukrainian Catholic Church at Wayville” as her sole executor.Continue Reading Appointing an Officeholder as Executor – Avoiding Shifting Executorships