I AM astounded at the unfair comments made and the inaccuracies contained in the articles on the AGD which appeared in The Sunday Gleaner of June 4, 2000 - namely '50,000 case backlog slows AGD' appearing on the front page and the related articles, 'Waiting in Vain' and 'Make a Will AGD urges', as well as the editorial of Thursday, June 8, 2000 titled, 'Making a Will'.
The articles and the editorial made absolutely no reference to the vast improvements made in the department over the last four years, the effort and hard work of all staff members, who are by no means lazy, to look after our many beneficiaries and properties and the satisfaction expressed by beneficiaries and attorneys-at-law in the timely and excellent handling of matters by the department.
It is clear that the reporter has formed judgement and arrived at conclusions without having a basic understanding of the Law of Succession and the operations of the department.
a law suit purportedly brought against the Administrator-General for delinquency.I will also respond to some other equally important assertions raised by the reporter and in the editorial.
Concern
The credibility of the articles lies in their main thematic concern which is the 50,000 backlog cases that we have at the Administrator-General's Department. It is inconceivable to me that in none of the articles was an attempt made to explain to the public the nature of these backlog cases. The fact is, these are not estate matters but cases in which enquiries were made of the department over the years and in which the Administrator-General does not have Letters of Administration. These enquiries were all placed in individual 'files' and we now need to close these 'files' and enter the relevant information in respect of closure on our data base.
Closure
The work involved in closing these files includes primarily going through each file to ascertain and formally state the reason for closure. These reasons may range from the fact that no minors are involved, no asset is disclosed or found to be in the estate, the matter is not within the purview of the department, to the inability of the department to ascertain the whereabouts of all involved in a particular matter.
This category of backlog does not slow down the present work of the department but more importantly, no beneficiary is at a disadvantage or is being denied a benefit in any of these 50,000 cases. This is not to say that the department is not anxious to formally close these files but it seems to me that common sense would dictate that the resources of the department be used to administer estates rather than close these files. Nonetheless, members of staff have set aside specific hours per week to address this matter.
On the matter of the time within which it takes to settle an estate, had the reporter been properly informed she would have known that under the law, the Administrator-General cannot settle an estate in which a minor is involved. This means that if someone dies intestate and a minor of two months old, for example, is involved, the estate is administered by the department until the minor attains the age of 18 years. Consequently, there is no specified time within which to settle an estate, as each matter would depend primarily on the age of the minor/s involved. Therefore, the "18 months at most" which one attorney-at-law reportedly finds to be an acceptable time-frame to settle estates is, at best, impractical.
I agree with the reporter that "your best bet is that if your relatives die intestate when you are a year-old child, the administration of that estate could be in the hands of the AGD...even when you become an adult". That is exactly what the department is required to do under the law. I am of the view that she was labouring under the wrong impression that during the course of administering an estate the beneficiaries suffer. In fact, administering the estate includes but is not limited to carrying out such financial responsibilities as paying the education, health and other bills of beneficiaries involved.
It would be disingenuous of me to suggest that over the years the department has handled all matters with expedition. However, as the articles point out, the reasons for delays in settling estates are not always attributable to the department and we depend on the co-operation of beneficiaries, attorneys-at-law and a wide range of institutions and businesses to close matters expeditiously. As far as the Administrator-General's Department is concerned, the modernisation exercise that is currently taking place is aimed at addressing areas of inefficiency in our operations.
The article, 'Waiting in Vain', and the editorial alluded to the JAMPRESS article in the Friday, June 2, edition of the newspaper which mentioned the $400 million that the department invests annually and that this money could be used to clear backlog. The moneys invested belong to the estates (trust funds) and the law specifically forbids trustees from using trust funds.
With respect to law suits filed against the department, the reporter and your editorial have concluded that these suits were filed because of delinquency. Lawsuits are often filed in an effort to settle a contentious matter and may have nothing to do with the operations or efficiency of the department.
Comparison
The comparison with the Registrar-General's Department is not only unfortunate but also misleading considering that the functions of the two departments are totally different. It should be noted also that the Administrator-General's Department is not able to 'earn its keep' at this point in time as the fees charged by the department amounted to less than 18 per cent of the cost of running the department in the last financial year.
The department under the Government's modernisation exercise and specifically since its conversion to executive agency status has made significant improvements. Last year, 456 estates were closed compared to an average of 30 in previous years. Over the same period, 98 Letters of Administration were granted by the courts compared to 60 in 1998/99. Our clients have endorsed these improvements by giving us an 80 per cent approval rating in our customer service surveys conducted during the financial year 1999/2000.
In addition to those improvements, a financial management information system has been implemented and other computer systems for customer service, estate administration, trust accounting, investment, and property management have been identified and implementation will begin in this financial year. While computerisation will not solve all our problems, we expect that it will facilitate a more efficient department that will redound to the benefit of our clients and customers.
Finally, there seems to be a general misconception that we administer only those estates which come to us on intestacy. Admittedly, most of our estates relate to intestacy, but there are instances when we are explicitly named as executors in wills. It might come as a surprise to you that the department has been administering the estates of some famous Jamaican families (who made wills) over three generations. We have seen them, and financed them (through the provisions of estates) through important milestones such as school and marriage and supported them through tragedies such as the death of a loved one.
I am, etc.,
LONA BROWN (Mrs.)
Administrator-General
