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WHO IS YOUR NEXT OF KIN?

Lately I have had to fill a lot of forms and whenever you are doing all this stuff, the issue of next of kin always comes up so I thought to write something about it.

It’s one issue I know can cause problems in a family, if not handled right. I mean we all know that a next of kin should be the closest living relative to a person i.e. spouse or child because they often inherit the personal property of the person in a case of death but many of us don’t really take it seriously. Most of us just fill in anything that comes to mind at the point of documentation or account opening, forgetting that whatever we fill is what would be used in an event of death or emergency.

Nobody knows the time when death will come and although we can only pray against untimely death it’s very essential to put things in order. I don’t even want to go into the issue of having a will because most of us Nigerians have the mindset that only people that have money yanfu yanfu need that.

Back to the next of kin issue, some people argue that it depends on what the documentation is for and the circumstances. Like some people use their spouse for some and then their children for some. I just think it’s essential to protect the interest of your immediate family if you are married. I also think it’s important to update your next of kin as your status changes. For example, when you were single you might have used your mum or siblings as your next of kin but when you get married I think it’s important to change all that.
Although people who have trust issues with their spouses might not fully agree with this, I just feel you should have the interest of those who matter and make sure they are covered.

On several occasions I have seen men who would rather have their brothers as their next of kin instead of their wife or child. Chai! After the woman would have suffered with the man for years, he will now put his brother as next of kin. What would you do if that happened to you? Odikwa very risky! The man go hear am!

For some they even go as far as doing a will and leaving it all to their siblings. This could lead to a huge family crisis when such people die.

I think it’s important for people to know the implication of the choices they make.

So before you complete that account opening or fill out that very important document be sure that you are putting in the right information in the next of kin section….You don’t want your wife or children fighting you over your choice of next of kin if for any reason they find out. It could lead to a mini third world war in your home oooh…so to avoid ~~gbege~~ problems please be guided.

A/N: What would you do if you find out your spouse chose his sibling as next of kin instead of you or your children?

Please share your views by dropping your comments.

Thanks for reading and please share this post it could help someone out there make better choices.

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Till i write you again,
xoxo