I'm glad you mentioned the forums. But in my case I had to explain what a forum was first. :pray:Quote:
Originally Posted by mojo
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I'm glad you mentioned the forums. But in my case I had to explain what a forum was first. :pray:Quote:
Originally Posted by mojo
I'd just require you send me an email telling me you are about to pass over. Technology these days should allow that. Right?
I needed to check up on this, but I believe the main thing would be that we require a death certificate and a copy of the will which would detail the person or persons that should benefit from the account or accounts.
At the end of the day, your sites are part of your assets so make sure they are in your wills. If they are not, then it would be the case that some accounts will remain active but unclaimed.
That's going to be fairly impractical for a lot of affiliates I suspect. Having been through the executor thing that would be a horrendous task if every casino required that. I feel there has to be a better way.Quote:
Originally Posted by CWC-Martyn
For example, if CWC allowed the affiliate to name a secondary beneficiary who could take on the account after a period of 3 months had passed whereby the casino was unable to contact the main original affiliate. After all, it would be the main affiliate who a) would be supplying that contact and b) accepting the 3 month rule.
There may be a better way of course.
In theory, I could just give my login details to someone and they could manage the account without the casino even knowing but unless there was some sort of standard I could see this starting to cause problems as soon as news of the main affiliate no longer being "in service" surfaced.
A very valid topic and thanks for bringing it up in this forum.
In my opinion - in the case of death - we'd require a death certificate and a copy of the affiliates last will and testament (we'd also want to verify this with the solicitor or executor of the affiliates estate.)
We could then verify details of the person who is taking over the account (identification etc.) and then transfer the affiliates account into the new beneficiary's name - the beneficiary could then update their payment information accordingly and take over the management of the deceased's affiliate account in accordance with the will.
In the event of a death for a Limited company where the affiliate is the sole director the company articles would usually dictate what should happen and who is to take control of company assets and this would also be aligned to the last will and testement. (If the company has more than 1 director usually you would be able to see what the next course of action should be as the partners would have decided how to deal with this when the company was set up)
If the affiliate had to become ill but needed to give their account over to another person to manage the day to day - they could do so however the proceeds (comissions) would still be paid to the affiliate who's name is registered on the account.
I guess - it's also got to be handled on a case by case basis - and having a good relationship with your affiliate manager can help you when you are in times of need.
The key thing is to document the process you wish to be carried out and treat your affiliate accounts as you would normal assets in your business / or personal life (as you would your house, car, or company interests etc.)
Hey Simmo and everyone,
Great post and thread. Yes, this topic has come up a few times before.
I suppose it boils down to access. Like your bank account, if you nominate an executor to access and make decisions on your behalf, then it should be a smooth transition in the event that you are unable to access your account.
Where it gets tricky is if no-one is accessing or managing the account and programmes have no point of contact. As it currently stands with many programmes, if an affiliate generates income and is not contactable, their commissions may be held for up to a certain period, be it 12 month, 1 year, 2 years...depending on what individual programmes choose.... and if unclaimed, they risks being forfeited. So a point of contact with access to the account is key.
Another tricky scenario that we have experienced a few times in the past is when business and/or personal partnerships fail or get into dispute and one partner changes all the details in the account including login and payments details restricting access to the other. This makes it very difficult for programmes to pass judgment and/or determine who is entitled to what.
Thus, as others have mentioned and advised, it is vital to have a set up in place that allows for continuity.
Cheers,
Fina
There needs to be a standard clause in the contract for sure and this is an excellent post. With the last 2 weeks events unfolding I have again gone and talked to my attorney that set up my will. He still tells me I have to contact a business attorney and one outside of the states to help with this since no matter what happens none of the contracts are binding since they are not formed in the states. I have set up an LLC and still that will not make a difference.
At this point we are at the mercy of the affiliate programs to do the right thing and continue to pay to my business partner who in turn will provide for my family.
My attorney did as Fina suggested and wrote in the will that the executor has the authority to act as me in all areas of business. Having that in writing is better then not having anything at all. I left a list of bank accounts and passwords, you can also have you bank account set up as a POD so the government cannot take over it and everything in there will be paid to someone upon your death.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bonustreak
"POD - A POD Bank Account can be designed to belong to one person during his or her life and, subsequently, to pay to another person, trust or institution ... at the death of the original owner. Such an account is often called a Pay-on-Death (POD) bank account.
In many instances, this is an excellent estate planning device.
Suppose that you have a substantial savings account and that you have one heir that you want to receive that account at your death. You merely go to the bank and tell the officer that you want to own the account during your life ... but, that you want a certain person, whom you then name, to be the owner when you die.
The bank officer will give you the proper documentation, generally at no cost."
This is a very interesting thread. I am going to make it sticky so it does not get lost in the forum.
I'm glad you brought this one up. Will have to make sure this is covered in the terms and conditions. I would think it should now be necessary to add a field on all affiliate sign up pages: "Please give a 2nd contact person to handle your accounts." or something along those lines.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simmo!
Good post by the way.
Firstly I would like to say thanks to Simmo for bringing this up and imo this issue should be definitely clarified from the affiliate programs end. I think a new standard clause would be welcome in T&C.
I went through your opinions guys and decided to share my thoughts on that tying to see the issue from the affiliate point of view.
If there is no one in the affiliate family who has idea how to run and maintain the business then it will eventually die so there has to be something decided sooner or later.
If the business is doing great that it actually has a life of its own, then the affiliate could make an agreement whereby ownership reverts to his wife or children and they can decide what they want to do with it.
Now, the best for the affiliate is to have one of his family members who is interested in AM (or the money it makes) and is wiling to learn it in order to continue running the business and maintaining the income. So my personal suggestion is: get that person trained and give her access to all your passwords and acc info (stored in a safe place). There are many things you can take for granted that family members would have no knowledge of unless you put that information in one place. Would be great to create some kind of business plan so that the person who decides to run it will have a proper idea about the business and the assets you have.
What if the affiliate doesn’t have anyone interested or anyone who would be able to run the business? Well, at least he can show the family how and where to sell it to the highest bidder (e.g. via a site http://flippa.com/). Then adding the additional info to your safe place with set of instructions on how to dispose of the assets and approximate values would be a good idea.
I was also thinking about the will and creating it seems like a good idea too if the business is profitable. I would recommend that you (affiliate) fix the will where you can point to your business document(s) that gives someone the access they need to run your business. This way you will know it is sorted from legal point of view.
Once I read on some forum one affiliate saying that he deposits most of his affiliate payments directly to a joint account (him&his wife). Since the wife has no idea about AM his business would start to fade if he passed away, but the wife can at least count on a stable income for at least 6 months and then sell it. He also has an envelope in their safe deposit box (she has a key) with a list of all his business assets, brokerage accounts and so on. There are account numbers, user names etc together with the info showing the best way of selling the business.
Anyway, whether someone take over the business, or it is sold off or is running as long as generates the money - affiliate needs to gather all the information related to it in one safe place to make things easier for the family member or trusted person.
Good post Simmo and great opinions out here! :thumbsup:
If any of the programs update their T&C with such clause, would be cool if you let us know. We will think of this as well, I'll speak with Jan (program manager) and see what he thinks.
Thanks to all of you! :tiphat:
Good day! :wave:
Magdalena
FWIW, the one thing I would add is the need to have Life Insurance!!
Considering the alternative, it's a small price to pay to assure that family members some margin of safety should something happen.
I have always thought about this and its great to see I am not the only one. I am pretty young, but should anything happen I would want to make sure that my accounts were passed on to my family.
I've done some following up on this with my accounatnt and my bank (UK). One of the key issues is that if you run a company, when you pass on, unless you have other authorised signatories/directors that have the authorisation to continue to operate the company, the company and bank account is effectively closed and passed into the hands of the exectutors. But that doesn't necessarily give them the authorisation needed to continue operatng the company and bank account as a going concern.
So essentially, you have to appoint a second director before you pass on - in the UK at least.
In addition, many affiliate programs will inists on a second authorised account holder, while some don't actually allow this. This is a hurdle that - at the moment - has to be broached with each affiliate program.
Although the company details will be down to the individual to sort out, I would have thought there is some room for a standard procedure to be adopted for continued payments to be sanctioned within our industry.
How that gets facilitated is another matter. My initial thought is that it needs some sort of centralised resource to manage this but who and what is the key question.
In an ideal world you would have a central point of contact that would handle the matter. An affiliate would be able to log a secondary authorised account holder who in turn would furnish this new centralised resource with a death certificate and proof of passing, whereupon that information would be relayed to the programs. Because lets face it, more often than not a secondary is often going to be a partner/spouse who won't know the full extent of what needs doing.
I don't know if someone like the GPWA could act as this central resource bearing in mind they have the program contact. It makes some sense if there was a contract between GPWA [or whoever] and the programs whereby a clause could be added stating the program are happy for them to act as an intermediary. But perhaps it takes someone more qualified (no offence meant) in a professional capacity to instigate this.
Although the affiliate would still have to ensure their bank account/company could still be effectively managed, for a spouse/partner to be able to go to one place with the necessary documentation would make life very easy. Even if it was a service that was charged for, it would be worth doing IMO - as long as the programs were prepared to continue payments on this authorisation.
Of course, not every program would sign up, but were it conditional of sponsorship - or even as an opt-in - it might be a valuable service as I am sure a large percentage of programs would go in.
For me personally, if this service was available for a fee of say $500 (just an example) I'd be interested. To provide the central resource with details of an authorised signatory and a list of the programs I work with wouldn't be difficult after all. The bulk of the work is handled by the centralised resource once an affiliate has passed on so the fee needs to reflect that.
The answer might be for someone like the GPWA to appoint a professional body or solicitor to handle the details. As long as GPWA are recognised by all parties as being the authority and able to make the decision, the work itself might be better carried out by professionals. I am sure that would incur a higher fee, but it removes potential trust issues with the actual processes involved in securing funds for the executor.
The work involved otherwise for a spouse - identifying who to contact, how to contact them, in sending out death certificates and relevant documents all over the world and the cost involved in doing so - could be quite intensive and maybe even unachievable. Anyone who has been an executor will know the process can be painful, full of red tape and simply unravelling all the affairs that need to be taken care of in the event of passing can be stressful.
In fact, if the central resource was a trusted resource by both affiliates and more importantly the programs, the affiliate or authorised secondary could possibly state a second payment channel in the event the company/original bank acounts can't be left open for any reason.
One absolute key to this though is ensuring the "proof of passing" is watertight. That needs some thought to avoid potential fraud. In most instances its obvious - forums and Facebook fill up with condolences and word gets around quickly as we have unfortunately seen this year. But limiting this service to GPWA members or people that are "known" or particular;y active online might also be worth considering.